Kafkatesque ‘MEN’ Favors Allegory, Mood Over Plot
The latest from A24 relies on thematic and academic allusions to unspool a gender-horror film that's meager on plot and dense on WTF moments. Rory Kinnear is memorable as…
REVIEW
REVIEW
When Sam Raimi Lets Loose, ‘DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS’ Is Pure Dark Magic. Otherwise, Meh.
'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' is a tale of a corporate identity crisis; the punchline to what happens when a mediocre Marvel movie and a rip-roaring Sam Raimi…
REVIEW
‘THE NORTHMAN’, A Life of Death
A cinematic wonder of Viking violence and old-school melodramatic barbarity, ‘The Northman’ is an unrelenting and gruesome historic epic that showcases an absolutely berserk performance from Alexander Skarsgård and all…
REVIEW
Pointless ‘FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE’ Spends Last Shred of Goodwill on Political Allegory
Boring, dreary, and populated by unlikable characters, 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore' is an absolute chore. There’s no way this will be a hit so at least this will be…
LIST
The 10 Best Performances of 2021
With the Oscars set to finally wrap up the 2021 Awards season this evening, it’s worth looking past the politicking and star power of the major awards shows to what was truly the most outstanding performances of last year. Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, the Academy Awards sometimes get things...
FESTIVAL
SXSW ’22: Punchy ‘BODIES BODIES BODIES’ Subverts Slasher Formula
Everyone’s always a suspect in any slasher movie worth its salt and that’s true up until the very last moments in Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies. The film, which stars a slew of established and rising talent in the form of Maria Bakalova, Lee Pace, Amandla Stenberg, Chase Sui Wonders, Peter Davidson, and a scene-stealing...
FESTIVAL
SXSW ‘22: Yearning Homoerotic Thriller ‘IT IS IN US ALL’
When out-of-tower Hamish (Cosmo Jarvis) gets in a head-on-collision with Irish teenagers Callum and Evan (Rhys Mannion), only the later survives. Reeling from the fallout, the unscathed Evan and banged up Hamish wind up in a complicated dance, caught somewhere between trauma bonding and flirtation in a film that’s slow to reveal its hand. Their...
FESTIVAL
SXSW ‘22: ‘LINOLEUM’, A Life from Orbit
Jim Gaffigan stars as astronomer and public television personality Cameron Edwin in Colin West’s science fiction-tinged festival dramedy Linoleum. A bodega-version Bill Nye, Cameron leads the failing daily children’s show ‘Above & Beyond’ which after years of existing in obscurity has been picked up by a major network. The rub? Cameron will be replaced as...
FESTIVAL
SXSW ’22: Self-Help Influencer ‘SISSY’ Canceled in Satirical Psycho-Thriller
Bullied as a child, Sissy (Aisha Dee) thought she left behind her childhood name. She‘s Cecilia now and she’s a self-help influencer. Popular on social media under the handle “Sincerely Cecilia”, the trendy twenty-something shares glossy selfie videos about mindfulness and self-love, topics she actually knows nearly nothing about. Deep down, she’s a traumatized child;...
REVIEW
SXSW ’22: Mind-Blowing ‘EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE’ Is the Multiverse of Madness We Deserve
‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is a madcap, prismatic martial arts sci-fi family movie that refracts the entire scope of cinema and reality through the plight of a Chinese-American laundry…