Considering our place in the world currently, many of the themes and topics on display in Irresistible, the latest film from writer/director Jon Stewart, seem alarmingly dated and not nearly as urgent […]
Review: Irresistible…Isn’t
Steve Prokopy
Review: Ella Fitzgerald’s Perfect Voice in the Spotlight in Just One of Those Things
Over her long and storied career, singer Ella Fitzgerald was given many titles, including the “First Lady of Song,” “First Lady of Scat,” and the list goes on. But what she did […]
Review: In Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, the Music’s a Hit; The Jokes, Less So
How do you make a film about two passionate Icelandic would-be musicians who succeed in becoming their country’s representative on the immensely popular Eurovision Song Contest show and not have a single […]
Review: Classic Comedy and Camp Films Revisited in Time Warp Volume 3
The final chapter in a three-part documentary series on the history of some of the most famous cult films in history, Time Warp, Vol. 3–Comedy & Camp focuses on works designed to […]
Review: A Teen’s First Love, Family Drama in Transformative Babyteeth
The vibrant Australian piece Babyteeth is an alarmingly strong drama about the sometimes strange array of people pulled into our orbit when we are at our most desperate and fractured. Written by […]
Review: Vivian Liberto Remembered as Johnny Cash’s First Wife in Touching New Documentary, My Darling Vivian
One of the many films set to debut at the ultimately cancelled SXSW Film Festival back in March, My Darling Vivian is the account of Vivian Liberto, the first wife of then-up-and-coming […]
Review: Precision and Tension in Confined Spaces Make 7500 a Gripping Debut
I didn’t go back and check after I watched the first feature from German-born director Patrick Vollrath, 7500, but I’m fairly certain the bulk of it unspools in real time, and nearly […]
Review: You Should Have Left Should Have a Little More Depth
I think the message of writer/director David Koepp’s latest, You Should Have Left, is that in a perfect world, toxic men all get their comeuppance in the end. As we all know, […]
Review: With Empathy and Sensitivity, Seahorse Intimately Follows a Trans Pregnancy
With certain species of seahorse, the males give birth; with others, they have both male and female reproductive organs; still others can change gender depending on reproductive needs. None of this is […]
Review: A Film About Assisted Suicide, Exit Plan Is Surprisingly Uplifting
Wisely shedding its original Danish title Suicide Tourist, the second feature from director Jonas Alexander Arnby (When Animals Dream, a Cannes debut and one of my favorite films from Fantasia 2014)—teaming again […]
Review: Pete Davidson Does the Work to Grow Up in The King of Staten Island
There’s a scene early on in the new Judd Apatow-directed The King of Staten Island in which the central character, Scott Carlin (SNL’s Pete Davidson), is explaining to his oldest friend Kelsey […]
Review: Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods Is a Movie for This Moment
Timing is everything. Then again, great filmmaking is great filmmaking no matter the surroundings. But in the case of director Spike Lee’s latest, Da 5 Bloods, the film feels so of-the-moment that […]
