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Cinematary

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Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne star in The Quiet Man

Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne star in The Quiet Man

The Quiet Man (1952) by John Ford

January 17, 2018

Retro Review by Zach Dennis

The Quiet Man seems a little off from some of Ford's more interrogative work — The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and The Searchers — where he took this idea of the American West and challenged it both in its characters and how people perceived this "idyllic past." But this film also doesn't want to — or have to be — like that. The charm is in the intensity of these characters and the fulfillment — and execution — of their various passions.

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Best Blockbusters of 2017

January 15, 2018

By Zach Dennis, Andrew Swafford, Jessica Carr, Lydia Creech, Jessy Alva Swafford and Nadine Smith

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Best Comedies of 2017

January 8, 2018

By Zach Dennis, Andrew Swafford, Jessica Carr, Lydia Creech and Nathan Smith

**NOTE** This is not in ranked order

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Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Barry Keoghan star in director Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Barry Keoghan star in director Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) by Yorgos Lanthimos

December 4, 2017

Review by Andrew Swafford

The idea that a challenging film is an interesting film seems, to me, to be a common assumption among movie fans. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a joyless and abrasive film, with a sense of nihilistic sadism. That statement of truth, I imagine, will be enough to convince many to watch it.

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Tragedy Girls was one of the ten feature films screened at the 2017 Knoxville Horror Film Festival.

Tragedy Girls was one of the ten feature films screened at the 2017 Knoxville Horror Film Festival.

How My First Time at the Knoxville Horror Film Fest Solidified my Status as a Horror Fan Girl

October 26, 2017

Personal Essay by Jessica Carr

After the three days were over, I was left with one question. Am I officially a horror fan now?

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Ana de Armas and Ryan Gosling star in director Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049

Ana de Armas and Ryan Gosling star in director Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) by Denis Villeneuve

October 9, 2017

Review by Lydia Creech

Sequels don’t ruin the originals, but Villeneuve missed the mark on this one in every way.

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Jennifer Lawrence stars as mother in director Darren Aronofsky's new film

Jennifer Lawrence stars as mother in director Darren Aronofsky's new film

Alternate Take: mother! (2017) by Darren Aronofsky

September 18, 2017

Alternate Take by Courtney Anderson

The moral of mother! is that men are trash.

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Jennifer Lawrence stars as mother in director Darren Aronofsky's new film

Jennifer Lawrence stars as mother in director Darren Aronofsky's new film

mother! (2017) by Darren Aronofsky

September 18, 2017

Review by Paige Taylor

I've never been able to explain the intimate connection a woman has to her home, and mother! did an incredible job of illustrating that connection to me.

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Bill Skarsgård plays Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Andrés Muschietti's new adaptation of It

Bill Skarsgård plays Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Andrés Muschietti's new adaptation of It

It (2017) by Andrés Muschietti

September 12, 2017

Review by Andrew Swafford

Mischietti’s film undoubtedly improves upon the last iteration in countless ways, but its inherited flaws run deep.

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Cinematary Canon #6: Back-to-School Films

August 20, 2017

This list features writing by Andrew Swafford, Lydia Creech, Ashley Baker, Zach Dennis, Ben Shull, Nadine Smith, and Andrea Asauje.

Click below to see the full list!

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Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming

Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) by Jon Watts

August 3, 2017

Review by Nadine Smith

Like the Wolverine of Logan, the Spider-Man of Spider-Man: Homecoming has been reconfigured as the quintessential Gig Economy superhero, refashioned from the class-conscious, check-to-check freelancer of Spider-Man 2, who resisted the crushing heel of capitalism through his disguised direct actions.

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Miami Man (Jason Momoa) and Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) start to fall for each other in Ana Lily Amirpour's cannibal love story The Bad Batch.

Miami Man (Jason Momoa) and Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) start to fall for each other in Ana Lily Amirpour's cannibal love story The Bad Batch.

The Bad Batch (2017) by Ana Lily Amirpour

July 24, 2017

Review by Jessica Carr

Whether you are a huge fan of Ana Lily Amirpour’s work or not, it’s hard to describe The Bad Batch as an ordinary movie experience.

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Dave Franco and Aubrey Plaza star in director Jeff Baena's The Little Hours

Dave Franco and Aubrey Plaza star in director Jeff Baena's The Little Hours

The Little Hours (2017) by Jeff Baena

July 15, 2017

Review by Andrew Swafford

The Little Hours is one of the most uniquely funny films I’ve seen in a long time, and we need more high-concept, tightly scripted, esoteric comedies like it.

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Best friends, Okja and Mija (Seo-Hyeon Ahn, explore the mountains of South Korea in Bong Joon-ho's thought-provoking film Okja.

Best friends, Okja and Mija (Seo-Hyeon Ahn, explore the mountains of South Korea in Bong Joon-ho's thought-provoking film Okja.

Okja (2017) by Bong Joon-ho

July 8, 2017

Review by Jessica Carr

In a film about greed, Bong Joon-ho still allows some of his characters to have redemptive qualities that help their humanity shine through.

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Paul Newman (as well as Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy), stars in Pixar's Cars

Paul Newman (as well as Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy), stars in Pixar's Cars

Cars (2006) by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft

June 26, 2017

Retro Review by John McAmis

For the past eleven years, I have gotten a lot of flack for placing Cars in the upper echelon of Pixar’s filmography. Most people don’t like this. But I have only a undying love for this odd, clunky 2006 animated film.

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Vera Farmiga (be still, my heart) and Isabelle Fuhrman star in director Jaume Collet-Serra's Orphan

Vera Farmiga (be still, my heart) and Isabelle Fuhrman star in director Jaume Collet-Serra's Orphan

Orphan (2009) by Jaume Collet-Serra

June 25, 2017

Retro Review by Andrew Swafford

Orphan is of those rare cases where a twist adds a new layer of meaning to a movie without negating what had previously been built.

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Zoë Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, Scarlett Johansson, and Jillian Bell (and Kate McKinnon, back there) form the ensemble that drives director Lucia Aniello's Rough Night

Zoë Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, Scarlett Johansson, and Jillian Bell (and Kate McKinnon, back there) form the ensemble that drives director Lucia Aniello's Rough Night

Rough Night (2017) by Lucia Aniello

June 21, 2017

Review by Andrew Swafford

As far as ensembles go, Rough Night has a good one: Jillian Bell, Zoë Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, and Kate McKinnon all end up outshining Johansson, who plays it straight against their farcical spectrum. And it’s not just that they’re funnier than Johansson, but they’re more important by design.

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Kevin Harrison Jr. stars in director Trey Edward Shults's It Comes At Night

Kevin Harrison Jr. stars in director Trey Edward Shults's It Comes At Night

It Comes At Night (2017) by Trey Edward Shults

June 13, 2017

Review by Andrew Swafford

I am here to tell you, reader, that not only is It Comes at Night not a horror movie, it is hardly a movie. It is a non-movie. It is three dogs on each other’s shoulders in a trenchcoat instead of a movie.

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Gal Gadot stars in director Patty Jenkins film Wonder Woman

Gal Gadot stars in director Patty Jenkins film Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman (2017) by Patty Jenkins

June 6, 2017

Review by Paige Taylor

Have you ever sat in a theater full of people, weeping with unrestrained joy, because a superhero was just that badass?  This girl has.

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Javier Bardem stars in the fifth installment in Disney's Pirates of the Carribean franchise

Javier Bardem stars in the fifth installment in Disney's Pirates of the Carribean franchise

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg

May 27, 2017

Review by Jordan Collier

Dead Men Tell No Tales is a baby step in the right direction, but at this point the series might be sunk.

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