Citizen Charlie
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  • 2021 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • French Exit
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • Judas and the Black Messiah
    • 3 Stars >
      • Bliss
      • Land
      • Malcolm & Marie
      • The Mauritanian
      • The United States vs. Billie Holiday
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • Chaos Walking
      • The Little Things
    • 2 Stars >
      • Coming 2 America
      • Raya and the Last Dragon
      • Supernova
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • The Marksman
      • Silk Road
    • 1 Star >
      • Outside the Wire
  • Cinema Clash Podcast
  • 2020 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • The Outpost
      • Promising Young Woman
      • The Vast of Night
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • The Assistant
      • The Burnt Orange Heresy
      • The Climb
      • Da 5 Bloods
      • Extra Ordinary
      • First Cow
      • The Gentlemen
      • The Hunt
      • I'm Thinking of Ending Things
      • John Lewis: Good Trouble
      • Never Rarely Sometimes Always
      • One Night in Miami
      • Sound of Metal
    • 3 Stars >
      • Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
      • Chemical Hearts
      • Deerskin
      • EMMA.
      • Kajillionaire
      • The Midnight Sky
      • News of the World
      • The Old Guard
      • Olympic Dreams
      • Premature
      • The Prom
      • The Social Dilemma
      • Sputnik
      • The Trip to Greece
      • The Twentieth Century
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • Bill & Ted Face the Music
      • Enola Holmes
      • Herself
      • How to Build a Girl
      • Tesla
      • True History of the Kelly Gang
      • Vivarium
      • We Are Little Zombies
      • The White Tiger
    • 2 Stars >
      • Blow the Man Down
      • Come Away
      • Come Play
      • Greed
      • Greenland
      • Irresistible
      • Let Him Go
      • Lucky Grandma
      • My Spy
      • Project Power
      • Radioactive
      • The Rhythm Section
      • Save Yourselves!
      • The Traitor (Il Traditore)
      • Wild Mountain Thyme
      • Yes, God, Yes
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Bad Boys for Life
      • Butt Boy
      • The High Note
      • Selah and the Spades
      • Underwater
      • The War with Grandpa
      • Wonder Woman 1984
    • 1 Star >
      • Honest Thief
  • 2019 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • 1917
      • A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
      • For Sama
      • Jojo Rabbit
      • Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • Alita: Battle Angel
      • Blinded by the Light
      • Booksmart
      • John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
      • Joker
      • Knives Out
      • Midnight Traveler
      • Mike Wallace Is Here
      • Transit
      • Waves
      • Wild Nights with Emily
    • 3 Stars >
      • Ash is the Purest White
      • Avengers: Endgame
      • Bombshell
      • Brittany Runs A Marathon
      • Captain Marvel
      • The Dead Don't Die
      • Frozen II
      • Gloria Bell
      • Good Boys
      • The Hummingbird Project
      • The Kid Who Would Be King
      • Knock Down the House
      • Meeting Gorbachev
      • Queen & Slim
      • Ready or Not
      • The Report
      • Rocketman
      • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
      • Teen Spirit
      • Us
      • Velvet Buzzsaw
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • All Is True
      • Charlie's Angels
      • Downton Abbey
      • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
      • Hustlers
      • It Chapter Two
      • The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
      • The Lion King
      • Long Day's Journey Into Night
      • Non-Fiction
      • Official Secrets
      • The Peanut Butter Falcon
      • Richard Jewell
      • Shazam!
      • Stan & Ollie
      • Uncut Gems
      • The Upside
      • Where's My Roy Cohn?
