Out in Theaters: ‘THE MEG’
‘The Meg’ is at once aggressively stupid and aggressively banal, suffering a bad-to-the-bone script and some truly ghastly performances. The mega-shark action can be a shot of campy adrenaline when…
REVIEW
REVIEW
Out in Theaters: ‘UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB’
‘Unfriended: Dark Web’ is a marked improvement over its earlier model, smuggling some decent performances and an excess of bleak foreboding into this conceptual horror-thriller. Though it still lacks visceral…
REVIEW
Out in Theaters: ‘DAMSEL’
The Zellner’s daffy ‘Damsel’ presents a subversion of normal Western fare, trafficking two quirky, wildly enjoyable performances from Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikoska to make for some absurdist onscreen dynamite.
REVIEW
Out in Theaters: ‘SKYSCRAPER’
Big, dumb, get-the-job-done fun, ‘Skyscraper’ is both a testament to The Rock’s nigh-bottomless watchability and a litmus test for the depths of storytelling bankruptcy he’s willing to participate in. Both…
REVIEW
Out in Theaters: ‘THE FIRST PURGE’
Sassy, brutal and imbued with some relevant political bite, ‘The First Purge’ has a number of problems - it's also over-the-top, cheap-looking and tonally inconsistent - but a strong story,…
REVIEW
Out in Theaters: ‘OCEAN’S 8’
Entertainingly fluffy but problematic when you dig beneath the surface, Gary Ross’ ‘Ocean’s 8’ puts an all-women spin on the upscale heist series but misses the mark of genuine feminist…
FESTIVAL
SIFF ’18 Capsule Review: ‘DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT’
Recovery is a marathon not a sprint, not that the snarky wheelchair-bound protagonist of Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry would be able to stand for either. Telling the true story of celebrated, irreverent Portland cartoonist John Callahan, from his reckless drinking days to his untimely paralysis to his long tenure at AA, Van Sant’s latest...
REVIEW
Out in Theaters: ‘HEREDITARY’
Ranking up their with the great contemporary horror movies of our time, 'Hereditary' delivers the scares of 'The Conjuring' with the atmospherics of 'The Shining' all matched to a jaw-droppingly…
REVIEW
Out in Theaters: ‘HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES’
‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’ doesn’t have the cult appeal of John Cameron Mitchell’s ‘Hedwig’ but this experimental genre-bender is a wildly off-center punk-rock-tinged sci-fi-romantic romp, despite being…
FESTIVAL
SIFF ’18 Capsule Review: ‘RUIN ME’
This concept horror from Preston DeFrancis tries to combine the shlocky guesswork of a whodunnit in with the craze of Escape Rooms to middling effect. When ex-addict Alexandra (Marcienne Dwyer) accompanies boyfriend Nathan on Slasher Sleepout, the orchestrated haunt becomes menacingly real and the pair must fight for survival. Some of the narrative twists work...