Sundance ’22: ‘EMERGENCY’ Effectively Mixes ‘Superbad’, ‘Blindspotting’

January 20, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Carey Williams, Donald Watkins, Emergency, RJ Cyler, Sundance, Sundance 2022 Leave a comment

A perfect way to officially launch the Sundance 2022, Emergency reimagines the Superbad formula through the lens of Blindspotting. Striking a well-oiled balance between drama and comedy, this riff on the “best friends on the verge of graduation” goes down some pretty harrowing rabbit holes, rarely pulling its punches as it explores prescient themes of racism, brotherhood, and Black excellence. Smartly-written, director Carey Williams’ killer debut explores black friendship and fraternity as straight-laced Kunle (Donald Watkins) and party animal Sean (RJ Cyler) prepare for a wild night of partying that goes off the rails in ways they never imagined. Read More

‘RED ROCKET’ is Magic Mike Meets Joe Dirt A.K.A. It’s Glorious

December 9, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Bree Elrod, Out in Theaters, Red Rocket, Reviews, Sean Baker, Simon Rex, Suzanna Son 2 Comments

Washed up porn star Mikey Sabre (Simon Rex) arrives by bus back in his hometown of Texas City, Texas. He’s beat up and sans belongings, bruised from some unseen brawl but still so motormouthed you’d think he were riding high on the Colombian marching powder. But Mikey doesn’t have the kind of money to fund such a habit. In fact, he has no money to his name. Which is why he’s in Texas City, Texas. Mikey hasn’t quite come crawling back to his estranged meth-head wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) to rekindle their extinguished flame but he does need to crash on her couch for a bit while he gets his affairs in order. If she’ll let him. Read More

Del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley’ A Sordid Tale of Geek Love and Snake Oil

December 2, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, David Strathairn, Guillermo del Toro, Nightmare Alley, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe 2 Comments

In circus nomenclature, a “geek” is the most run-down of men, almost always an alcoholic or junkie, who performs grotesqueries, like biting the heads off live animals, in front of jeering – but well-paying – audiences. The geek puts the “carnal” in carnival; reliably dirty of soul and desperate for work. He is the lowest in the act’s hierarchy because his role is easily replaceable, for it requires no skill other than a willingness to debase oneself publicly. The geek is to be gawked at, pitied, and feared, for he has fallen as low as any man can. Read More

Princess Diana Feels the Oppression of Royal Tradition in Masterful ‘SPENCER’

November 4, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Freddie Spry, Jack Farthing, Jack Nielen, Jacqueline Durran, Kristen Stewart, Pablo Larraín, Sally Hawkins, Sean Harris, Spencer, Stella Gonet, Steven Knight, Timothy Spall 1 Comment

Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) is terribly lost. Putting along rolling hills under the glowering gray English skies in her Porsche, she can’t find her way to the royal Sandringham House, where she is deigned to join the Royal Family for Christmas. But her being off-course runs much deeper. Diana’s disorientation in the very town she grew up in – in the shadow of the aforementioned seat of royalty no less – speaks to a growing sense of being out of place. Following the infidelity of her husband Prince Charles (Jack Farthing), Diana is nonetheless expected to play the part of dutiful wife but it’s a role she simply cannot swallow. Read More

Sweat and Tears: Villeneuve’s Breathtaking Space Opera Epic ‘DUNE’ Rules

October 18, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Dave Bautista, Denis Villeneuve, Dune, Jacqueline West, Jaiver Bardem, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac, Patrice Vermette, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgård, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya 4 Comments

Behold! Denis Villeneuve has adapted Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 science-fiction novel Dune with all the might and majesty of a true maestro. A verifiable fireworks-show of audio-visual brawn and storytelling prowess, Dune as translated by Villeneuve is a rare cinematic treat that implodes on the screen, sucking audiences into a dizzying vortex of feuding empires, space zen, and chosen-one heroics, resulting in one of the most electrifying science-fiction space operas of this generation and one of the very best films of the year. The only knock against it – and it is a reasonably-sized knock – is that this first film in the planned (but not yet green-lit) two-parter only encompasses half the total story, leaving viewers desperate for a conclusion that may or may not come to fruition. Read More

