Tag: top-stories
2021 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Scott Cooper’s Antlers
With the restructuring of Searchlight and Covid kicking around the release date, the only reason why we think Antlers might break into the Sundance...
2021 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Theo Anthony’s All Light, Everywhere
While working on this long form project, Theo Anthony has been keeping busy with short projects in 2019's Subject to Review (a docu that...
2021 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Iva Radivojevic’s Aleph
Covering the limits of this planet a la Herzog, celebrated filmmaker Iva Radivojevic has been working on this multi-character multi-storied docu project for half...
2021 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Kogonada’s After Yang
Perhaps some of the futuristic elements in Kogonada's sophomore feature are the reason why it didn't join A24's Zola and Minari at last year's...
2021 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Amy Koppelman – A Mouthful of Air
For a festival that promotes new voices, how much fun would it be to see this debut break into the line-up? Proving that there...
2021 Sundance Film Festival: 75 Predictions For a COVID-19 Edition
As an accredited journalist for this site I've been making the annual trek to Park City since 2006 and one way we like to...
The Climb [Video Review]
Such Great Heights: Covino & Marvin Mine the Nexus of Toxic Friendships
Friendships between heterosexual men are already an anomaly in cinema, and representations are...
Hillbilly Elegy [Video Review]
The Oh in Ohio: Howard Tries on Tragedy in Elementary Adaptation
The trouble with critiquing a personal memoir invites the danger of dismissing someone’s trauma,...
Interview: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte – Dreamland
At age 23, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte won a Sundance Special Jury Prize for his first feature film, As You Are. Set in his Albany NY...
Ammonite | Review
The Shell Seekers: Lee Recuperates a Scientist’s Legacy in Languid Love Story
As its title suggests, Ammonite, the sophomore feature from burgeoning director Francis Lee,...
Interview: Sacha Polak – Dirty God
Dutch director Sacha Polak has blossomed into a perceptively humanist filmmaker with her third feature - and first in English - Dirty God. In...
Fatman [Video Review]
Black Coal, Thin Gag: The Nelms Bros. Stalk Santa in Middling Comedic Thriller
Santa Claus is apparently a federal employee in Fatman, a novel idea...
Freaky [Video Review]
The Killer Inside Me: Landon Continues Recycled Tropes for Latest Buffet of Thrills and Kills
Director Christopher Landon, now a revered alum at Blumhouse Productions...
Divine Love | Review
Mighty Aphrodite: Mascaro’s Second Coming Cloaked in Complex Allegory
The Immaculate Conception remains one of the notorious suspensions of disbelief in Christian folklore, and Brazilian...
Dirty God | Review
A Woman’s Face: Polak’s Tender Melodrama Explores Struggle for Self-Love
With her third narrative feature, Dirty God, which also stands as her English language debut,...
Kindred | Review
Gaslight of My Life: Marcantonio Debuts a Familiar Slice of Maternal Psychodrama
“She giveth life and take it away” could have been a fitting tagline...
Jungleland [Video Review]
In Like a Lion: Winkler Traces Boxer on the Struggle Bus in Familiar Melodrama
If you’re going to San Francisco, there might not be anymore...
Mortal [Video Review]
From the Norse’s Mouth: Ovredal Reclaims a Cultural Asset with Unsatisfactory Results
Reclaiming ownership over a reappropriated cultural facet is no easy task, especially when...
The Dark and the Wicked [Video Review]
Something Wicked This Way Runs: Bertino Gets Bleak with Rural Horror
Director Bryan Bertino continues an exploration of his sinister fetish with trapping sweetly conceived...
Criterion Collection: Taste of Cherry | Blu-ray Review
It’s impossible to talk about Iranian cinema without mention of Abbas Kiarostami, the most prominent figure amongst a formidable coterie of names which rose...
Fire Will Come | Review
Fire Walk with Me: Laxe Anchors an Arsonist in Meditative Portrait
If fire is the regenerative metaphor of the phoenix, the same cannot be said...
Let Him Go [Video Review]
Gone, Baby, Gone: Bezucha Returns with Poignant Crime Drama
For his first film in nearly a decade, director Thomas Bezucha returns with a spirited character-driven...
Koko-di Koko-da | Review
It’s All About Love: Nyholm Returns with Absurdist Allegory on Relationships
If Groundhog Day (1993), the well-liked Bill Murray title about a weatherman who is...
His House [Video Review]
Death as a House: Weekes Finds Woe in Immigration Horror
It’s a trauma so innately horrific on the surface the thought of collapsing it into...
I Was at Home, But…. | Review
The Play’s the Thing: Schanelec Shines with Striking Dynamic on Artifice vs. Authenticity
Words pour out of us, as the main character vocalizes in one...
