Tag: U.S. Indie Film Review
The Wolf of Snow Hollow | Review
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: Cummings Returns with Cops and Neurotics
When one mentions werewolves, the notion of cinematic innovation seems moot. We’ve our...
The Forty-Year-Old Version | Review
What Happens to a Dream Deferred?: Blank Finds the Beauty of Herself in Striking Debut
Writer/director Radha Blank arrives in the wake of an opulent...
Black Box | Review
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die: Osei-Kuffour Explores Emotional Resonance in Savvy Medical Thriller
Horror and science-fiction have often been stomping grounds for exploring fantastic ideas...
The Lie | Review
Where Is It?: Sud Mines the Ethical Decay of the Privileged in Familiar but Fashionable Debut
Resorting to a continual, if varied tradition of remaking...
Charm City Kings | Review
Ride on Time: Soto Stunts in Summer Streets Lorded by Baltimore Bike Gangs
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, but often real life plays out...
A Rainy Day in New York | Review
I Don’t Like Cities, But I Like New York: Allen’s Shelved Comedy Can’t Shake the Clouds
At one time the immortal city streets of New...
Scare Me | Review
Venus Envy: Ruben Mines Microaggressions in Uncomfortable Debut
The claustrophobic possibilities of ‘the cabin in the woods,’ not unlike ‘the old dark house,’ presents a...
Death of Me | Review
The Dead Don’t Die: Bousman Weathers a Storm in Slow Burn Genre
There’s no predicting what to expect from Darren Lynn Bousman, other than we’re...
Save Yourselves! | Review
The Mood of the Gods: Fischer & Wilson Deliver Millennial Crises in Amusing Debut
“This is the best thing we’ve ever done,” remarks one...
The Glorias | Review
Are the Voices in Your Head Calling, Gloria!: Taymor Tackles Feminist Icon in Peculiar Biopic
If there’s an art to the crafting of a biopic,...
12 Hour Shift | Review
Organ Trail: Grant Goes Haywire with Oversight on the Overnight Shift
Organ trafficking usually isn’t the focal point of a comedy, even a dark one,...
The Boys in the Band | Review
Walk-in Closets: Mantello Resurrects the Classic Queer Miasma of Fear & Loathing
In the five decades since it first arrived off-Broadway, Matt Crowley’s seminal play...
Kajillionaire | Review
Money Monsters: July Returns with Poignant Puzzle of Curious Criminals
Con artists come in all shapes and sizes, but nowhere are they as decidedly low...
The Last Shift | Review
Stuck in Neutral: Cohn Cooks Up Sensitive (and Hilarious) Fast Food Tragedy
Andrew Cohn delivers a heart-wrenching ode to the working class, missed connections and...
The Secrets We Keep | Review
The Forgiveness of Blood: Rapace Shines in a Loose Regurgitation of Dorfman Play
The strangest aspect of The Secrets We Keep, the third feature from...
The Devil All the Time | Review
Devil May Care: Campos Composes Heady Southern Gothic
For his fourth feature film The Devil All the Time, based on the 2011 novel by Donald...
I’m Thinking of Ending Things | Review
In Search of Lost Time Regained: Kaufman Mutates Memory and Meaning
“The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new lands but seeing...
Centigrade | Review
Cold Comfort Car: Walsh Gets Wound Up in Perfunctory Trauma Reenactment
Survival thrillers which reenact harrowing experiences documented by those who lived through unthinkable trauma...
Lingua Franca | Review
Love Language: Sandoval Paints Subtle Portrait of Tenuous Lives on the Periphery
Eventually, the third film from Isabel Sandoval, Lingua Franca, should eventually serve as...
Tesla | Review
Sugar Pop Electric: Almereyda Gets Inventive with Curio Biopic
If one is familiar with the filmography of Michael Almereyda, one should already know when approaching...
Cut Throat City | Review
Yolo in NOLA: RZA Battles Corruption Post-Katrina in Stifled Neo-Noir
The multi-faceted artist RZA returns to the director’s seat for the third time with Cut...
Spree | Review
Click it or Ticket: Joe Keery Slays in Uber-Dark-Satire
Eugene Kotlyarenko’s fifth feature film is an outrageously satirical indictment of influencer culture with a commanding...
She Dies Tomorrow | Review
Bet Your Bottom Dollar: Seimetz Circles Existential Dread in Lowkey Genre
“Your deepest fear is spreading,” reads the tagline for Amy Seimetz’s sophomore directorial effort,...
I Used to Go Here | Review
Going, Going, Gone: Rey Finds Solace in Regression with Idle Dramedy
As a framing device, nostalgia has the slant of a moral lesson gleaned from...
The Tax Collector | Review
Taxation without Representation: Ayer Gets Absurd in L.A. Crime Noir
The most interesting element of David Ayer’s latest crime thriller The Tax Collector is how...
Yes, God, Yes | Review
Obvious Teen: Maine Finds Nostalgia in a Hopeless Place
Of the many aspects particular to the late 1990s and early 2000s, where cell phones were...
The Rental | Review
This Property is Condemned: Franco Mines Interesting Ideas in Faulty Debut
Egregiously annoying characters can be either a blessing or a curse to a...
Fatal Affair | Review
Temptation Machination: Sullivan Explores Ills of Infidelity in Extramarital Thriller
“The house is new but the man is not,” jests the unfortunate protagonist in Peter...
Palm Springs | Review
Quantum Leap: Barbakow Recycles Tropes for Amusing Romantic Comedy Debut
The idea of being stuck in an endless time loop, being forced to endure the...
The Beach House | Review
And the Sea Will Kill: Brown’s Blends Menace with Familiar Tropes in Eco-Horror Debut
Horror films have often benefitted from man vs. nature themes, and...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Driveways | Review
This Small Town: Ahn Aims for the Heart in Soulful Suburban Drama
Death acts as impetus in cinema, and in some cases characters must deal...
The Wretched | Review
Something Derivative This Way Comes: The Pierce Bros. More Wicker than Wicked in Witchy Thriller
The dead aren’t so much evil in The Wretched, the...
Bull | Review
If There Be Horns: Silverstein Succeeds with Discerning Debut of Rural Desperation
Likely to be compared to Chloe Zhao’s 2017 breakout The Rider, director Annie...
1BR | Review
Cult Gestalt: Marmor Explores Urban Horrors in Efficient Debut
There’s apparently more than one way to define rent control, at least as suggested by David...
Bad Education | Review
A Touch of Class: Finley Explores Famed Embezzlement Scandal
Director Cory Finley revisits one of the education system’s most notorious scandals in Bad Education, an...
The Quarry | Review
Steeple People: Teems Gets Spiritual in Rough-hewn Sophomore Film
It’s been over a decade since director Scott Teems delivered his warmly received debut, That Evening...
