A Bit Naughty, A Bit Nice, ‘VIOLENT NIGHT’ Lives Up to Its Aggressive Holiday Title

November 29, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Beverly D’Angelo, David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Leah Brady, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Tommy Wirkola, Violent Night Leave a comment

There is perhaps no man in Hollywood who more perfectly exemplifies the idyllic dad bod than David Harbour. There’s something inimitable about his physique – not quite towering at 6’3” but still imposing; a man of considerable mass. From his turn in the mega-hit Netflix series Stranger Things to roles in Black Widow and as the titular figure in Neil Marshall’s ill-fated Hellboy reboot, Harbour leans into the physicality of his characters. It informs his intimating demeanor – or is just cheaply poked at for “fat jokes” (for shame Marvel, for shame.) Even when playing a gritty version of Oscar the Grouch on an SNL digital skit, Harbour imposes. Read More

Cannibals Need Companionship Too In Rangy ‘BONES AND ALL’

November 23, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged André Holland, Arseni Khachaturan, Bones and All, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, Luca Guadagnino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Taylor Russell 2 Comments

Sympathy for The Devil

Luca Guadagnino has made a career of sucking every last ounce of fat from the narrative bones of his projects. From his arthouse critical darling Call Me By Your Name, a sweeping pedophilic queer romance, to his celebrated – though gaudy and overwrought – remake of Suspiria, Guadagnino suckles on the teat of indulgence. This viewer has found Guadagnino’s style overtly lugubrious, feigning depth by overstaying his welcome, applying a Terrence Malick aesthetic template to otherwise intriguing conceptual pitches. This is no different in his latest adaptation, Bones and All, a cannibal love story that 100% should be my jam but wasn’t entirely. Read More

Weinstein Investigative Procedural ‘SHE SAID’ Puts the Whole System on Trial

November 18, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Carey Mulligan, Maria Schrader, Out in Theaters, Patricia Clarkson, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Reviews, She Said, Zoe Kazan Leave a comment

Nasty Women Unite

An effective tribute to the institution of the free press, Maria Schrader’s She Said traces the roots of the #MeToo movement back to a high-stakes investigation into Miramax’s super-producer, the now-incarcerated Harvey Weinstein. Told through the lens of an old-school investigative procedural, Schrader’s film is an examination of individual injustices against specific women – both familiar high-profile actresses and lesser-known assistants who suffered Weinstein’s advances equally – and the structural hierarchy put in place to protect their violators. Read More

‘THE MENU’ Deliciously Satirizes the Cult of Kitchen

November 17, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Acturo Castro, Anya Taylor-Joy, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, John Leguizamo, Mark Mylod, Mark St. Cyr, Nicolas Hoult, Out in Theaters, Ralph Fiennes, Reviews, Rob Yang, Seth Reiss, The Menu, Will Tracy 1 Comment

A Taste of Honey

Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy) is not supposed to be dining out at Hawthorne. After all, a table at Hawthorne is amongst the most difficult reservations to land on the planet, held solely for the affluent, celebrities, and those with their own gravitational sphere of influence. From the moment she arrives at the esteemed remote island restaurant, Margot is out of place against the other diners. Esteemed critics, minor celebrities, finance bros – the usual suspects have gathered to taste the creations of Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). And then there’s Margot. The worst part? She doesn’t even really like the food. Read More

‘HALLOWEEN ENDS’ Simultaneously a Weird and Rote Send-Off to a Killer Icon

October 13, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Andi Matichak, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, Halloween, Halloween Ends, Horror, Jaime Lee Curtis, Out in Theaters, Paul Brad Logan, Reviews, Rohan Campbell 14 Comments

Evil Goes Viral

Even if Halloween Ends is a messy, weird, convoluted, predictable, and only quasi-satisfying conclusion to the 40-plus year Michael Myers saga, you have to give it credit for actually trying something new. For much of director David Gordon Green’s trilogy-capper and alleged conclusion to the franchise (at least for now), Mike Myers is MIA. He’s gone. Not involved. For the vast majority of the film, he exists moreso as the lingering idea of the nature of evil than as an actual hulking killer. Instead the focus is on an entirely new character, Corey (Rohan Campbell), a hapless teen who gets roped into a night of babysitting. One prank gone wrong later, Corey accidents kills his charge. Read More

‘THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN’ Examines the Tragic Hilarity of a Country at War With Itself