Come Play [Video Review]
Only the Lonely: Chase Explores Childhood Traumas in Effective Horror Film
The alienating effects of miscommunication with autistic loved ones is usually the stomping ground...
The Craft: Legacy [Video Review]
Magic, the Gathering: Lister-Jones Misplaces a Mythos with Missed Opportunity Sequel
There’s no inherently proper way to engage in genre, which is what makes the...
The Place of No Words | Review
Words of a Feather: Webber Finds Catharsis Through Fantasy in Mournful Drama
The exploration of death and grief through the eyes of a child lends...
Coming Home Again | Review
The Power of Goodbye: Wang Returns with Heartfelt Portrait of Grief
The famous 1940 novel by Thomas Wolfe gave us the poetic metaphor about...
Synchronic [Video Review]
E.M.Time Machine: Benson & Moorhead Do the Time Warp Again
Designer drugs prove to be a mystical gateway to the past in Synchronic, the fourth...
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm [Video Review]
Bribe on Time: Cohen Resurrects Iconic Satirical Caricature for Shock Commentary
Director Jason Woliner steps in for Larry Charles to helm Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, the...
The Witches | Review
Witch Kitsch: Zemeckis Dons Dahl in Revamp of Stylish Cult Classic
Thirty years ago, Nicolas Roeg, one of cinema’s most innovative cinematographer-turned-auteurs, adapted the 1983...
Fairy | 2020 TIFF Digital Cinema Pro Review
Comrade Christ: Melikyan Muses on the Motherland Through the Eyes of Another Waif
Even through their desperate avatars, the oligarchy overrules the Russian populace, one...
Rebecca | Review
De Winter of Our Discontent: Wheatley Wavers with Empty Remake of Du Maurier Classic
Remaking a property which was previously adapted by none other than...
Interview: Mark Webber – The Place of No Words
Mark Webber likes to go his own way, animated by a peaceful yet intense desire to make cinema out of the emotional landscape of...
On the Rocks | Review
Cheat Street: Coppola Presents Familiar Vintage with Lighthearted Filial Dramedy
Fathers and their (sometimes pseudo) daughters have formed the basis for more than one entry...
Bad Hair | Review
Witches Get Stitches: Simien Retrofits Folklore with Contemporary Subtexts in Horror Satire
Justin Simien recuperates a particular time and place with a jaunty but ultimately...
Shithouse | Review
Straight Flush: Raiff Surprises with Poignant, Loquacious Debut
The liberal arts school experience is a right of passage reserved for the privileged, and something which...
Nocturne | Review
Faustabout: Quirke Dances with the Devil in Moody, Familiar Debut
Satan might be one of the most prolific talent scouts in this realm or any...
Evil Eye | Review
Lover Come Back: The Dassani Brothers Explore Obsessive Love Through Genre Veil
For their feature film debut Evil Eye, brothers Elan and Rajeev Dassani straddle...
Ghosts | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Panoptic prison: Okyay’s wonderfully dark debut puts Turkey under surveillance
Turkish filmmaker Azra Deniz Okyay's directorial debut uses micro-stories to discuss substantial socio-political issues. Titled Ghosts,...
Interview: Ksawery Szczepanik – Going for Gold | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival
Going for Gold is the fourth film by docu helmer Ksawery Szczepanik. His latest film presents the story of the most successful Polish pole...
Martin Eden | Review
The Working Class Goes to Heaven: Marcello Retrofits London’s Ruminations on Superficial Social Status
Pietro Marcello brings his unconventional sensibilities to new heights with Martin...
Honest Thief | Review
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: Neeson Goes Nowhere in Another Derivative Offering
Every generation tends to spawn a golden year action star from an aging flock...
Havel | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Polarizing Play: Horák’s Questionable Take on the Hero of the Velvet Revolution
Covering the personal timeline of any major politician would be a daunting task...
Going for Gold | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
From Hero to Traitor: Szczepanik Focuses on Gestures that Alter History
Going For Gold is the fourth docu item by Polish director Ksawery Szczepanik. His...
Unidentified | 2020 Warsaw Intl. Film Festival Review
Lethal Weapon: Apetri’s Intricate & Unpredictable Tale of Revenge Dips into The Swamp
After tackling social realism with genre filmmaking underpinnings in Outbound, Romanian director...
Spiral | 2020 Warsaw International Film Festival Review
Meandering with the Living and...the Dead: Felméri Offers Absorbing Sunken Lake Drama
In Spiral, the dead don’t come back, but rather, they attempt to haunt...
The War with Grandpa | Review
Suffer the Children: Hill Strikes Out with High Profile Kiddie Flick
Tim Hill seems to know something about entertaining children, especially when it involves animation...
The Trial of the Chicago 7 | Review
Kangaroo Court: Sorkin Mounts a Famous Political Trial in Sophomore Feature
A project finally brought to fruition after bouncing around in developmental hell for over...