      • Wonder Park
      • Yesterday
    • 2 Stars >
      • The Art of Racing in the Rain
      • Dark Phoenix
      • Dora and the Lost City of Gold
      • Frankie
      • Glass
      • Isn't It Romantic
      • Midway
      • Red Joan
      • Spider-Man: Far From Home
      • What Men Want
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • The Aeronauts
      • Angel Has Fallen
      • Dumbo
      • Gemini Man
      • The Goldfinch
      • The Kitchen
      • Pokémon Detective Pikachu
      • Serenity
      • Terminator: Dark Fate
    • 1 Star >
      • Men in Black: International
      • Miss Bala
      • Stuber
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Happy Death Day 2U
  • 2018 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
      • Burning
      • The Death of Stalin
      • The Favourite
      • Isle of Dogs
      • The King
      • Roma
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • American Animals
      • Avengers: Infinity War
      • Blaze
      • Boy Erased
      • Eighth Grade
      • The Endless
      • First Man
      • Green Book
      • Hostiles
      • The Insult
      • Mom and Dad
      • Puzzle
      • RBG
      • Ready Player One
      • Skate Kitchen
      • Sorry to Bother You
      • A Star Is Born
      • Vox Lux
    • 3 Stars >
      • Annihilation
      • Black Panther
      • Bumblebee
      • Deadpool 2
      • Eating Animals
      • Flower
      • Godard Mon Amour
      • The House with a Clock in Its Walls
      • Journey's End
      • Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
      • Mission: Impossible - Fallout
      • Paddington 2
      • The Price of Everything
      • Red Sparrow
      • The Rider
      • The Seagull
      • Support the Girls
      • Venom
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • Aquaman
      • Bohemian Rhapsody
      • Creed II
      • Game Night
      • The Gospel According to André
      • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
      • Mary Poppins Returns
      • Mile 22
      • Operation Finale
      • The Party
      • Peter Rabbit
      • Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
      • Sicario: Day of the Soldado
      • A Simple Favor
      • Solo: A Star Wars Story
      • The Spy Who Dumped Me
      • Wildlife
    • 2 Stars >
      • Ant-Man and the Wasp
      • Ben Is Back
      • Blockers
      • Book Club
      • Christopher Robin
      • Damsel
      • Death Wish
      • Early Man
      • The Equalizer 2
      • Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
      • Generation Wealth
      • Halloween
      • Measure of a Man
      • The Meg
      • A Midsummer Night's Dream
      • Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
      • Ocean's 8
      • Peppermint
      • Tomb Raider
      • A Wrinkle in Time
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • The Commuter
      • Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings
      • Fifty Shades Freed
      • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
      • Maze Runner: The Death Cure
      • The Predator
    • 1 Star >
      • Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti
      • The Happytime Murders
      • Night School
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Born Guilty
      • Kin
      • Show Dogs
  • 2017 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • Blade Runner 2049
      • Dunkirk
      • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
      • Wind River
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • Columbus
      • Detroit
      • Donald Cried
      • Faces Places (Visages, villages)
      • Frantz
      • Get Out
      • I, Tonya
      • An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
      • It
      • Okja
      • The Shape of Water
      • Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
    • 3 Stars >
      • Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
      • Atomic Blonde
      • Baby Driver
      • The Big Sick
      • Cars 3
      • The Fencer
      • Finding Oscar
      • The Florida Project
      • Girls Trip
      • The Greatest Showman
      • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
      • Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent
      • The LEGO Batman Movie
      • Logan Lucky
      • Marshall
      • Novitiate
      • Personal Shopper
      • RAW
      • School Life
      • Split
      • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
      • Thelma
      • Thor: Ragnarok
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • Battle of the Sexes
      • The Boss Baby
      • Breathe
      • A Cure for Wellness
      • Dolores
      • Ferdinand
      • The Great Wall
      • John Wick Chapter 2
      • Justice League
      • King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
      • Lady Bird
      • Landline
      • Last Flag Flying
      • Rebel in the Rye
      • Victoria and Abdul
      • Wonder Woman
      • The Zookeeper's Wife
    • 2 Stars >
      • Beauty and the Beast
      • The Dark Tower
      • A Dog's Purpose
      • Gifted
      • Gold
      • Home Again
      • Ingrid Goes West
      • The Last Word
      • Leap!
