The Phantom of the Open
The Phantom of the Open, the third feature film from Craig Roberts, is a whimsical, heart-warming take on a true story. In the late ‘70s, a life-long crane operator and working-class Englishman named...
View ArticleFire Island
“We filled the dozen weekends between Labor Day and Memorial Day with as much socializing, dancing, sun and sex as we could.” So writes Tom Bianchi in the introduction to his gorgeous and wistful...
View ArticleOeuvre: Claire Denis: White Material
Nearly every piece ever written about Claire Denis’ White Material focuses on the themes of race and colonialism. And for good reason. The 2009 film is undeniably centered on those topics. But what is...
View ArticleCrimes of the Future
Some people like to pop their pimples. It is easy to understand the appeal: they’re unsightly, uncomfortable and there is odd satisfaction when they pop – the release of pressure, the control we assert...
View ArticleNeptune Frost
Neptune Frost, a Rwandan/American science-fiction musical co-directed by Saul Williams and Anissa Uzeyman, was initially conceived as comic book and musical by multi-hyphenate actor/rapper/writer...
View ArticleBenediction
The name Siegfried Sassoon may not be immediately recognizable as one of the rising stars in poetry following the First World War, but writer/director Terence Davies certainly makes Sassoon’s name...
View ArticleThe Passenger
A sinister entity infects and takes possession of the people who encounter it, contorting them into demonic monsters of superhuman strength. It’s well-worn horror trope, combined in this case with a...
View ArticleRevisit: Quantum of Solace
Quantum of Solace attracted a muted reception from fans and critics upon its release in 2008, one that has remained with it over time. Two years after Daniel Craig was widely acclaimed for Casino...
View ArticleHustle
In a certain way, screenwriters Taylor Materne and Will Fetters don’t entirely escape the structure of the sports-based redemption drama in Hustle. In a few important ways, though, they, director...
View ArticleInterceptor
Why has Australian bestseller Matthew Reilly taken so long to bring his brand of action to the screen? Publishing since 1996, starting with standalone novels like intergalactic tournament thriller...
View ArticleCriminally Overrated: Tombstone
Pop culture does this weird thing every now and then where some obscure character, artist, historical figure or object becomes mainstream. One of the oddest and strongest examples of this phenomenon...
View ArticleOeuvre: Claire Denis: Bastards
First appearing as Commander Forestier in 1999’s Beau Travail, veteran actor Michel Subor quickly carved out a niche within Claire Denis’ filmography, an oeuvre in which familiar faces often pop up...
View ArticleJurassic World: Dominion
The premise of Jurassic World: Dominion realizes the nightmare scenario first implied by Jurassic Park 29 years ago. Namely, what would happen if these resurrected creatures somehow escaped a Costa...
View ArticleWyrm
At first, the coming-of-age film Wyrm looks like it could be dystopian science fiction. It has a high-concept conceit that serves as a metaphor for teenage angst, one that cripples and tortures its...
View ArticleTahara
Over the past several years, grief and trauma have seemingly become ubiquitous subjects in American film, serving as core themes in everything from the latest Marvel extravaganzas to works of elevated...
View ArticleLost Illusions
An epic-length, but still condensed, adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s serial novel of the same name – published in parts over the course of six years between 1837 and 1843 and as part of the great...
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Rediscover: The Worst Person in the World
Danish-Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World dials back the director’s penchant for intense melodrama to focus on the quieter torment of the endless struggle to assert some...
View ArticleThe Walk
Following the desegregation of school zones in the greater Boston area in the early 1970s, a crisis developed between the Black students being placed in a public school system that was previously...
View ArticleCriminally Underrated: Secondhand Lions
By many metrics, The Princess Bride is one of the greatest sick-day movies you could ever ask for. It has everything to make you feel better: “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters,...
View ArticleI’m Charlie Walker
Hunters Point, a historically impoverished, predominantly African American district of south-east San Francisco, has a fascinating social history; in 1966, riots flared up in the area after white...
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