Breakfast All Day Podcast

Breakfast All Day Podcast 12/2/22

It’s December, so we’re officially in Christmas movie season on Breakfast All Day. But we have very different opinions of “Violent Night,” an action flick starring David Harbour as a butt-kicking Santa Claus. We are in agreement, though, about “The Inspection,” a sensitive and compelling indie drama about a queer,...

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RogerEbert.com — The Forgiven

They’re all beautiful, exquisitely dressed and vapid, the foreigners who’ve traipsed across the Moroccan desert for a weekend of debauchery in “The Forgiven.” Writer/director John Michael McDonagh wants us to feel scorn as he satirizes the racism and classism of wealthy Westerners exploiting the Middle East as an exotic destination. His film...

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RogerEbert.com — Superior

There’s more than a hint of David Lynch’s signature noir aesthetic in “Superior,” the feature filmmaking debut from director and co-writer Erin Vassilopoulos. Her story even explores the undercurrent of danger running just below the placid surface of small-town America, Lynch’s preferred playground. But while “Superior” has a rich style...

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RogerEbert.com — Gold

Zac Efron scrubs away all vestiges of his pretty-boy persona beneath the baking sun and swirling sands of the Australian survival tale “Gold.” If only the film itself rose to Efron’s extreme level of his commitment. “Gold” is more effective from an aesthetic standpoint than it is from a narrative...

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RogerEbert.com — Clean

Adrien Brody stars in “Clean” as the ironically named title character: a garbage collector with a grimy past. He also co-wrote the script, produced the film and composed the score. It’s clearly a labor of love for the Oscar winner. Brody conveys so much emotion and regret simply through his...

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RogerEbert.com — Simple Passion

I remain on the Sergei Polunin beat at RogerEbert.com with my review of “Simple Passion,” in which the bad-boy ballet dancer plays an elusive Russian diplomat having a purely physical affair with a divorced Parisian professor. It’s all very torrid, but his character is intentionally vapid and boring, and the...

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RogerEbert.com — Parallel Mothers

That magical connection between Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz continues to grow stronger and burn brighter with “Parallel Mothers,” their eighth film together over the past quarter century. The Spanish maestro knows precisely how to get all the colors out of his charismatic muse, and in turn, the veteran star...

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RogerEbert.com — The Novice

Writer-director Lauren Hadaway makes her bold and gripping feature filmmaking debut with “The Novice,” set in the competitive world of collegiate rowing. (She based the story on her experiences on the rowing team at my alma mater, Southern Methodist University, Go Mustangs.) The sound design is exquisite and Isabelle Fuhrman...

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RogerEbert.com — Belfast

In recalling his youthful days in an insular neighborhood in the titular city, Kenneth Branagh has made a film that’s both intimate and ambitious—his “Roma,” if you’ll forgive the inevitable comparison to Alfonso Cuaron’s recent masterpiece. That’s quite a balancing act the writer/director attempts to pull off, and for the most...

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RogerEbert.com — Violet

To the outside world, Violet would seem to have it all. But inside her head, she tells herself a different story—or rather, “The Committee” does. That gaping disparity provides the central conflict within writer/director Justine Bateman’s feature filmmaking debut, “Violet.” Olivia Munn shows dramatic range unlike any we’ve seen before, but...

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