      • Logan
      • The Lost City of Z
      • The Mummy
      • Paris Can Wait
      • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
      • Rock Dog
      • Song to Song
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Before I Fall
      • Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
      • The Dinner
      • Everything, Everything
      • The Fate of the Furious
      • Fifty Shades Darker
      • Happy Death Day
      • It Comes at Night
      • Snatched
      • Suburbicon
      • Wish Upon
    • 1 Star >
      • Rings
      • The Space Between Us
      • xXx: Return of Xander Cage
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Buster's Mal Heart
  • 2016 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • Captain Fantastic
      • Hell or High Water
      • I Am Not Your Negro
      • Jackie
      • Krisha
      • La La Land
      • A Monster Calls
      • Paterson
      • Silence
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • The Accountant
      • Cameraperson
      • Deadpool
      • Embrace of the Serpent
      • Finding Dory
      • Hail, Caesar!
      • Miss Sloane
      • Moonlight
      • Nocturnal Animals
      • Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
    • 3 Stars >
      • Allied
      • Arrival
      • Author: The JT LeRoy Story
      • The Birth of a Nation
      • The Conjuring 2
      • Creative Control
      • Doctor Strange
      • The Eagle Huntress
      • The Edge of Seventeen
      • Eye in the Sky
      • The First Monday in May
      • Green Room
      • Hacksaw Ridge
      • Ixcanul
      • The Jungle Book
      • Keanu
      • Live by Night
      • Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
      • The Magnificent Seven
      • Miles Ahead
      • Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
      • A Monster with a Thousand Heads
      • The Nice Guys
      • Passengers
      • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
      • Star Trek Beyond
      • Sully
      • War Dogs
      • Wiener-Dog
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • Café Society
      • Captain America: Civil War
      • Christine
      • The Clan
      • Deepwater Horizon
      • Eddie the Eagle
      • Equals
      • The Girl on the Train
      • High-Rise
      • The Infiltrator
      • Knight of Cups
      • Kubo and the Two Strings
      • Lion
      • Little Men
      • London Has Fallen
      • Louder Than Bombs
      • Morris from America
      • Pete's Dragon
      • Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
      • Queen of Katwe
      • Race
      • Southside With You
      • Storks
      • Sunset Song
      • Trolls
      • Warcraft
      • Zootopia
    • 2 Stars >
      • Alice Through the Looking Glass
      • American Pastoral
      • Bad Moms
      • The BFG
      • Blair Witch
      • The Choice
      • Dough
      • Everybody Wants Some!!
      • The Finest Hours
      • The Legend of Tarzan
      • The Light Between Oceans
      • The Secret Life of Pets
      • Suicide Squad
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • The 5th Wave
      • Allegiant
      • Angry Birds
      • Bad Santa 2
      • The Boss
      • Central Intelligence
      • Ghostbusters
      • How to Be Single
      • The Huntsman: Winter's War
      • Ip Man 3
      • Zoolander 2
    • 1 Star >
      • Gods of Egypt
      • Ice Age: Collision Course
      • My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
      • Now You See Me 2
      • Ratchet & Clank
      • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Ben-Hur
      • Norm of the North
      • Ride Along 2
  • 2015 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • The Big Short
      • Ex Machina
      • Jafar Panahi's Taxi
      • Steve Jobs
      • The Tribe
      • While We're Young
      • Youth
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • Best of Enemies
      • Bridge of Spies
      • Brooklyn
      • Clouds of Sils Maria
      • Concussion
      • The End of the Tour
      • The Hateful Eight
      • Inside Out
      • It Follows
      • Mad Max: Fury Road
      • The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
      • The Martian
      • Mistress America
      • The Revenant
      • Room
      • Shaun the Sheep Movie
      • Sisters
      • Spotlight
      • Star Wars: The Force Awakens
      • Straight Outta Compton
      • Truth
    • 3 Stars >
      • The Age of Adaline
      • Avengers: Age of Ultron
      • Black Mass
      • Carol
      • The Cut
      • Entourage
      • Fresh Dressed
      • The Good Dinosaur
      • Grandma
      • James White
      • Janis: Little Girl Blue
      • Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
      • McFarland, USA
      • Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
      • Merchants of Doubt
      • MERU
      • Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
      • Mustang
      • Pan
