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Charm City Kings

2020

Angel Manuel Soto

Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Teyonah Parris, Jamaal Burcher, William Catlett ...

5.5

154

Drama Fourteen-year-old Mouse (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) desperately wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders who rule the summertime streets. His older brother, Stro, was their top rider before his tragic death—a loss that consumes Mouse as much as his passion for bikes. Mouse’s mom (Teyonah Parris) and his police mentor, Detective Rivers (William Catlett), work overtime to help the charismatic teen ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Amy Nicholson Variety	"It’s inspired by the 2013 documentary '12 O’Clock Boys' (...) [Its] truly ridiculous plot choices (...) are its own invention, bolted onto a likable, if formulaic, charmer."	NEU
United States	Robert Daniels The Playlist	"[It] is beautiful and important, unabashedly Black, yet rarely traumatic, and almost always determined statement. Soto has crafted an incredible empathetic narrative"	POS
United Kingdom	Anthony Kaufman Screendaily	"'Charm City Kings' is a by turns a poignant and clichéd coming-of-age tale about growing up poor and black in an American city"	NEU
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"Despite a lot of familiar beats, the potential of the original comes through, with a sentimental portrait of childhood dreamers and the reckless men who inspire them."	POS
United States	Beandrea July The Hollywood Reporter	"A disappointing look at Baltimore’s dirt bike scene (...) 'Charm City Kings' doesn’t really show us anything we haven’t seen before	NEU
United States	Carlos Aguilar AV Club	"Soto maintains an even-handed tone, at once thoughtful and tense (...) [It] distinguishes itself from similar fare not just through its location and eye-popping bikes but also with the believably imperfect people that populate it"	POS
United States	Manohla Dargis The New York Times	"There are moments of great athleticism and beauty in these scenes, which help lift this overly, at times ponderously plotted movie"	NEU
United States	Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"Its abundance of plot contrivances in the final act and overly scripted dialogue hold it back from greatness, but two excellent performers overcome all of this familiarity (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	David Fear Rolling Stone	"You’re watching something simply spinning its wheels until it runs out of gas (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Stephanie Zacharek Time	"The movie works because its details are layered so deftly, and many of them are unexpected"	POS

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