Tag: top-stories
Video Interview: Ariane Labed & Balthazar Lab – Olla (Short Film) | 2020 Sundance Film Festival
After a whirlwind fest tour that began back in Cannes in the Directors' Fortnight section and ended just after Sundance with a showing at...
Irresistible | Review
Elephant Walk: Stewart Dulls the Sting of Political Campaigning Hypocrisy with Broad Satire
The trick of a successful satire is to highlight stupidity or hypocrisy...
2020 TIFF: Concrete Cowboy, Good Joe Bell & Halle Berry’s Bruised Set for Covid 45th Edition
We can expect a slimmed down edition and a whole bunch of known unknowns for the upcoming 45th edition of the Toronto Intl. Film...
Beats | Review
Gravitational Arch of Men: Teenage Friendship’s Last Hurrah Found in Walsh’s Scottish Techno Crowd-pleaser
Simultaneously a nostalgic throwback and a vibrant, youthful anthem of rebelliousness, Beats...
The Audition | Review
A History of Violins: Hoss at a Loss in Weisse’s Careful Character Study
Actor Ina Weisse returns to the director’s chair for the first time...
The Last Tree | Review
A Tree Grows in London: Amoo Charts Familiar Coming of Age Drama Through Urban Pitfalls
Cycles of violence and heartache in disenfranchised urban communities are...
The Conversation: Top 10 of 2020 Thus Far …
Our chief film critic Nicholas Bell offers his top ten in a (film) year are unlikely to forget. As per usual, this middle point...
7500 | Review
Code Known: Gordon-Levitt Shines in Intense Procedural Thriller from Vollrath
We’ve seen plenty of big budget Hollywood films dealing with airplane hijackings, to which sensitivity...
The Girl with a Bracelet | Review
Murder was the Case That They Gave Her: Demoustier Delivers a Chilly Courtroom Thriller
While it’s far from the first film to examine the popular,...
Mr. Jones | Review
Truth Be Told: Holland Revisits the Horror of the Holodomor
Polish director Agnieszka Holland returns to a subject matter favored in her most memorable offerings—lost...
Miss Juneteenth | Review
Queens Without a Crown: Peoples Mines Strength and Resilience in Quiet Drama
“I learned the truth at seventeen/That love was meant for beauty queens,” Janis...
Surrender the Pink: Deutch’s Debut a Dated Vintage “Pretty in Pink” (1986) | Blu-ray Review
The films of John Hughes and the resulting compendium of actors who starred in them, lovingly remembered as the Brat Pack, define a particular...
Babyteeth | Review
Death Comes for the Ozzie Frippet: Murphy Looks to Love Amidst Dysfunction in Cancer Melodrama
Precocious teens represent a burgeoning film subgenre all to themselves---and...
The Surrogate | Review
She’s Having a Baby: Hersh Mines Moral Dilemma in Compelling Melodrama
Melodrama as a genre, especially narratives centered deliberately on moral or ethical dilemmas,...
Aviva | Review
You Can Dance If You Wanna: Akin Returns with Experimental Dance Romance
Perhaps the most interesting elements of Aviva rest in its origins and its...
Da 5 Bloods | Review
Things Fall Apart: Lee’s New Joint Unearths a Heart of Darkness Alive and Well
“There is no story that is not true,” wrote Chinua Achebe...
Award AGE: Iris Awards (Quebec) – Sophie Deraspe’s Antigone Wins Best Picture
Among the final national award ceremonies celebrating 2019 cinema, the Iris Awards (aka Quebec Oscars) follows in the footsteps of the Canadian Screen Awards....
You Don’t Nomi | Review
Eyes Without Versace: McHale Explores the Cult of Camp with Doc Debut
What constitutes camp and how it can be created has long been an...
The King of Staten Island | Review
King Without a Crown: Apatow Deifies Davidson in Latest Dramedy
For his sixth directorial outing, Judd Apatow continues with his method of building a narrative...
IONCINEPHILE of the Month: Mark Jackson’s Top Ten Films of All Time List
Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? In 2018, Mark Jackson launched his third feature...
IONCINEPHILE of the Month: Mark Jackson – This Teacher
IONCINEMA.com’s IONCINEPHILE of the Month feature focuses on an emerging creator from the world of cinema. This month, we are extremely honored to feature...
Becky | Review
But When She Was Bad, She Was Awful: Milott & Murnion Subvert Allegiances in Violent Thriller
The innocuously titled Becky is the third feature...
Papicha | Review
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: Meddour Goes Back to Black Decade with Debut
Fashion is certainly far from one’s mind when dealing with...
Criterion Collection: Husbands (1970) | Blu-ray Review
Husbands (1970), the fourth feature of auteur John Cassavetes, patron saint of American independent cinema, would end up being the first showcase for the...
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema II | Blu-ray Review
Kino Lorber unleashes their second volume of forgotten film noir classics with Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema II which includes three distinctly...
