Idiosyncratic Sweaty Betty is a documentary-cum-nonfiction of odd variety. Consisting of six scenes and six cuts and using a cast composed entirely of non-actors, it represents a new-age, inner city twist on the undiluted realism of Richard Linklater or Curtis Snow’s disconcertingly realistic Snow on Tha Bluff. Tactically less intellectual than Linklater and yet more...
Full of life, love and beauty, Cinderella is that rare product of uncommonly good intent that actually casts a spell. Accented by bips and bobs of architectural magic, Braunagh's live…
Exquisitely paced thanks to Chris Wyatt's smart editing of a bevy of hand-held shots and backed up a distressing sonic wave from David Holmes, '71 stuffs haunting sequences and war-addled…
Although the anthology film has seen a bit of a revival of late withiin the horror genre (three V/H/S films, ABCs of Death 1&2), Wild Tales seeks to raise the…
When it rains, it pours and this last week (much like the Seattle weather) held very little rain. A casual week at the theater held a screening of the tragically misunderstood Chappie as well as gripping British war film ’71 (review later this week.) At home, I consumed some new Cronenberg in the form of...
Look, I'm not here to convince you that you're going to like Chappie because in earnest, this is not a movie with the masses in mind. It's the kind of…
A not-so-eventful week in the theater meant I had some time to consume some serious film this week at home. Hitting wide release this past weekend were the aggressively underwhelming Focus and The Lazarus Effect. I also caught screenings of Disney’s new Cinderella and Wild Tales but can’t yet talk about them beyond alluding to...
Exiting the theater, one man turned to another and said, "It was alright but I can't imagine paying $10 to see it" and that pretty much hits the nail on…
With enough charm in the tanks to partially power a date night, Focus intermittently manages to overcome a narrative buckling under its lack of realism and forethought but only in…
My oh my, has it been a busy week. With the Oscars dominating most of my watching hours over the course of the past few weeks, last week had too little Weekly Review material to post and so all that material was pushed back. At home, I revisited Birdman, Whiplash and Gone Girl, three of...