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‘ANORA’ A Blistering Anti-Romance That Only Sean Baker Could Make

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An up-and-coming twenty-something adult film star, a scorned Black transgender hooker, a down-on-her-luck Florida mom turning tricks, a well-endowed, washed-up male porn star, a Brooklyn stripper and sex worker—these are the protagonists of Sean Baker’s filmography, brought vividly to life in his uncompromising, deeply empathetic movies. To say he has a type is to state the obvious: the man likes to make movies about people whose work, in one form or another, is sex. And yet his subjects are all so different, so grounded in harsh realities, so uniquely broken, that to lump them together under their professions is perhaps to miss his distinctly humanist approach to storytelling. Through the lens of sex work, Baker crafts stories that reflect modern-day America in all its myriad challenges, where the boot of capitalism presses heavily upon underrepresented, working-class people like Jane (Starlet), Sin-Dee (Tangerine), Halley (The Florida Project), Mikey (Red Rocket), and Anora (Anora), each of whom struggles to find their American Dream in tragic, funny, jaded, and heartbreaking ways. Read More

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Singsong Sequel ‘JOKER: FOLIE Á DEUX’ Is Provocative Anti-Entertainment

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If you’re like me, when you first heard the title of Todd Phillips’ follow-up to his controversial 2019 smash hit Joker, you probably Googled “folie à deux.” It refers to a kind of shared insanity experienced by those closely connected. Pretentious? Absolutely—doubly so for a Joker sequel—but it promised more than just your standard superhero/villain fare. Especially when we learned the film would be a love story between Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck/Joker and a new take on Harley Quinn, played by none other than Lady Gaga. Then came the kicker: it’s a “jukebox musical.” Doubts redoubled. Much like the first film sparked a million think pieces, fan adoration, cultural backlash, and Oscar plaudits, Joker: Folie à Deux is sure to rile up the masses—but this time for a very different reason. It’s an aggressive form of provocative anti-entertainment. Read More

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Demi Moore is Breathtaking in Body Horror Triumph ‘THE SUBSTANCE’

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Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is staring down the barrel of her 50th birthday, and her Hollywood star has more than a few cracks—both literal and metaphorical. To make matters worse, the once-popular aerobics queen just overheard her sleazy, keyed-up boss (played with pure snake oil charm by Dennis Quaid) plotting her replacement. The network wants someone younger, fresher, tighter in spandex. Enter a shadowy black-market pharma company with a miracle drug, the titular Substance, promising to rewind crucial time on Elizabeth’s biological clock. The promise is…misleading. As she drinks down the sketchy elixir of youth, she doesn’t just regain her youthful glow—she begins to lose herself, piece by horrifying piece, to the younger version she thought she so badly wanted. Read More

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Zoë Kravitz’s Electrifying ‘BLINK TWICE’ Delivers Deadly Thrills

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Tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) is in the midst of a rebrand. A year after an undisclosed incident sparked a public apology tour, he’s turned over a new leaf, diving into philanthropic efforts while secluding himself on a mysterious remote island. His claims of reform are complicated by rumors of debauchery—all-night parties, sketchy associates, an on-hand pharmacy of designer drugs. This does little to deter the eager Frida (Naomi Ackie), a jejune cocktail waitress working the gala his company KingTech is hosting. Frida may still be figuring things out, but one thing is certain—brushing shoulders with Slater, if only for the night, would be a memory worth making. Read More

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‘KINDS OF KINDNESS’ A Freaky Foray Into Yorgos’ Hilarious Depravity 

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A trio of demented fables make up Yorgos Lanthimos’ most recent film, Kinds of Kindness. An anthological miasma of the bizarre and misanthropic, Yorgos returns to his biting roots as a somewhat impenetrable provocateur, escaping easy explanation at every turn, armed with a razor sharp sense of satirical humor. Featuring an outstanding ensemble cast that cycles through various characters throughout the film’s distinct – and mostly unconnected – three short, Kinds of Kindess filters the filmmaker’s most esoteric curiosities through an almost Black Mirror filter, making for a collection of works that are strong and striking on there own merit but add up to something entirely captivating when taken as a whole. Read More

