Review: The Boys in Red Hats Documents How a Viral Video Becomes Misunderstood
When I was asked to review a documentary titled The Boys in Red Hats, my first thought was of that image that went viral in January 2019: a teenaged boy […]
Review: Isabelle Huppert Goes from Cop to Pot Dealer in French Comedy Mama Weed
The “war on drugs” has been waged globally since the 1970s as a sort of never-ending campaign. Its combatants are many, and its casualties immeasurable. Its battlefields are city streets […]
Review: With a Killer Cast of Female Assassins, the Main Thing Lacking in Action-Packed Gunpowder Milkshake Is Heart
I’ll give points to the latest from Israeli director/co-writer Navot Papushado (Big Bad Wolves) for being big, loud, and splashy (mostly in hues of blood red), but I wish there […]
Review: A Vulnerable, Insightful Nicolas Cage Elevates Pig Into a Meditation on Life, Work and Companionship
The last Nicolas Cage movie I reviewed, the early 2020 release Color Out of Space, was a treat if only because the uneven sci-fi horror film lets Cage go literally […]
Review: Horror Filmmaker Eli Roth Digs into the Scary Reality of the Illegal Shark Trade in Fin
For his latest film, horror maestro Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, the Hostel movies, The Green Inferno) has decided to explore a very different type of horror with his documentary Fin […]
Review: The Loneliest Whale Charts the Scientific Research of (and Emotional Connection to) a Very Special Ocean Mammal
From writer/director Joshua Zeman (Cropsey, Netflix’s crime doc series “The Sons of Sam”) comes a nature documentary about perhaps the most famous whale on the planet. The whale is famous […]
Review: A Mother Goes to Brutal, Heartbreaking Lengths to Save Her Child in Son
There are few moments quite as exhilarating as watching a film from a relatively new director that is so well crafted that you cannot wait to see what they bring […]
Review: Fear Street: 1978 Follows the Town Curse to Camp, Where Kids Are the Unwitting Victims
The second chapter in the three-film series loosely adapted (by Zak Olkewicz and director Leigh Janiak) from the Fear Street books by R.L. Stine brings things back to the early […]
Review: Black Widow Finally Gives Marvel’s Most Impressive Fighter Her Due, Plus a Compelling Backstory
Although technically the long-delayed Black Widow film is said to be the first chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four, I find it interesting that everything Marvel has put […]
Review: Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation Parallels the Lives and Work of Two American Literary Icons
Though 13 years apart in age, mid-century American writers Truman Capote and (the elder) Tennessee Williams were longtime contemporaries, often friends and sometimes rivals. Both gay men in the midst […]
Review: I Carry You With Me Charts a Decades-Long Love Story in Dreamy Jewel Tones
Filmmaker Heidi Ewing is best known as one half of Loki Films; with her co-director Rachel Grady, the two have helmed some of the most interesting and human-centered documentaries of […]
Review: A Celebration of Music, Culture and Black Joy in Summer of Soul
Editor’s Note: this review was first posted as part of Third Coast Review’s Sundance Film Festival coverage. Starting my 2021 Sundance Film Festival off exactly how I needed to: with […]