Sometimes, having its heart in the right place is enough to make a good movie just a little bit more endearing. Case in point: the new World War II-era drama Summerland about […]
I can’t think of a film—documentary or otherwise—with a more horrifying opening few minutes than the Ron Howard-directed documentary Rebuilding Paradise, which begins with mostly cell phone-captured footage of the residents of […]
Actress Sheila Vand is like a secret weapon in every movie she appears in. When the second generation Iranian-American, born in Los Angeles, shows up in a film, your eyes immediately go […]
Like the other horror film released this week (The Rental, reviewed here), Romola Garai’s Amulet aspires to something impressive within contemporary genre features. It is a gorgeous production (making her feature directorial debut, Garai […]
Two horror movies arrive to watch this week, and both of them feel as though they’re aiming for something grander than what the final product actually delivers. Both are by actors turned […]
There is something so unique and special about Canadian films. I’m not talking about filmmakers or actors from Canada—we’re got plenty of those in Hollywood—or movies that are shot in Canadian cities, […]
If there ever was the perfect match of filmmaker and source material, having Marjane Satrapi (who adapted and directed her own graphic novel about growing up in Iran, Persepolis) direct the life […]
Something weird happens at the beginning of Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, but it’s so subtle, so smoothly incorporated that it’s nearly imperceptible. Following the opening credits (displayed in a throwback fashion in cards […]
Last October during the Chicago International Film Festival (remember film festivals?), I saw two films within days of each other, and it struck me that they had similar haunting vibes and arguably […]
Written by J.M. Coetzee (based on his novel) and directed by Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent), Waiting for the Barbarians is set in a rundown but peaceful North African outpost that […]
There has rarely been a time in literary history where the writings of Flannery O’Connor were not problematic to some. That being said, there also hasn’t been a time when her words […]
Who among us hasn’t wanted to watch the great Udo Kier pluck out another man’s eyeballs with a spoon in a jealous rage, shot in glorious black-and-white 35mm? I’m guessing more than […]