      • The Peanuts Movie
      • Pitch Perfect 2
      • Pixels
      • San Andreas
      • The Second Mother
      • Son of Saul
      • Spectre
      • Trainwreck
      • We Are Your Friends
      • Woman in Gold
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • American Ultra
      • Anomalisa
      • Ant-Man
      • The Assassin
      • The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
      • Boulevard
      • Crimson Peak
      • The Danish Girl
      • Far from the Madding Crowd
      • Finders Keepers
      • Furious 7
      • The Gunman
      • Hippocrates: Diary of a French Doctor
      • In the Heart of the Sea
      • Jurassic World
      • Kingsman: The Secret Service
      • Listen to Me Marlon
      • Macbeth
      • The New Rijksmuseum
      • No Escape
      • Spy
      • The Visit
      • A Walk in the Woods
      • The Water Diviner
      • The Wolfpack
    • 2 Stars >
      • The 33
      • Aloft
      • Black Sea
      • Do I Sound Gay?
      • Fifty Shades of Grey
      • Focus
      • Freeheld
      • Get Hard
      • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
      • Joy
      • Minions
      • Mississippi Grind
      • The Night Before
      • The Salvation
      • The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
      • Seventh Son
      • Terminator Genisys
      • Tomorrowland
      • True Story
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Chappie
      • Desert Dancer
      • Hot Tub Time Machine 2
      • The Divergent Series: Insurgent
      • Jupiter Ascending
      • Maggie
      • Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
      • Run All Night
      • Ted 2
      • Vacation
    • 1 Star >
      • The Lazarus Effect
      • Magic Mike XXL
      • The Transporter Refueled
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • The Gallows
  • 2014 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • Calvary
      • A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
      • Inherent Vice
      • The LEGO Movie
      • Life Itself
      • A Most Violent Year
      • Mr. Turner
      • The Theory of Everything
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • American Sniper
      • Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
      • The Boxtrolls
      • Boyhood
      • The Equalizer
      • Fury
      • Gone Girl
      • Guardians of the Galaxy
      • The Imitation Game
      • Like Father, Like Son
      • Mommy
      • Nymphomaniac: Vol. I
      • Particle Fever
      • Selma
      • Top Five
      • Whiplash
    • 3 Stars >
      • 22 Jump Street
      • Alive Inside
      • Beside Still Waters
      • The Book of Life
      • Captain America: The Winter Soldier
      • The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: THEM
      • Draft Day
      • Edge of Tomorrow
      • Get on Up
      • Godzilla
      • The Grand Budapest Hotel
      • The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
      • I Am Ali
      • The Judge
      • Kill the Messenger
      • Locke
      • Love Is Strange
      • Nas: Time Is Illmatic
      • Night Moves
      • The November Man
      • The One I Love
      • The Overnighters
      • The Raid 2
      • Rosewater
      • Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
      • St. Vincent
      • Still Alice
      • Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
      • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
      • Two Days, One Night
      • Unbroken
      • Under the Skin
      • Wild
      • X-Men: Days of Future Past
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • 3 Days to Kill
      • About Last Night
      • Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
      • Art and Craft
      • As Above, So Below
      • Begin Again
      • Blood Ties
      • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
      • Divergent
      • The Expendables 3
      • Fading Gigolo
      • Foxcatcher
      • The Giver
      • The Grand Seduction
      • Horns
      • Horrible Bosses 2
      • The Hundred-Foot Journey
      • Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
      • Jersey Boys
      • Listen Up Philip
      • Magic in the Moonlight
      • The Maze Runner
      • Men, Women & Children
      • A Million Ways to Die in the West
      • The Monuments Men
      • Mr. Peabody & Sherman
      • Muppets Most Wanted
      • Need for Speed
      • Non-Stop
      • Point and Shoot
      • RoboCop
      • Tracks
      • Transcendence
      • Veronica Mars
      • Winter's Tale
    • 2 Stars >
      • 300: Rise of an Empire
      • Alan Partridge
      • The Amazing Spider-Man 2
      • The Art of the Steal
      • Big Hero 6
      • Blended
      • Exodus: Gods and Kings
      • The French Minister
      • Hellion
      • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
      • Into the Storm
      • Into the Woods
      • John Wick
      • Laggies
      • Land Ho!
