Romance

‘Blue Crush’ (2002) battles breakers to become memorable 

Perusing internet lists of the best surfing films, I see “Blue Crush” (2002) is totally ignored by some and ranked highly by others. That sounds

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‘American Underdog’ (2021) gets at heart of Kurt Warner 

Zachary Levi looks like Kurt Warner, he’s athletic enough to play an NFL quarterback, and he’s youthful enough that we’ll give the movie a free

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‘Bait’ (2012) plants hook of grocery-store shark horror 

As the shark subgenre of horror became increasingly glutted in the 21st century, it became important for a new movie to stand out, to have the

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‘They Came to Baghdad’ (1951) a vibrant Mideast adventure 

Positioned between World War II and the Cold War, “They Came to Baghdad” (1951) is a contender for Agatha Christie’s elite spy adventure novel. It’s

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‘Dealing’ (1972) a still-relevant time capsule of Drug War 

“Comedy” is one of the categories IMDb lists for “Dealing, or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues” (1972). But this is the driest kind of comedy

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Dark horror-comedy serves up ‘Fresh’ dating insights 

If you tend to take spoiler warnings casually, take it more seriously with “Fresh” (Hulu) when it comes up later in this post. Writer Lauryn Kahn

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‘Shark Night’ (2011) shallow but humorously entertaining 

“Back to the Future Part II” (1989) imagines “Jaws 19” hitting theaters in 2015. Rather surprisingly, that franchise didn’t have another entry after the fourth

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‘Superhero Movie’ (2008) a predictable ‘Spider-Man’ spoof

“Airplane!” (1980) used the exact plot of “Zero Hour!” and added exaggerations and absurdities to hilarious effect. “Superhero Movie” (2008) — produced by “Airplane!’s” David

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Traucki’s ‘The Reef’ (2011) delivers stark shark terror 

“Jaws” (1975) was a famously expensive and physically punishing production, mostly because it used a mechanical shark. But the film was intense, and a classic,

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‘Dead Zone’ (1983) a lively translation, thanks to Walken 

“The Dead Zone” (1983) has two essential ingredients for turning Stephen King’s sprawling, light-on-plot 1979 novel into a compelling film. One is Jeffrey Boam’s screenplay,

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