Psychosexual Fever Dream ‘TITANE’ Pushes All the Right Buttons

October 3, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Agathe Rousselle, Julia Ducournau, Reviews, Titane, Vincent Lindon 2 Comments

It’s worth prefacing my thoughts on Titane by reminding readers that Julia Ducournau’s Raw was my favorite film of 2017. Darkly funny and completely uncompromising, that cannibal coming-of-age horror sunk its teeth in deep to unspool a surprisingly thematic story of sexual appetites, family politics, and genetic disposition. I loved every minute of Ducournau’s irreverent storytelling; her evident hunger to show up fully formed with her debut film, and her reveling in the national bloodlust that is the French New Extremity movement revealed a filmmaking talent of untold potential. Read More

Social Horror ‘CANDYMAN’ Radically Addresses Black Trauma in Brutal Fashion

August 25, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Candyman, Colman Domingo, John Guleserian, Jordan Peele, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Nia DaCosta, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowes, Teyonah Parris, Win Rosenfeld, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II 2 Comments

For what it does right – and it does do plenty right – Bernard Rose’s 1992 cult horror-slasher Candyman feels like a dated product of its racially off-putting times. Hone in on where it focuses the spotlight: Virginia Madsen’s curious and lily white grad student Helen Lyle, out to deconstruct the urban myths of a hook-handed boogeyman terrorizing the Black community. A white woman in distress scouring the trauma of the African-American hood, Helen is a peculiar cypher for a story about the lingering horrors of race. Read More

Cathartic Documentary ‘ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT ANTHONY BOURDAIN’ Grapples with Dark Profundity

July 7, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Documentary, Morgan Neville, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain 2 Comments

I’d never watched a full episode of any of Anthony Bourdain’s various programs but I knew of and admired the man nonetheless. A New York line cook turned globe-trotting modern day philosopher, Bourdain embodied the idea that travel is a transformative business and Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain reveals a man changed – for the better, and the worse – for it. For Bourdain, a willingness to try anything once coupled with a desire to go to the furthest reaches of the globe to reveal an inner yearning and restlessness. Read More

A Ratchet Weekend Goes Viral in A24 Sex Work Drama ‘ZOLA’

June 28, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged A24, Colman Domingo, Janicza Bravo, Nicholas Braun, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Riley Keough, Taylour Paige, Zola 1 Comment

If you haven’t read the hysterically unhinged 148-tweet thread that details how the eponymous Aziah “Zola” King (Taylour Paige) and “this white bitch” Stefani (Riley Keough) fell out, fear not: Zola will gladly fill in all the gory deets for you. One of the buzziest breakout splashes from 2020’s Sundance Film Festival, Zola is a kinetic social media-influenced dark comedy that adapts what was deemed “the greatest stripper saga ever tweeted” with visual style and sardonic pizzaz to spare. Exploding with personality and a flair for Gen-Z garishness (with too many tweet-notification audio drops to count), the latest great from A24 traps audience, alongside the titular Zola, in a prison-stay of a weekend as everything goes horribly wrong. Before it all went viral. Read More

Tribeca 2021: Cloaked in Disillusion and Furs, ‘WILD MEN’ Battle Existential Crises

June 15, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews, Most Popular Tagged Bjørn Sundquist, Morten Pape, Rasmus Bjerg, Reviews, Sofie Gråbøl, Thomas Daneskov, Tribeca 2021, Vildmænd, Wild Men, Zak Youssef Leave a comment

In Thomas Daneskov’s Wild Men (original title Vildmænd), Martin (Rasmus Bjerg) has lost his way. A family man with a wife and two daughters at home, Martin’s absconded to the craggy mountains of Norway, clan in Viking attire and armed with a makeshift bow and arrow. He plans to get back to his roots and live off the land like his hunter/gather ancestors of 3000 years ago but his aspirations are beyond the reach of his skillset. We’re witness to Martin’s plentiful limitations as he hunts a goat, striking it in the haunch from afar but unable to track the bloody trail to his would-be dinner. Left instead to smash and charbroil a small toad. The next scene he wretches up his amphibian meal, hunched over and helpless, into the icy river below.