      • A Long Way Down
      • Lucy
      • Maleficent
      • Neighbors
      • Noah
      • The Nut Job
      • Oculus
      • Rio 2
      • That Awkward Moment
      • What If
      • When the Game Stands Tall
      • Wish I Was Here
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Big Eyes
      • The Fault in Our Stars
      • I, Frankenstein
      • Pompeii
      • Transformers: Age of Extinction
    • 1 Star >
      • Brick Mansions
      • The Identical
      • Ride Along
      • Son of God
      • Tusk
      • Vampire Academy
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Left Behind
      • The Legend of Hercules
      • Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
    • Zero Stars >
      • A Haunted House 2
  • 2013 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • 12 Years A Slave
      • Frances Ha
      • The Gatekeepers
      • Gravity
      • Her
      • Lone Survivor
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Stoker
      • We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • All Is Lost
      • August: Osage County
      • Before Midnight
      • The Bling Ring
      • Captain Phillips
      • Fruitvale Station
      • God Loves Uganda
      • The Great Beauty
      • Inside Llewyn Davis
      • The Patience Stone
      • The Wolf of Wall Street
      • You're Next
    • 3 Stars >
      • Ain't Them Bodies Saints
      • American Hustle
      • The Company You Keep
      • Dead Man Down
      • Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay
      • Don Jon
      • The East
      • Ender's Game
      • The Great Gatsby
      • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
      • The Invisible Woman
      • Iron Man 3
      • Labor Day
      • LUV
      • Man of Steel
      • No
      • Oblivion
      • Pacific Rim
      • The Place Beyond the Pines
      • Saving Mr. Banks
      • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
      • Side Effects
      • Star Trek Into Darkness
      • Thanks for Sharing
      • Thor: The Dark World
      • Tim's Vermeer
      • Upside Down
      • Warm Bodies
      • World War Z
      • The World's End
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Beyond the Hills
      • The Book Thief
      • Carrie
      • Emperor
      • Fast & Furious 6
      • Gloria
      • The Iceman
      • In a World...
      • Love Is All You Need
      • Mama
      • Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
      • Nebraska
      • Oldboy
      • Olympus Has Fallen
      • Prisoners
      • The Reluctant Fundamentalist
      • Rush
      • Snitch
      • This Is the End
      • Trance
    • 2 Stars >
      • Byzantium
      • The Counselor
      • Disconnect
      • G.I. Joe: Retaliation
      • Gangster Squad
      • Grudge Match
      • Jack the Giant Slayer
      • Machete Kills
      • Now You See Me
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Drinking Buddies
      • The Family
      • Girl Most Likely
      • Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
      • The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
      • The Lone Ranger
      • Parker
    • 1 Star >
      • The Hangover Part III
      • A Haunted House
      • John Dies at the End
      • The Last Stand
      • Oz the Great and Powerful
      • Spring Breakers
    • 0.5 Stars >
      • Escape from Tomorrow
      • Evil Dead
      • A Good Day to Die Hard
  • 2012 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • Argo
      • Bernie
      • Cloud Atlas
      • Django Unchained
      • Lincoln
      • Take this Waltz
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • 5 Broken Cameras
      • Amour
      • Arbitrage
      • Chronicle
      • Looper
      • Moonrise Kingdom
      • The Perks of Being a Wallflower
      • The Queen of Versailles
      • The Raid: Redemption
      • Skyfall
      • The Woman in the Fifth
    • 3 Stars >
      • Act of Valor
      • American Reunion
      • Anna Karenina
      • The Avengers
      • Beasts of the Southern Wild
      • Celeste & Jesse Forever
      • The Dark Knight Rises
      • Frankenweenie
      • Haywire
      • Hitchcock
      • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
      • The Master
      • Not Fade Away
      • Oslo, August 31st
      • The Other Dream Team
      • The Sessions
      • Seven Psychopaths
      • Silver Linings Playbook
      • Sleepwalk With Me
      • To Rome with Love
