Nancy
Nancy (Andrea Riseborough), the title character of Christina Choe’s enthralling debut film, is an aspiring writer and a prolific liar. Utilizing fiction, both on the page and in her own life, provides...
View ArticleHearts Beat Loud
It you see as many films as the average critic it’s easy to harden your heart and become apathetic. But on rare occasions, something magical happens; a movie comes along that leaves you breathless,...
View ArticleEn el Séptimo Día
Jim McKay’s En el Séptimo Día begins with a brief but symbolic montage of images that establish the personality of Mexican immigrant José (Fernando Cardona) through his leisure activities. Arriving at...
View ArticleWestwood: Punk, Icon, Activist
What happens when a rebel is embraced by the establishment? Irreverent fashion designer Vivienne Westwood emerged from the shock tactics of ‘70s punk but by 1992 was awarded an OBE from the very queen...
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Rediscover: Festival
Music festivals are now a dime-a-dozen in the United States, interchangeable playgrounds where corporate sponsors dig their hooks into unsuspecting young people as they dance in unapologetic face...
View ArticleThe Workers Cup
Documenting construction workers on the projected site of the forthcoming World Cup in Qatar, The Workers Cup has moments of universality and profundity but is too unfocused and cynical to be more than...
View ArticleSuperFly
When a music video director makes the transition from short form album promotion to feature filmmaking, the least one can expect is a movie with a distinct visual style. Music video maven Director X’s...
View ArticleBeliever
Loosely adapted from the 2012 Johnnie To film Drug War, Believer is an unsettling procedural with flashes of nutty brilliance. It strikes a fascinating balance between calculated psychological drama...
View ArticleCriminally Underrated: The Gift (2000)
Though Sam Raimi has his ardent lovers and haters, his film The Gift is the rare member of his oeuvre to receive little attention from either camp. Released in late 2000, The Gift bombed at the box...
View ArticleWon’t You Be My Neighbor?
For a generation more inclined to remember such carefree explorations as Mr. Rogers’ tour of the crayon factory, it may come as some surprise that a first-season episode of “Mister Rogers’...
View ArticleOeuvre: Campion: Top of the Lake and Top of the Lake: China Girl
With the TV miniseries Top of the Lake and its successor Top of the Lake: China Girl, Jane Campion was able to embark on a longer exploration of the themes that define her best work: the damaged woman,...
View ArticleTag
On occasion yet all too rarely, audiences are given an American male-led comedy that embodies masculine qualities beyond the toxicity. Tag is one of these movies. The film follows a group of five...
View ArticleIncredibles 2
Of all the achievements Incredibles 2 pulls off with aplomb during its nearly two-hour runtime, the most surprising is a justification for its very existence. When Pixar announced a follow-up to its...
View ArticleThe Yellow Birds
There’s no other genre that cements the American identity quite like the war film. Where Westerns once portrayed the idealistic country we imagined ourselves to have, the war drama has shown us both...
View ArticleThe Year of Spectacular Men
Lea Thompson’s directorial debut, The Year of Spectacular Men is something of a family affair. It stars the ‘80s favorite’s two daughters Madelyn (who wrote the screenplay and composed the music) and...
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Revisit: The Piano Teacher
Teaching, by profession, is about the art of control. One has to figure out how to regulate attention spans, behaviors and the flow of knowledge. You have to read the room, know when to ease up on the...
View ArticleEating Animals
Watching Eating Animals, the new documentary by Christopher Dillon Quinn, reveals how inured we’ve become to our current corporate dystopia. The film is not only about the conditions in the factory...
View ArticleCounterfeiters
Even when the result isn’t a cinematic slam dunk, there’s always something thrilling about watching a micro-budget film made by a close circle of friends. The restless energy and sense of camaraderie...
View ArticleFrom the Streaming Vaults of Hell: A Family for Joe
Robert Mitchum: film-noir heavy, sitcom hobo? That was the terribly misguided idea behind A Family for Joe, a feature-length television pilot from 1990 that reportedly earned the highest test scores in...
View ArticleOeuvre: Brooks: The Producers
It’s the 1960s and Mel Brooks needs to get out of television. A force of nature, Brooks’ gregariousness and lack of filter landed him a gig in the legendary writers’ room of Sid Caesar’s Your Show of...
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