The Force Awakens manages to deliver a great deal of the thrills and emotional resonances of Star Wars, but mining the past to build the future always comes with a cost.
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Marielle Heller’s film challenges us to become better people much as Fred Rogers’ show did.
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Star Wars: The Clone Wars explores the development of Anakin Skywalker while laying the groundwork for the popular television series.
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With his final film in the Star Wars saga, George Lucas creates a shocking, beautiful tragedy.
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A full appreciation of Attack of the Clones requires the upheaval of some established viewpoints on the film.
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Pedro Almodóvar extends grace to those in his life in this beautiful autofiction.
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Dark Fate takes the franchise back to basics.
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Robert Eggers’ follow-up to The Witch is a hilarious, nightmarish marvel.
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Twenty years after it launched the Prequel Trilogy, The Phantom Menace remains a pivotal film in both the Star Wars saga and the transformation of global film culture.
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Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes has a grimy atmosphere, nasty deaths, and a simmering subtext of class rage
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The second Ewoks spin-off film, The Battle for Endor, learns from the mistakes of its predecessor while relying heavily on fantasy conventions and parallels to the Original Trilogy.
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James Gray’s Ad Astra is a stunning example of science-fiction worldbuilding, even if its philosophical view of the cosmos is surprisingly reductive.
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Christine finds John Carpenter working at the height of his formal powers, transforming a ridiculous concept into a thrilling film.
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Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure shows that not all Lucasfilm Star Wars productions can capture the same magic as the Original Trilogy, though it isn’t without some interest.
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This essayistic documentary explores the city of New York in the month of August 2017 and the hopes and fears of the people in it.
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A quietly critical documentary exploring the spectacle around Sudan, the last male Northern White Rhino who died in 2018.
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Earth is visually arresting, but also repetitive, which dulls its overall message.
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David Gordon Green revives the Halloween films with this satisfying horror sequel that returns to the original’s strengths.
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Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix weaponize our familiarity with comic book narratives to paint a portrait of personal evil and social dysfunction.
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It Chapter Two is effective and scary if a bit muddled.
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