      • Your Sister's Sister
      • Zero Dark Thirty
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • The Amazing Spider-Man
      • Farewell, My Queen
      • The Hunger Games
      • The Oranges
      • Robot & Frank
      • Safe House
      • Safety Not Guaranteed
    • 2 Stars >
      • The Deep Blue Sea
      • Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
      • Taken 2
      • The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • The Bourne Legacy
      • Damsels in Distress
      • Lockout
      • Underworld: Awakening
      • Wrath of the Titans
    • 1 Star >
      • 2 Days in New York
  • 2011 Films
    • 4 Stars >
      • Another Earth
      • The Artist
      • Hugo
      • Midnight in Paris
    • 3.5 Stars >
      • 50/50
      • The Devil's Double
      • Drive
      • The Hedgehog
      • The Help
      • The Ides of March
      • J. Edgar
      • The Mill and the Cross
      • My Afternoons with Margueritte
      • My Week with Marilyn
      • Mysteries of Lisbon
      • The Skin I Live In
      • Super 8
      • Young Adult
    • 3 Stars >
      • Albert Nobbs
      • Anonymous
      • Attack the Block
      • Bellflower
      • Circumstance
      • Colombiana
      • The Future
      • Happy, Happy
      • Incendies
      • Jane Eyre
      • Limitless
      • Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
      • Moneyball
      • The Names of Love
      • Page One: Inside the New York Times
      • Pianomania
      • Queen to Play
      • Rise of the Planet of the Apes
      • Senna
      • Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
      • Tower Heist
      • The Trip
      • Undefeated
      • A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
      • The Way
      • The Whistleblower
    • 2.5 Stars >
      • Captain America: The First Avenger
      • Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
      • Crazy, Stupid, Love
      • Griff the Invisible
      • The Guard
      • Hanna
      • The Interrupters
      • The Iron Lady
      • Killer Elite
      • Love Crime
      • The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby
      • Margin Call
      • The Tree of Life
      • The Turin Horse
    • 2 Stars >
      • Bad Teacher
      • Blackthorn
      • Cowboys & Aliens
      • The Debt
      • The Descendants
      • Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
      • The Double Hour
      • Higher Ground
      • Immortals
      • In Darkness
      • Shame
      • Take Shelter
    • 1.5 Stars >
      • Brighton Rock
      • Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
      • Martha Marcy May Marlene
      • One Day
      • Priest
      • Restless
    • 1 Star >
      • The Three Musketeers
      • Toast
      • Transformers: Dark of the Moon
  • Misc...
    • 2020 AFI DOCs Film Festival
    • 2020 Academy Award Best Documentary Short Films
    • 2019 Middleburg Film Festival
    • 2019 AFI DOCS Film Festival
    • 2018 AFI DOCS Film Festival
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Miss Sloane

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Directed by: John Madden
Written by: Jonathan Perera
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alison Pill, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Lacy, Sam Waterston, John Lithgow, Chuck Shamata, Douglas Smith, Meghann Fahy, Raoul Bhaneja, Grace Lynn Kung, Al Mukadam, Noah Robbins, Lucy Owen, Ennis Esmer, David Wilson Barnes
Drama/Thriller - 132 min          Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 9 Dec 2016

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If you’re not paying attention to where you are on the west side of Washington D.C.’s red line, you can always tell when you reach the Farragut North stop; this is K Street.  The suits you see board and get off are that much sharper than the one you’re wearing.  Everybody is crisp in black, white shirt, and a calm tie.  The hair is just so and you can check your hair in the polished shoe shine.  Miss Sloane is a rare behind-the-scenes look at mega-powerful D.C. lobbying firms.  The calculated efforts to sway voting politicians and the chests full of cash to fill their campaign coffers emerge from these firms trying to kill the latest gun control proposal or Obamacare.  Miss Sloane is a political thriller at full sprint.  The actors fling the dialogue at light speed and you’d better be paying attention; they are not going to say it again.

