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SUICIDE SQUAD, AMATEUR NIGHT, FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE, GIBBY, LITTLE MEN and Other Aug 5 Openers — Reviews by Jennifer Merin

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suicide squad posterSuicide Squad will make you leap from your seats, but not for joy. Amateur Night is a wild ride comedy as an jobless-architect-turned chauffeur drives hookers to their trysts. Five Nights in Maine stars David Oyelowo and Dianne Weist in a somber drama about grief and mourning. Sun Choke tests the tangled, tawdry relationship between a psychotic 20-something woman and her manipulative caregiver. Gibby is a family drama about how a mischievous money helps cheer a teenager who’s grieving her mother’s death. In Little Men, two young boys (Theo Taplitz and Michael Barvieri, who’re superb) must end their parents’ feud so they can continue to be best friends. From Fat to Finish Line chronicles the remarkable journey of 12 strangers who support each other to lose weight, live healthier. Cristina” is a moving documentary about a woman who treats life-threatening cancer as a catalyst for living in the moment and experiencing boundless, uplifting love. Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny profiles the cinema auteur, giving insight into his films. Read the reviews….

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Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin is the Film Critic for Womens eNews and contributes the CINEMA CITIZEN blog for and is managing editor for Women on Film, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has served as a regular critic and film-related interviewer for The New York Press and About.com. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, The L.A. Times, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications. After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center's Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films. Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and then became the institute's Coordinator. While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute. Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian. Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and (currently) Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and, currently, for Westwood One's America In the Morning. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association in the Film, Documentary and TV branches and a voting member of the Black Reel Awards. For her AWFJ archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).