After Yang
The second full-length feature film from writer and director Kogonada, the indie drama After Yang is set in a still-recognizable future where technology has advanced and allowed techno-sapiens, or...
View ArticleThe Changed
The Changed, from writer-director Michael Mongillo, is an enjoyable, engaging update of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers horror template whereby people’s bodies and minds are taken over by an unseen,...
View ArticleRevisit: Braindead (Dead Alive)
There is simply nothing like Peter Jackson’s 1992 film, Braindead (or Dead Alive, per its 1993 U.S. release). It doesn’t matter what title you go with; they’re interchangeable and inconsequential...
View ArticleHuda’s Salon
The opening scene of Huda’s Salon covers a lot of ground in one continuous shot without leaving the confines of the titular place of business. In those few minutes, the friendly chatter between...
View ArticleCriminally Underrated: 28 Days
Every time Wikipedia reminds me that the 28 Days (2000), starring Sandra Bullock as a struggling alcoholic and addict forced into rehab, received “generally negative reviews” from critics upon release,...
View ArticleNightride
The phone-driven drama of Locke (2013), the vehicle-focused thrills of Wheelman (2017), the neo-noir anxiety of Uncut Gems (2019). One could draw parallels between Stephen Fingleton’s latest and a...
View ArticleThe Exorcism of God
Without giving too much away, it must be said outright and upfront that the title of The Exorcism of God may not be a play on words. Indeed, it’s difficult to write a review of the movie without giving...
View ArticleOeuvre: Solondz: Dark Horse
Few people would ever accuse Todd Solondz of pandering to the zeitgeist, but the misanthropic provocateur did introduce perhaps his most innocuous socially awkward character during the early-2010s...
View ArticleUltrasound
Ultrasound, the first full-length feature film from Director Rob Schroeder, is a science fiction thriller following a man who finds himself in a strange couple’s house after his car breaks down. Glen...
View ArticleTurning Red
Mei, the hero of Domee Shi’s Pixar film Turning Red, is the sort of girl who associates test scores with goodness. I’m not just referring to academic achievement: to Mei and her mother, good grades are...
View ArticleOffseason
One thing is for certain: Director Mickey Keating and cinematographer Mac Fisken have crafted an off-kilter atmosphere in Offseason, a psychological thriller that may or may not become a supernatural...
View ArticleRediscover: High Art
In the indie movie boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, most movies about drugs had an abundance of style. You might even call it excess: Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream and Fear and Loathing in...
View ArticleFear
Several years ago, Bulgarian director Ivalyo Hristov was having a night out with some friends when a remarkable thing occurred, like a scene from a movie. On the road across from where he sat, a van...
View ArticleTyson’s Run
Tyson’s Run is a movie of warm feelings and blatant emotional cues, which has a couple of strong performances and a good number of contrivances attempting to prop up some false drama. Everything about...
View ArticleHoly Hell! The Ring Turns 20
When viewed through a modern horror lens, The Ring feels as outmoded as the VHS tape at the center of its creaky plot. Released in the same year that DVD first overtook VHS in home movie sales, Gore...
View ArticleOeuvre: Solondz: Wiener-Dog
Amid the hellfire of a year that was 2016 (which now looks like a comparative walk in the park), Todd Solondz released his seventh feature film, Wiener-Dog, a follow-up to his 1995 breakthrough,...
View ArticleThe Outfit
A good tailor can take the measure of a man with a single glance. This truism represents not only the outlook of the protagonist in The Outfit, but also the shape of the plot. Leonard Burling (Mark...
View ArticleX
Slasher films have had a minor resurgence. In the past year, there have been new entries in the Scream, Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises. All these sequels and remixes are oddly timid,...
View ArticleTethered
An unnecessary establishing voiceover in its opening moments undermines what otherwise would’ve been the few surprises offered by minimalist horror film Tethered. That bit of narration is played from a...
View ArticleMaster
Master digs deep into its story of two women – both of them Black, and one the first Black woman to be fulfilling her respective role at a prestigious college in the northeastern United States – and...
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