Best known for his Oscar-devouring film Shakespeare in Love, director John Madden moves away from his two recent Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films and tackles live-wire D.C. culture.  I was excited at first to see an actual film shot in D.C., an extremely rare event, but just like everything else claiming to be set in D.C., Madden shot Miss Sloane in Canada.  It’s convincing though.  The exteriors are believable D.C. streets and the glossy buildings and Senate hearing room pass the test.  The most surprising fact concerning how Miss Sloane made it to the big screen is its screenwriter.

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Miss Sloane is Jonathan Perera’s first script.  Perera isn’t even from D.C., let alone the U.S.; he’s a British lawyer.  For someone not from here and unfamiliar with the town, Perera nails the back-and-forth conversations between lobbyists who are all the most gifted person in the room trying to one-up each other through verbal jousting matches.  The acknowledged Alpha and Omega of the lobbying world is Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain, The Huntsman: Winter's War).  This workaholic woman pops pills to make it through her 20 hour work day but consistently fires off top notch ideas at her leisure.

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Elizabeth Sloane is also built to win.  Scruples, principles, and ethical boundaries?  Leave those to the guy in second place.  No matter the cause, if Miss Sloane agrees to take up your issue, she will win no matter what and it doesn’t even particularly care if she believes in the merits of the case.  She’s a fire and forget missile; just step back and get out of her way.  Not many people know exactly what it is lobbyists do and according to Miss Sloane, you will not find an exact definition.  There are montages of intense research, efforts to force the hands of politicians by putting them in awkward public situations, and always being on the lookout for the blindside attack from your peers.

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I wonder if Miss Sloane would still be as intriguing if it was Mr. Sloane.  Chastain plays Miss Sloane as if she were just one of the guys, but she is so brash and callous that these personality traits are amplified because she is considered the fairer sex.  It is because of her gender that the gun control lobby comes calling; they believe she is the right person to convince American ladies to argue against the latest sensible gun control bill.  Not immediately sold on the idea, Sloane accepts the offer of the bill’s competition laid out by Rodolfo Schmidt (Mark Strong, Kingsman: The Secret Service), the leader of a noticeably lesser tier lobbying firm.

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Why does Elizabeth take the offer?  The challenge.  Here is a losing cause nobody in their right mind imagines can succeed, shepherding a gun control bill through Congress.  They are out-funded and out-manned, but if Elizabeth can get the bill passed, she will be considered the greatest lobbyist of all time.  Money and power do not immediately appear to be Elizabeth’s motivations in why she works herself into the ground and will most likely die of a heart attack at an early age.  I believe she wants fame.  If that means stepping on a few heads to get there, so be it.

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Told in flashback, we spend most of the film finding out why Elizabeth is sitting alone at a table in the beginning being grilled by a Senate panel convened to ferret out corruption.  Senator Sperling (John Lithgow, The Accountant) takes advantage of his platform to mock the powerful D.C. lobbyist and pin the blame on her for why the American public considers Congress one of the sleaziest operations in the country.  Be careful though, the audience learns very quickly Miss Sloane has calculated through all possibilities better than you did.  Give her the chance, and she may turn herself into the one asking questions here.  Jack Abramoff may be the most familiar name we can compare Elizabeth Sloane to, but she is in it to win, not to take her place in the good ol’ boy network.  Miss Sloane is a great time at the movies; it doesn’t hold up the best after you chew on it for a few days, but it is tense, intellectual, and comes with one hell of a pay off. ​

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