Tag: Aaron L. Gilbert

Licorice Pizza [Video Review]

Age is just a number but when you're a teen at footsteps of what are unattainable gates to adulthood it could feel like entire...

House of Gucci [Video Review]

One of rare breed of studio directors who effectively captures pageantry and opulence no matter the epoque the narrative is set in, social...

2022 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Anthony Mandler’s Surrounded

With an already amazing track record as a music video helmer / television commercial director Anthony Mandler saw his debut feature film Monster break...

Needle in a Timestack | Review

Stye of the Needle: Ridley Can’t Thread Conceptual Sci-Fi Time travel is tricky, especially when trying to effectively demonstrate its parameters and ramifications in narrative...

Those Who Wish Me Dead [Video Review]

The Fire This Time: Sheridan’s Neo-Western Arrives Lifeless, Overbaked Casting is an important part of the filmmaking process, and sometimes the highest profile celebrity...

Monster [Video Review]

Fait Accompli: Mandler Mines the Gray Zone of Truth and Consequences While more of an interesting conversation piece than the accomplished melodrama it deserves to...

Interview: Jeffrey Wright & A$AP Rocky – Anthony Mandler’s Monster

Acting mainstay Jeffrey Wright jumps between mainstream and indie productions like it’s his job. In fact, it is: Wright’s résumé includes Broadway (Angels in...

Interview: Kelvin Harrison Jr. – Anthony Mandler’s Monster

Kelvin Harrison Jr. first came to Sundance with Birth of a Nation in 2016, then Oscar-nominated Mudbound in 2017. This past year, he was...

Interview: Producers Tonya Lewis Lee, Nikki Silver, Mike Jackson, Daniel Crown & Yoni Liebling – Anthony Mandler’s Monster

Sundance ’18 crowd-favorite Monster tells the agonizing tale of a 17-year-old honors student in a racially-charged legal battle. Adapted from Walter Dean Meyers’ award-winning...

Pieces of a Woman | Review

Brink of Life: Mundruczó Hunts for the Grace in Grief with English Language Debut One of Hungary’s most prolific arthouse auteurs of the last decade...

2021 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Barry Levinson’s Harry Haft

Despite the Covid, I'm surprised that this biopic directed by the always busy veteran helmer Barry Levinson didn't shore up at some fest in...

Greyhound | Review

Showboating: Schneider Sinks Ships with WWII Historical Action Cinema is littered with war-time submarine action epics, a claustrophobic setting which taps into universal anxieties and...

Capone | Review

Gonzo Fonzo: Trank Returns with Tone Poem Portrait of a Monster The figure of Chicago mobster Al Capone has long been a mythical figure resurrected...

The Way Back | Review

Whisky Galore: Affleck Shines in Character Study on Regret & Retribution Reception theory often dictates a morbid confluence when consuming entertainment which reflects a kernel...

Joker | 2019 Toronto Intl. Film Festival Review

The Day the Clown Cried: Phillips Tries to Provoke the Herd in Adult Comic Book Origin Story As another cinematic iteration of the eponymous Joker...

The Mule | Review

Two Kilos for Sister Sara: Eastwood Delivers Drugs and Good Deeds in Character Drama In a role perfectly suited for him, and in what may...

2019 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: #70. Gideon Raff – The Red Sea Diving Resort

Perhaps in the same programming methodology as when Sundance included Brad Anderson's Beirut in their 2018 line-up, STX will get to launch Gideon Raff's...

2019 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: #61. Jennifer Kent – The Nightingale

Sundance was a major launch pad for Jennifer Kent's The Babadook and it could be the lieu for the US premiere (nabbing one of...

2019 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: #27. Josh Trank – Fonzo

It's time to say goodbye to the De Niro Capone touch from The Untouchables. A meatier, bulkier project that would certainly rev up Sundance audiences,...

Top 100 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2018: #76. Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation

Assassination Nation Sam Levinson offered us one of the best films of 2011 with his directorial debut --- we called it “a bitter, nasty, angry film about...

2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale

A filmmaker who needs no introduction, the award-winning The Babadook (among our top 20 for 2014) is among the upper echelon titles that premiered at...

2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Debra Granik’s My Abandonment

We likened her to Kelly Reichardt with a cinema that should sprout internationally and so we were genuinely surprised when she didn't drop into...

2018 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation

It's been a long seven years between features for Sam Levinson. Having started his film career with one of the best films from 2011...