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Quieter ‘FURIOSA’ Still a Furious Vision of Dystopian Moviemaking Mania, With Prequelitis

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Prequelitis, for the purposes of this review, refers to a narrative condition often present in movie prequels, where the story is constrained by the need to align with an already established endpoint. This means that the destination and eventual fate of a character are predetermined in a sense, which can put unnatural constraints on the creative freedom of any film. The challenge of prequelitis is to craft a compelling journey that leads to a known outcome, maintaining tension and interest despite the audience’s keen awareness of where the story will ultimately lead. Some do this masterfully (Andor, Better Call Saul) while others get bogged down in plot machinations and narrative clutter (Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Hobbit Trilogy). Both usually involve filling in backstory, explaining character motivations, plenty of franchise Easter Eggs, and setting up plot points that will pay off within this journey and in future storylines, all while maintaining an aesthetic and tonal consistency with its original intellectual property. Read More

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Apes Strong in Another Technical Marvel for Resilient Franchise with ‘KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES’

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That rare franchise that continues to find new ways to engage its IP by heading in exciting and interesting directions, The Planet of the Apes has flexed its simian strength once more. Coming off a terrific rebooted trilogy (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes) that earned its crown as one of the best – if not in conversation for the best – post-modern movie trilogies, director Wes Ball had some significant expectations to contend with. Thankfully, Ball has risen to the occasion, ushering in a new dawn of this saga, and gone to war for the kind of emotionally-driven, intellectually-satisfying narrative that Apes has carved out for itself in an increasingly anti-intellectual blockbuster market.  Read More

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‘CHALLENGERS’ Volleys Passion and Obsession in Steamy Love Triangle

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“You think you know what tennis is about but you don’t,” Zendaya’s tennis wunderkind Tashi Duncan scolds best friends Art and Patrick. Tennis, she says, is about a relationship. The beauty of the sport isn’t its winning – despite that being the thing that separates champions from wash-outs – it’s about the magic of two people hitting a ball with a racket in complete synchronicity. There the rest of the world falls away, leaving behind a chorus of grunts and pools of sweat, and physical artistry. So too is Challengers about tennis and a relationship. Though the relationship at the center of Luca Guadagnino’s steamy sports drama is neither a traditional doubles or singles match, as the two young men, bunkmates-turned-teammates-turned-rivals, find themselves sparring for the affections of one woman in an awkward, decades-spanning love triangle. Read More

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Towering ‘DUNE: PART TWO’ An Artful Masterclass in World Expansion 

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Denis Villeneuve is nothing short of a living maestro. No other working director can so skillfully transmogrify a heralded text into a jaw-dropping exercise in both art and commerce, making for a sci-fi epic that’s as artistically entrancing as it is nonstop thrilling. A masterclass in world expansion, Dune: Part Two picks up where the last chapter, released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in the doldrums of the lingering pandemic in 2021, left off while continuing to complicate the world of Arrakis, its mythology, its peoples, and what’s at stake for the entirety of Frank Herbert’s well-drawn universe. Villeneuve’s eleventh feature film presents a triumphant middle chapter that grapples with inner darkness, ruminative notions of prophecy and destiny, romantic entanglement, and familial tragedy in what is set to be one of the great trilogies and a true modern masterwork.  Read More

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Sundance ‘24: Buzzy and Mind-Bending ‘IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE’ Pulls Off a Terrific Magic Trick

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Eight former college friends reunite the evening before their friend’s wedding to play a heady game with far-reaching consequences. Such is the set-up for Greg Jardin’s utterly transfixing debut feature, a precisely-constructed explosion of creativity that smashes together the college reunion comedy, puzzle box thrillers, and a Shane Carruth-esque level of science-fiction precision. Skillfully paced to snatch your attention early on and never lose it for a moment, experiencing It’s What’s Inside is like watching a flawlessly executed magic trick for the very first time. Read More