The 25 Best TV Shows of 2020

December 21, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Lists, Most Popular Tagged 2020, Best TV, Better Call Saul, Bojack Horseman, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dark, Dave, I Hate Suzie, I Know This Much is True, I May Destroy You, Mythic Quest, Normal People, Ozark, Pen15, Ramy, Schitt’s Creek, Servant, Ted Lasso, The Boys, The Flight Attendant, The Great, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Mandolorian, The Outsider, The Queen’s Gambit, The Umbrella Academy, What We Do in the Shadows 2 Comments

What can be said about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? It has been a nightmare year where routines were upended, social outings curbed, vacations put on indefinite hold. And with movie theaters around the country shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19, the only sense of adventure for many was on the small screen. At home. On the couch. And thank god that the year in television was as good as it was. Read More

Pixar’s Existential ‘SOUL’ Sparks Curiosity, Purpose

December 7, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Angela Bassett, Daveed Diggs, Jaime Foxx, Kemp Powers, Pete Docter, Pixar, Quest Love, Richard Ayoade, Soul, Tina Fey 1 Comment

As life-affirming and unabashedly profound as it is cerebrally curious and gorgeously animated, Pete Docter’s Soul is yet another Pixar masterwork. Easily the best output from the once-flawless studio since 2015’s Inside Out (also directed by Docter), Soul also ranks amongst Pixar’s best work to date, putting it in league with Toy Story 3, Ratatouille, Up, and Wall-E. Since their acquisition by Disney, Pixar has placed an increased focus on franchising, churning out decent-enough sequels but letting the once limitless creativity that once defined them fall by the wayside. As sequels began to dominate their slate, that spark of creativity dimmed. Though he hadn’t changed, that little Pixar light had a little less bounce in him. Expectations of grandeur lowered in sync. With Inside Out, Pixar nouveau reasserted themselves as a house of bold choices that played to the adults in the audience just as much as the children and Soul affirms this direction with its every fiber. Read More

Aching ‘NOMADLAND’ Retires Myth of American Exceptionalism

December 2, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Chloé Zhao, Frances McDormand, Jessica Bruder, Nomadland, Out in Theaters, Reviews 1 Comment

Leave it to a Chinese native to cut to the very soul of the American heartland. Inspired by Jessica Bruder’s 2017 nonfiction work “Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century,” Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Nomadland sees director Chloé Zhao (The Rider) sharpen her skill as an exposer of marginalized American truths. A ruminant tone-poem about frontierism and the warpath of capitalism on the old and aging, Nomadland uses the visual poetry of the American midwest as a backdrop for her story about Fern, a widowed gig-worker wandering the states in the run-down van she calls home. Read More

Cohen Evolves as ’BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM’ Offers an Outrageous and Hopeful Coda for Election Year US and A

October 21, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Anthony Hines, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Comedy, Dan Mazer, Dan Swimer, Erica Rivinoja, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern, Maria Bakalova, Nina Pedrad, Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen 1 Comment

Let’s get to the question that many are asking out of the way up top: is Borat Subsequent Moviefilm as good as the original? No. It’s certainly not. It isn’t really in the same league. But is that even really a fair question? Borat remains a generational comedy; a beloved favorite that’s held up as a cinematic standard to this day. Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 shockumentary is still such a comedic mainstay a decade and a half later that it’s still quoted regularly (who amongst us can muster the courage to say “my wife” not in Borat speak?) and has gone on to spawn an entire subgenre of cringe gotcha comedy, setting the table for the illustrious careers of protégés like Nathan Fielder and Eric Andre. Perhaps the better and more reasonable question then is: is Borat Subsequent Moviefilm a worthy and worthwhile follow-up? I would venture yes. Very much so. Read More

Benson and Moorhead’s ‘SYNCHRONIC’ A Grizzly, Drug-Induced Time Travel Mission

October 20, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Aaron Moorhead, Aaron Morehead, Ally Ioannides, Anthony Mackie, Horror, Jamie Dorian, Justin Benson, Katie Aselton, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Science Fiction, Synchronic 1 Comment

Hard-drinking New Orleans EMT Steve (Anthony Mackie) is having a hard go of it. In addition to a recent brain terminal cancer diagnosis, his line of work keeps putting him face-to-face with a series of strange and horrific accidents, such as a guy run through with a ceremonial sword, a raving woman with an anachronistic snake bite, and a man found dismembered down an elevator shaft with a grin stretched across his face. A stark reminder of his impending demise, the series of grizzly deaths seem connected to a new designer drug called Synchronic, from which the new film from visionaries Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead takes its name. Read More

