Movie Reviews & News

Get the latest news about what's going on at the Tropic, plus movie reviews from our in-house critics, Shirrel Rhoades and Ian Brockway. You’ll also find reviews from film festivals and advance screening movies. Want to make sure you never miss a thing? Follow the Tropic on Facebook for daily updates!

Front Row at the Movies: Stop Making Sense

“Stop Making Sense,” directed by noted filmmaker Jonathan Demme (“Silence of the Lambs”), is considered one of the best concert films ever released. Now you can catch this newly restored 4K version of “Stop Making Sense” at Tropic Cinema. After its IMAX run, the film is only showing in a handful of movie houses across the country.

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Front Row at the Movies: Amerikatsi

Critic Hope Madden calls it “a heartfelt love letter to Armenia and the resilience of its people.” Despite the dark subject matter, you will find that “Amerikatsi” is an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser. In short, it’s about hope and the art of survival in the worse of conditions.

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Tropic Sprockets: Bottoms

While the episodes are quite like a cartoon with lots of in jokes that seem improvisational and private, the film has a subversive edge reminiscent of “Heathers” (1989) or the work of John Waters.

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Front Row at the Movies: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

Attention Swifties: I normally review a film simultaneous with its release date … but I can’t afford to wait to tell you about the new Taylor Swift concert film coming to the Tropic Cinema, else tickets will be sold out.

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Tropic Sprockets: Fremont

Taking a cue from Jim Jarmusch, director Babak Jalali’s “Fremont” is an off kilter look at an immigrant experience from the viewpoint of a young woman. Immersive and engaging albeit at a leisurely pace, the film hooks you with crisp black and white imagery and dry laughs.

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Tropic Sprockets: Jules

All performances are solid, making this into a kind of wistful Twilight Zone film blended with “Cocoon” (1985). Along with its fanciful spirit, the film is a meditation on friendships and desire in the face of aging.

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Tropic Sprockets: Once Were Brothers

Longtime friend Martin Scorsese appears along with Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, Taj Mahal, and Eric Clapton, all of them in awe of the five members: Robertson, Helm, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel.

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Front Row at the Movies: Once Were Brothers

This is Robbie Robertson telling the story of The Band, from his perspective. “Even at its most painful, the Band’s story captures something golden, incendiary and wistfully beautiful – so beautiful,’ Robertson reflects, “that it went up in flames.”

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Tropic Sprockets: Passages

Alfred Hitchcock once said that he views lovemaking as a murder scene and this film exemplifies that concept. "Passages" doesn’t shy away from the push and pulls of attraction and its supernatural magnetism.

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Front Row at the Movies: Amanda

This is a movie in the vein of “Ghost World” or “The Virgin Suicides” or even “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.” All the characters show different traits of malaise. After coming through the pandemic, where you led an isolated existence, you will identify.

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