Out in Theaters: ‘TRANSPECOS’

September 6, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Clifton Collins Jr., Gabriel Luna, Greg Kwedar, Jeffrey Waldron, Johnny Simmons, Out in Theaters, Reviews, SXSW 2016, Transpecos Leave a comment

Like a lens flare cast from No Country For Old Men or an arresting never-before-seen side plot from Breaking Bad, Transpecos sets us on the belt buckle region of the Mexican-American border. In a diminutive shanty of a migra outpost – in essence, a tollbooth and boom barrier – three glorified crossing guards witness hell break loose when a cartel scheme goes belly up. Greg Kwedar’s daring debut is part sun-scotched moral meditation, part adrenaline-fueled character thriller, handsomely brought to life with crisp, concise storytelling and effective, affecting performances that casts a meaningful glance at border politics and the wolves that lie in wait. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘YOGA HOSERS’

September 2, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Harley Quinn Smith, Johnny Depp, Justin Long, Kevin Smith, Lily-Rose Melody Depp, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Worst of 2016, Yoga Hosers Leave a comment

Yoga Hosers, the second feature in the proposed True North trilogy, refers to the fact that the two main characters, both named Collen, like yoga (or at least writer/director Kevin Smith‘s grossly ignorant appropriation of yoga) and are hosers (Canada’s way of saying fool or dolt.) Convenient store clerks and high school students, the Colleens are frequently buried up to their eyeballs in their smartphones, snapping selfies, posting to the ‘gram and generally disengaging from the physical world around them. When an ancient army of foot-long Nazi sausage clones, called Bratzis, begins to attack their small Canadian town, the girls must put down their iPhones to save the day. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘COMPLETE UNKNOWN’

September 1, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Azita Ghanizada, Complete Unknown, Joshua Marston, Kathy Bate, Michael Chernus, Michael Shannon, Out in Theaters, Rachel Weisz, Reviews Leave a comment

An old flame forks her way back into the life of a married man in Joshua Martson‘s mysterious and somewhat satisfying Complete Unknown. Marston struck a chord with debut Maria Full of Grace, which played Sundance 12 years ago, giving a drug mule a face in performer Catalina Sandino Moreno. With Complete Unknown, the Californian director harnesses a selfsame ability to craft complex female leads but allows the narrative to come to tatters as it crests its many tonal shifts. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS’

August 31, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Arkapaw, Alexander Desplat, Alicia Vikander, Derek Cianfrance, Michael Fassbender, Out in Theaters, Rachel Weisz, Reviews, Romance, The Light Between Oceans Leave a comment

With The Light Between Oceans, Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) fancies himself both a ballerina and a first responder. The fine line between drippy sentimentality and earnest adult drama is a tightrope that Cianfrance tip-toes with all the testy bravado of Philippe Petie, loading his screen with moody tableaus of bereaved faces and decadent sealand landscapes. With great finesse, he probes the dour depths of the human spirit, framing a lurid moral no-no within a heartrending saga of romantic turmoil. Bottling the melancholy and adding pathos-laden Mentos until it erupts into a geyser of emotion, he applies the jaws of life to his audience, breaks open the collective chest cavity, steals your heart and tap dances all up on it. Read More

Out in Theaters: ’31’

August 31, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged 31, Horror, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Kevin Jackson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Meg Foster, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Rob Zombie, Sheri Moon Zombie Leave a comment

Rob Zombie‘s transition to the film world is, if nothing else, intriguing. After finding success uncharacteristic to the metal genre with band White Zombie, the metal rocker decided that basing album concepts off classic horror movies wasn’t cutting it. He wanted in on the game. By 1999, he had written an original script, The Crow: 2037, but the project was abandoned for a variety of reasons. Instead Zombie paired with Universal Studios to make his horror house debut, House of 1000 Corpses and so began his bloodstained path to 31. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘MORGAN’

August 30, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters, Uncategorized Tagged Anya Taylor-Joy, Boyd Holbrook, Chris Sullivan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kate Mara, Luke Scott, Michelle Yeoh, Morgan, Out in Theaters, Paul Giamatti, Reviews, Rose Leslie, Seth W. Owen, Toby Jones 1 Comment

When you assemble the likes of Kate Mara (House of Cards), Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) and Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) you’d expect all the girl power onboard to make for some exceptionally high voltage x-chromosome electricity. I mean we’re talking Ygritte, Sue Storm, Thomasin, Daisy Domergue and Wai Lin all huddled under one hot tin roof, sermonizing, philosophizing and fisticuffing under the purview of a Ridley Scott protege. But all the estrogen in the world can’t overpower Morgan’s tepid and over-familiar “lab monster” plot nor fuel its running-on-fumes third act.
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Out in Theaters: ‘MORRIS FROM AMERICA’

August 26, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chad Hartigan, Craig Robinson, Markees Christmas, Morris From America, Out in Theaters, Reviews 2 Comments

Debuting in a time where discussion on race in American cinema is at an absolute fever pitch, Morris From America explores the idea of cultural and personal identity through the lens of a 13-year old black aspiring free-styler living with his father (Craig Robinson) in the little white-washed German village of Heidelberg. Directed by Chad Hartigan, who won Sundance’s Best of Next prize in 2013 for This is Martin Bonner, Morris may be relatively light viewing but with fine performances across the board and a semi-charmed approach to talking about race and culture, Morris is a crowd-pleasing success story that could find love outside the festival circuit. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU’

August 25, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Barack Obama, Out in Theaters, Parkey Sawyers, Reviews, Richard Tanne, Southside With You, Tika Sumpter Leave a comment

First there was the rom-com. Then the zom-rom-com. Now we have the world’s first obam-rom-com. That characterization may not be entirely fair but it as effective a quick description as can be applied. Southside With You is a romantic drama, hemmed with political hues and tempered with racial tribunals though it may be, that stars Parkey Sawyers and Tika Sumpter as the to-be 44th POTUS and his First Lady respectively that sees Barack woo the future Mrs. Obama over the course of one fated-in-the-stars totally-not-a-date. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘DON’T BREATHE’

August 24, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Best of 2016, Don’t Breathe, Dylan Minnette, Fede Alvarez, Horror, Jane Levy, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Stephen Lang 1 Comment

Let me be clear, you probably can’t handle Don’t Breathe. Hitchcockian in concept and French New Wave in execution, the batshit bonkers new horror film from Fede Alvarez is a sanguine-stained guillotine of heinous intensity. The Uruguayan director has issued French extremity an American passport, inviting a true-to-form, heart-stopping gang bang of insane tension to inseminate the United States homeland. Consider everyone at last night’s world premiere unmistakably impregnanted by its brutal brilliance. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD’

August 18, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Documentaries, Out in Theaters Tagged Documentaries, Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Werner Herzog Leave a comment

Werner Herzog‘s dulcet tones ripple from the screen, warming the audience with his distinctive Herzogian accent and lolling cadence. His latest topic of interest: the internet. As can be expected of the revered German filmmaker and documentarian, Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World is a thoughtful study of the past, present and future of this thing we call the internet; how it originated, how it binds us, and how it could lead to the end of times. Read More