Bird Talk (2019) | Review
Goodbye to Language: The Final Gasp of Zulawski Presents a Fractured Portrait of Contemporary Poland
Language and culture are prominent motifs in the filmography of...
The Vast of Night | Review
Blast from the Vast: Patterson Impresses with Lo-Fi Sci-Fi
Occasionally, an innovative debut manages to come along which accomplishes a formidable mise en scene...
IndieSponge Episode 8 – 2020 Cannes vs. Venice, Apple TV+ Gets Behind Scorsese, HBO Max Gets Behind the Safdies
On this week’s episode of IndieSponge, Kevin Jagernauth and I look at the latest developments in the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals, we consider...
Man of Straw: Dearden’s Racially Charged Film Noir “Pool of London” (1951) | Blu-ray Review
For having the distinction of presenting one of cinema’s first interracial relationships between a black man and a white woman, Basil Dearden’s 1951 socially...
The High Note | Review
Do You Know Where You’re Going To?: Ganatra Gets Off-key with Recycled Formula
Same shit, different day could have been a potential tagline for The...
Lucky Grandma | Review
Rob the Mob: Sealy Pushes a Grandmother into a Gang War in Enjoyable, Slight Debut
Geriatrics involved in criminal activities have become something of a...
The Trip to Greece | Review
The Greece-y Strangler: Winterbottom Lays His Culinary Comedy Series to Rest
Michael Winterbottom aims to kill his darlings with the fourth and final segment of...
IndieSponge Episode 7 – The Latest on Lanthimos, Zagar, Soderbergh, Chan-Wook & David Robert Mitchell
On this week’s episode of IndieSponge, Kevin Jagernauth and I begin with how the Oscars are likely to be turned upside down, the promising...
Military Wives | Review
They Could Go on Singing: Cattaneo Conducts Choir in Formulaic Melodrama
Director Peter Cattaneo resurfaces for his first narrative feature in over a decade...
Inheritance | Review
Sins of the Father: Stein Mines Elitism in Absurd Melodrama
“Does any daughter every really know her father?” is one of several wilting lines of...
Mysteries of Lisbon | Review
Raul Ruiz’s Epic Literary Adaptation is a 5-hour Academic Exercise
The Lovebirds | Review
Murder Was the Case That They Gave Them: Showalter Gets Silly with Derivative Slapstick
Director Michael Showalter reteams with Kumail Nanjiani after the success...
Body Cam | Review
Ghost Protocol: Vitthal Gets Supernatural with Hot Topic Horror
Genre has always been a formidable platform to explore significant social ills in creative ways, often...
IndieSponge Episode 6 – Wong Kar-Wai Plants “Blossoms”, Guadagnino Snorts “Scarface” & Blanchett registers for “Armageddon Time”
On this week’s episode of IndieSponge, Kevin Jagernauth and I talk about the 2020 Cannes hors les murs and the films that'll float around...
Castle in the Ground | Review
Opiate of the Masses: Klein Mines Comfort in Crises with Somber Addiction Odyssey
The trauma of substance abuse and addiction has carved out a...
Blue Story | Review
Enemies, a Love Story: Rapman Rides the Waves of a Street War in Familiar Fashion
Although it’s not quite West Side Story (1961), either in...
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...
Criterion Collection: The Cremator | Blu-ray Review
Criterion restores a cornerstone of the Czech New Wave with Juraj Herz’s classic The Cremator, a chilly dark comedy set in 1930s Prague which...
Valley Girl | Review
A Boho in Noho: Goldenberg Slathers a Classic in Nostalgic Reminisces
Feeling nostalgic is akin to wearing rose-color glasses, distorting our tender reminiscing of bygone...
South Mountain | Review
A Family Affair: Brougher Does Some Marital Maneuvering in Piercing and Personal Drama
Chronicling the implosion of a Catskills couple in micro details, Hilary Brougher...
How to Build a Girl | Review
The Girl Most Likely To…: Giedroyc Returns with Novel Coming-of-Age Dramedy
In several respects, the trajectory of How to Build a Girl isn’t inherently new---a...
Arkansas | Review
Deal of Fortune: Duke Attempts Neo-noir in Passionless Debut
Drug running is generally an unromantic career choice, at least up until the inevitable thrills to...
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind | Review
This Property is Condemned: Bouzereau Recuperates an Icon with Familial Portrait
Her death by drowning at the age of forty-three while vacationing on Catalina Island...
IndieSponge Episode 5 – Tenet, Spike Lee, Derek Cianfrance & Ari Aster/Lars Knudsen on Save the Green Planet!
On this week’s episode of IndieSponge, Kevin Jagernauth and I talk about Christopher Nolan's Tenet and the difficult decision making process in opening films...
On a Magical Night | Review
A Room with a Screw: Honoré Waxes Playful on Marital Discord
The flexibility (or lack thereof) of fidelity in heteronormative relationships is at the center...