October 6, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Barry Keoghan, Ben Davis, Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, Kerry Condon, Martin McDonagh, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sheila Flitton, The Banshees of Inisherin Leave a comment

A Very Civil War

The year is 1923. In Inisherin, a small, remote island off the east coast of Ireland, the days are filled with an almost apocalyptic ennui. From across the bitter cold of the Atlantic, the report of gunfire and cannons signal the ongoing Irish Civil War. Ireland’s Civil War came on the heels of their War of Independence from Great Britain. And claimed even more lives. It pit brothers and friends against one another, forcing allies who had fought alongside each other just the year prior against England at each other’s throats. The war was deeply personal and subsequently bitter and bloody. Read More

‘SMILE’ Curses Audience With a Bloody Good Time

September 29, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Horror, Jessie T User, Kal Penn, Kevin Keppy, Kyle Gallner, Laura Hasn't Slept, Out in Theaters, Parker Finn, Reviews, Robin Weigert, Smile, Sosie Bacon 2 Comments

Grin and Bear It

For those who have experienced it, trauma becomes a dormant passenger. Quietly lurking, but always there behind the curtain. A pile of kindling awaiting a match. In Parker Finn’s supernatural-psychological horror movie Smile, trauma manifests as a suicide curse. When a therapist’s patients brutally kills herself in front of her, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) becomes the latest victim in a trauma cycle where a compulsion to commit suicide is passed on like a baton. In the world of Smile, if you watch someone kill themselves in spectacularly horrific fashion, you become doomed to die next.

‘BEAST’ a Shaggy Summer Slasher With Sharp Claws

August 18, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Baltasar Kormákur, Beast, Idris Elba, Iyana Halley, Leah Jeffries, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Ryan Engle., Sharlto Copley 1 Comment

Be Prepared

Idris Elba is Dr. Nate Samuels, a man visiting his late wife’s African homeland with his two teenage daughters in the predictable, playful creature feature Beast. The Savannah-set B-movie from director Baltasar Kormákur (Everest, 2 Guns) is a lean, mean summer slasher, all tightly-coiled, knuckle-headed muscle and razor-sharp claws lacking any more brain cells than absolutely required. A vengeful lion hunting humans for sport attacks the good doctor, his daughters Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Jeffries), and their anti-poacher family friend Martin (Sharlto Copley) while the group is on safari. They must lean on their wits to outsmart the beast and come out of the bush in one piece.

‘THIRTEEN LIVES’ Explores the Depths of Human Ingenuity and Bravery in Workmanlike Retelling

July 26, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Colin Farrell, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Ron Howard, Thirteen Lives, Viggo Mortensen 2 Comments

It Takes a Village

Thirteen Lives, Ron Howard’s dramatic retelling of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, takes an understatement approach to heroics, swerving away from the dramatic fanfare and teary-eyed grace notes of a typical Hollywood feature and relying instead on something more workmanlike, cut-and-dry, and almost minimalist. The true story that inspires Thirteen Lives has already been brilliantly told in National Geographic’s 2021 documentary The Rescue and Howard largely offers an unfussy translation of those events, without a lot else. In some senses, it could be argued that this feature film is an unnecessary addition to the story as it doesn’t provide any significant new wrinkles to the story as told by documentarians Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. But Howard’s ability to turn historical drama into nail-biting cinema makes this a worthwhile venture nonetheless, even for those acquainted with the details.
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‘NOPE’: Spielbergian Sci-Fi Falls to Earth, Proves Jordan Peele is Human

July 20, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brandan Perea, Daniel Kaluuya, Jordan Peele, Keke Palmer, Michael Wincott, Movies, Nicholas Monsour, Nope, Out in Theaters, Steven Yeun Leave a comment

Icarus Who Flew Too High…

The name Jordan Peele carries weight. The sketch comic turned horror auteur cut his teeth mocking the familiar. Often quite brilliantly. His skill as a caricaturist made Peele the perfect tool to spin something new from the weathered clichés he so often lampooned. He – more than most – knew the difference between frail and fresh. You mock enough knock-offs and you become the expert on what hasn’t been attempted yet. In time, the satirist became a sacred commodity. From his mind, two horror greats (Get Out, Us) were born. Nope, Peele’s third feature film, is one of the most hotly anticipated films of the summer, if not the entire year. All because of Jordan Peele. Read More