NIGHTSTREAM 2020: ’LAPSIS’ Gives Financial Dystopia A Mindbending Makeover

October 11, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews, Most Popular Tagged Babe Howard, Dean Imperial, Lapsis, Madeline Wise, Nightstream, Nightstream 2020, Noah Hutton, Reviews, Sci-Fi Leave a comment

As boldly original a work of socially-conscience science fiction as we’re likely to see this year, Noah Hutton’s Lapsis is a stunning vision of financial dystopia that pokes at corporate injustice and tech-driven everyman ennui. Plopping a poignant deconstruction of the myth of getting ahead vis-a-vis head down labor atop a tight-constructed, well-realized sandbox, Lapsis unravels like a mystery box with something actually worthwhile at its center. Stylistically and visually similar to Charlie Brooker’s tech-driven worlds of Black Mirror, Lapsis imagines an alternative present-day where a new technology called Quantum has altered the fabric of modern society. Read More

NIGHTSTREAM 2020: ‘DINNER IN AMERICA’ Is An Aggressive Outsider Love Story That’s Punk As F*ck

October 10, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews, Most Popular Tagged Adam Rehmeier, Emily Skeggs, Festival Reviews, Kyle Gallner, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Nightstream 2020, Out in Theaters, Pat Healy, Reviews, Sean Rogers Leave a comment

Before punk officially died, it traversed the Midwestern suburbs. Rebellious teenagers found solace in the head-banging misanthropy of the music, what with its promotion of anti-establishment ideals and the “fuck you mom and dad” messages raging through boomboxes nationwide. Patty (Emily Skeggs) isn’t what you would traditionally call “rebellious” but the punk lives within her. Gangly, geeky and clumsy, she moshes quietly in her room. Patty squirrels this part of herself away from her ultra-square conservative family but when convict punk-rocker Simon (Kyle Gallner) bursts into her life like the Kool-Aid Man, everything changes. Read More

NIGHTSTREAM 2020: ’BLOODY HELL’ Crosses Australian Horror and ‘Iron Man’ to Excellent Effect

October 9, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews, Most Popular Tagged Alister Grierson, Ben O’Toole, Bloody Hell, Horror, Nightstream 2020, Reviews, Robert Benjamin 1 Comment

Australian horror movies have no qualms pushing buttons. Sean Byrne’s underrated classic The Loved Ones took teenage romantic obsession to new extremes. Wolf Creek toyed with audiences accustomed to a sense of justice within the slasher genre. Even The Babadook featured one of the most grating children in cinematic history. Buttons. Were. Pushed. Bloody Hell, the brainchild of writer Robert Benjamin and director Alister Grierson, follows proudly in the grand tradition of Australian horror, remarking upon the genre in irreverent fashion while adding a more-than-worthwhile entry to its growing legion. Read More

Brilliantly Offbeat ‘KAJILLIONAIRE’ A Singular Work of Weirdo Wonder

September 21, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Debra Winger, Evan Rachel Woods, Gina Rodriguez, Kajillionaire, NEON, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Richard Jenkins 2 Comments

Everyone wants to be a kajillionaire but not Robert (Richard Jenkins), Theresa (Debra Winger) and Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Woods). They just want to skim enough off the top to make ends meet. And skim they do. From mail theft to check forgery, stealing bottles of Voss from the First Class section to hawking free massage coupons, this nuclear trio of grifters is always on the scent of their next scam. But with the clock ticking on a $1,500 debt, the criminal parents turn to a new recruit, taking an outsider under their wing to one-up their grifts, much to the chagrin of the socially awkward Old Dolio. Read More

Believing Women and The Power of ‘THE INVISIBLE MAN’

February 26, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Aldis Hodge, Elisabeth Moss, Harriet Dyer, Horror, Leigh Whannell, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Storm Reid, The Invisible Man 1 Comment

The idiom of the wolf in sheep’s clothing is a particularly terrifying one. By virtue of his unassuming appearance, the predator becomes non-threatening. He can hide in plain sight and hunt with all the privilege of inconspicuousness. If looks could kill. The only thing worse than a predator in sheep’s skin is one with no skin at all. Those who lurk not in the shadows, but in the light of the lord. Luring the unsuspecting into their hidden traps. Predators do live among us but thankfully they are visible. With visibility comes consequence, accountability. The hunters have to at least make an effort to conceal their predatory behavior. We can, at the very least, see their fangs. And we can fight back. Read More