Review: Good on Paper Might’ve Been Good Enough on Paper, but it’s Very Bad on Screen
The biggest problem with Good on Paper, a film based on a true story that’s based on a lie (stay with me here) that is rife with problematic moments, is that […]
Lisa Trifone is Managing Editor and a Film Critic at Third Coast Review. A Rotten Tomatoes approved critic, she is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Find more of Lisa's work at SomebodysMiracle.com
Review: All Light, Everywhere Explores Bias, Perspective and Vision Throughout History and in Today’s Communities
If it’s possible for a film to be both deeply meditative and startlingly evocative at the same time, All Light, Everywhere may just be that film. A documentary by Theo Anthony […]
Review: Imperfections Aside, In the Heights Is a Big, Bold Studio Musical Stacked with On-Screen Talent
It’s well established that translating a stage musical to the screen is not easy (remember Cats?!). If it’s not a filmed concert version of the stage show (see: Hamilton streaming on […]
Review: With a Vague and Messy Narrative, Super Frenchie Plays Like an Extended Home Movie
If you’ve heard of Super Frenchie, an oddly titled, forgettable documentary about a man who makes a living jumping off of cliffs, you are either already a fan of that man […]
Review: Disney Aims to Create a Following for Cruella; Barely Manages More than Great Costumes
On the surface, there’s nothing terribly objectionable about the idea to make a film centered on the villain of Disney’s classic animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Cruella De Vil […]
Review: Tiny Tim: King for a Day Recounts the Odd Musician’s Brief but Robust Fame and Influence
If the name Herbert Butros Khaury doesn’t ring a bell, fear not: the Manhattan-born musician popular in the 1960s and ’70s was better known by his stage name, Tiny Tim. […]
Review: From Survivors to Activists, Us Kids Follows Teens Determined to Change Country’s Gun Laws
It may be understandably difficult to watch a film like Us Kids, as it not only recounts some of the most horrific mass school shootings of recent memory but unblinkingly confronts […]
Review: Meaningless Brutality and Bloodshed Muddle Whatever Message is at the Center of New Order
Michel Franco’s New Order (or Nuevo Orden in its original Spanish) traveled quite the prestige film festival circuit last year, premiering at the Venice Film Festival and subsequently included in the Toronto […]
Review: In Perfumes, an Unlikely Friendship Helps Two Lost Souls Find Their Way Forward
A doyenne of French cinema teams up with a relatively new French filmmaker and the result is something entirely French and entirely charming. Perfumes (or the more French Les Parfums) is a […]
Review: New Filmmaking Duo Centers Horror Film The Djinn on Emotions as Much as on Scares
The Djinn is the kind of movie that proves that big budgets and a marquee cast are sometimes just icing on the independent filmmaking cake and that a perfectly entertaining […]
Review: Amy Adams Deserves Better than the Messy Mystery at the Center of The Woman in the Window
It’s always disappointing when a film doesn’t live up to expectations; it’s exponentially worse when that film comes from a filmmaker who is clearly capable of great things on screen. […]
Review: A Monarch’s Worth Story Is Muddled in Over-Written, if Well-Acted, Queen Marie
Western monarchies in the modern world are a tricky institution, to say the least. Over in England, the Queen is certainly having a rocky time of it recently, even as […]