To Dust
We often think about death in the abstract. Regardless of religious affiliation, many people visualize departed loved ones as looking down from a “better place” or at least having transcended their...
View ArticleThe Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot
With its B-movie conceit and nearly A-list production values, the misleadingly titled The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot doesn’t quite live up to either end of its conflicted spectrum. But...
View ArticleOeuvre: Carpenter: The Fog
John Carpenter tackles dastardly topics with unbridled flair, endless imagination and tactical filmmaking. The Fog is no exception; it’s a wickedly fun slasher film that completely flips the script on...
View ArticleMega Time Squad
“You mess with the past—you get screwed over.” Such is the wisdom that edutainment dispenses time and again, this nugget coming from the time travel episode of Chris Elliott’s insane prime-time...
View ArticleHotel by the River
After a few years of crafting films the way that Monet composed paintings—a series of quick impressions of the same scene made with slight but important variations—Sang-soo Hong has diverged from his...
View ArticleRediscover: Mikey and Nicky
In many of the films from the so-called “New Hollywood” era of the ‘70s, there is a raw masculinity on display on the screen. Most of the filmmakers responsible for the movement were young(ish),...
View ArticlePatrick
When the credits finish rolling on Patrick, the latest feature from Mandie Fletcher, veteran director of British comedy, you will find yourself questioning the last 90 minutes of your life. None of the...
View ArticleDonnybrook
The time has never been riper for a movie like Donnybrook. Its simultaneous attempt to rationalize the malaise of the “white working class” while viewing it under the most stereotypical, condescending...
View ArticleFrom the Vaults of Streaming Hell: Terrifier
Do you expect some storytelling, or at least perfunctory plot, with your killer clown trope? You best look elsewhere, because Damien Leone brings nothing but a mindless onslaught of grease-painted...
View ArticleOeuvre: Carpenter: Escape from New York
Though he has obviously shown himself to be adept at writing and directing both science fiction and horror, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York shows his ability to balance the two genres. Released...
View ArticleHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) are two of the only computer-animated films to truly rival the films of industry-leader Pixar, and the third film in the series,...
View ArticleThe Changeover
The Changeover intrigues in the first frame of 16-year-old Laura Chant (Erana James) spinning on a roundabout powered by the revving wheel of a motorbike. She and her friend spin faster and faster...
View ArticleStyx
A cynical way of dividing up the past 500 years of human history into the common periods of “early modern,” “modern” and “postmodern” eras is to look at the way white people regard black people....
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Rediscover: Memories of Underdevelopment
Cuba, once the playground for moneyed Americans, has since become an impregnable island just miles south of Florida. Following the Revolution, which saw Fidel Castro’s forces overthrow president...
View ArticleThe Iron Orchard
For director Paul Thomas Anderson, the cutthroat world of oil drilling produced an instant classic of American cinema. But in The Iron Orchard, a new film from Ty Roberts, it provides a colorful...
View ArticleSharkwater Extinction
With a title that suggests a gruesome SyFy horror movie, Sharkwater Extinction is a cautionary tale that presents a natural disaster that is all too real. The movie wastes no time immersing its...
View ArticleCriminally Underrated: Sucker Punch
Though it certainly isn’t a perfect movie, 2011’s Sucker Punch gives us a glimpse into the Zack Snyder that could have been had he not been swept into the booming superhero business. Sucker Punch was...
View ArticleGreta
There’s little room for subtlety in Neil Jordan’s Greta. The heavy-handed application of Javier’s Navarrete’s ponderously ominous score foreshadows dark twists and turns miles before they arrive. A...
View ArticleOeuvre: Carpenter: The Thing
Much of the tension in John Carpenter’s first decade of work hinges on the theme of overwhelming invasion. Often pushing protagonists to hole up in tight spaces, these invading forces change form from...
View ArticleThe Hole in the Ground
Lee Cronin’s debut feature The Hole in the Ground preys on the fear of someone close to us becoming unrecognizable. Early on, the film evokes the same ominous atmosphere of mounting dread that other...
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