post

‘TWISTERS’ Isn’t a Disaster But It Won’t Blow You Away Either 

Nearly 30 years after the release of Jan de Bont’s natural disaster thriller and meteoric box office hit Twister, the winds of its legacy blow once more. Swept up in the industry’s recent trend of mining intellectual property from nearly every existing franchise over the last century, Twisters emerges as a largely cynical attempt to reignite box office flames in the natural disaster genre stratosphere. Though its tracking to do some major numbers across international territories looking for an all-ages summer hit, one is left with the sinking feeling that with all the assembled talent and massive budget, we could just do so much better than this. Bolstered by the emerging talent of rising stars in the form of director Lee Isaac Chung (Best Picture nominee Minari) and current Hollywood it-guy Glenn Powell, Twisters isn’t a disaster, but it won’t blow you away either. Read More

post

SIFF ’18 Capsule Review: ‘HEARTS BEAT LOUD’

Nick Offerman plays a hipster record shop owner/has-been musician/doting father to the talented and driven Sam (Kiersey Clemons in a vibrant coming out party of a performance) as the two start an unlikely band in Brett Haley’s lovely indie musical Hearts Beat Loud. The pair share wonderful screen chemistry – Offerman has never been better – while the movie itself transforms into a warm blast of dreams, acceptance, and growing pains that’s luminously riddled with maturity. This charmed musical crowdpleaser hits all the right notes, delivering a bucket of all-the-feels alongside some delightfully head-bobbing tuneage. (B+) Read More

post

Out in Theaters: ‘AMERICAN HONEY’

There comes a time in every person’s life where they fracture from the life they once knew. For many people, that demarcation arrives in the form of college but for Star (Sasha Lane) such privileges are but a pipe dream, never once considered. Rather, her life veers from its turbulent tracks with the arrival of Jake (Shia LaBeouf) a charismatic snake oil salesman-type traveling with a band of misfit teens, drinking, smoking and jamming out to Ciara, Mazzy Star and Madeintyo their way across the poverty belt of the U.S.A. Read More