Talk to Me
We have to accept at this point that at least for a whole generation (if not more), horror movies are going to be made in the shadow of Hereditary. Ari Aster’s chronicle of a family’s grief as...
View ArticleHaunted Mansion
In 2003, Walt Disney Pictures released two films based on its theme park rides, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Haunted Mansion. It was during a time when it was unheard...
View ArticleOeuvre: Altman: Thieves Like Us
“Thus did Romeo and Juliet consummate their first interview by falling madly in love with each other.” Just a little over halfway through Robert Altman’s ninth feature film, Thieves Like Us, we watch...
View ArticleSympathy for the Devil
Some directors could stand to watch more movies. They might realize that their own project, while precious to them, may not receive the same welcome elsewhere. Yuval Adler, the director of the thriller...
View ArticleThe Beasts
The Beasts opens with an artfully shot slow-motion sequence of two young men wrestling a wild horse to the ground by its neck. Such a scene sets the tone for Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s film, establishing the...
View ArticleNatty Knocks
Horror legacy director Dwight H. Little (Halloween 4) returns to suburbia to spin the tale of a killer that stalks one Californian town on Halloween night. Horror icons Danielle Harris, Robert Englund...
View ArticleWar Pony
Defining the core perspective behind a film like War Pony is complicated. Ideally, a definitive sense of authorship should be given over to the community being represented on screen – in this case, the...
View ArticleRevisit: Phoenix
A good ending can smooth over a lot. If a film has a conclusion that feels deeply satisfying – a strange cocktail of surprise and inevitability – then the viewer is quicker to forgive any potential...
View ArticleBobi Wine: The People’s President
Ugandan R&B sensation Bobi Wine sounds like the love child of Fela Kuti and KRS One. His smooth vocal tones over pulsating grooves result in an infectious mix of reggaeton-inspired dance music...
View ArticleKokomo City
On April 18th, 2023, Koko Da Doll was shot and killed in Atlanta, GA. Koko’s death marks at least the 11th violent crime perpetrated against a Black trans women in 2023, a community that has been...
View ArticleSusie Searches
It’s no secret that our society is obsessed with true crime. The stranger and more gruesome the case, the more we’re willing to tune in. Everything from serial killers to mysterious disappearances...
View ArticleFrom the Vaults of Streaming Hell: The Ground Beneath My Feet
There’s a short but key scene almost exactly halfway through The Ground Beneath My Feet where Austrian writer-director Marie Kreutzer performs the kind of magic that any artist should aspire to; she...
View ArticleThe Mistress
Over the past half-decade, we’ve seen a resurgence in quality horror films. From 2017’s Get Out to a slew of Blumhouse and A24 films, the genre has been revitalized through creative projects that...
View ArticleMiraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie
There is a curiosity-inducing undercurrent present throughout the elongated runtime of the feature length Disney+ to Netflix transplant Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie. The animation is...
View ArticleShortcomings
Comics, by their very nature, generally lend themselves to seemingly easy material for movie adaptations. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is probably the biggest example of this. However, oftentimes it’s...
View ArticleOeuvre: Altman: California Split (1974)
Robert Altman has always been interested in the minute details of the world around his characters – particularly when it comes to his ensemble pieces, but also in surprising cases, such as a movie like...
View ArticlePassages
How utterly loathsome can a protagonist become before the audience turns on them completely, and by that token, what makes the spectacle of their horribleness so electrifying to watch on-screen?...
View ArticleLOLA
LOLA offers a fresh spin to well-worn time travel and found footage tropes. In fact, the titular machine, created in the late ‘30s by a self-taught British inventor at the sprawling estate she shares...
View ArticleA Compassionate Spy
An uncharacteristically shallow effort from the great documentary filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams), A Compassionate Spy is half devoted to telling a crucial and relevant tale of espionage against a...
View ArticleRevisit: Morvern Callar
Grief takes many forms. Even more so when the death of a loved one is by their own hand. Lynne Ramsay’s sophomore feature, Morvern Callar (2002), combines this specific form of grief with the...
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