Review: Frustratingly Familiar, Witchcraft in The Wretched Barely Casts a Spell
In any horror movie, whenever there are strange symbols carved into the sides of trees or the same said symbol made of twigs hanging from string in a basement, you […]
Review: Friendship Takes Center Stage in Retro, Likeable To the Stars
Sometimes the most quiet and unassuming films pack the heaviest blow when it comes to messages about how those in society who are deemed outsiders—or even undesirables—should be treasured and […]
Review: Delight in Someone, Somewhere, a Clever, Contemporary French Romance
French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch’s latest film is a clever, original romance wherein the two leads, clearly meant to be together, are too busy living their lives as neighbors who never […]
Review: Thousand Pieces of Gold Remains a Relevant, Beguiling Romance
We’re all using our time in self-isolation differently. For me, it’s a lot of watching films that—until a global pandemic had me home 24/7—were blindspots in my viewing history (or […]
Review: True History of the Kelly Gang is a Bloody, Brutal Revolution
In many ways, the latest work from director Justin Kurzel (whose last two films, Macbeth and Assassin’s Creed were collaborations with Michael Fassbender) is an equally brutal if male-centric companion […]
Review: Eating Up Easter Tries to Capture the Robust Culture, Many Challenges of Life on an Isolated Island
If your knowledge of Easter Island is limited to its imposing Moai statues—the centuries-old stone figures that draw thousands of tourists to the small island in the Pacific Ocean every […]
Review: Time Warp, Vol. 1 Digs Into Great Cult Films, and That’s Just the Beginning
The first of a three-part documentary series on the history of some of the most famous cult films in history (calling something a “famous” cult film may be a bit […]
Review: Why Don’t You Just Die! Brings Violence and Blood by the Bucketful
A staple at quite a few genre festival in 2019, Why Don’t You Just Die! is the explosive feature debut from Russian writer/director Kirill Sokolov. The film tells the story […]
Review: Incitement Makes a Gripping Thriller Out of Historical Drama
When tragedy strikes, attention understandably goes to those impacted by it; in the case of a political assassination, it’s an entire nation that grieves. On the night of November 4, […]
Review: Style Weighs Heavily in Dark Teen Drama Selah and the Spades
It could be that Selah and the Spades, the dark teen drama about cliques at a posh boarding school written and directed by Tayarisha Poe, comes to mean to teens […]
Review: Endings, Beginnings Wraps Predictable, Frustrating Drama in Poor Decisions
Perspective is everything, sometimes. When I read a description of the beginning of the new film Endings, Beginnings, from director/co-writer Drake Doremus (Like Crazy), it said something about the L.A.-based […]
Review: The Quarry Works Best with Two Strong Central Performances
The new film from director Scott Teems (That Evening Sun) is about suspicion. No one in this small Texas town really trusts anybody else, and usually its for good reason. […]