Tag: U.S. Indie Film Review
The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter | Review
The Journey of a Father and Son and their Cameraman
Longtime collaborators Jody Hill and Danny McBride have teamed up again to take on a...
Sorry to Bother You | Review
Unbridled Creativity: No one is Safe from Riley’s Wackadoo Satire ... Himself Included
There is nothing subtle in Boots Riley's Sorry To Bother You. A singular,...
Hereditary | Review
Inherit the Wind: Aster Conjures a Horror Classic with Masterful Debut
For those familiar with director Ari Aster’s body of short films, beginning with his...
First Reformed | Review
Through a Glass Starkly: Schrader Delivers a Master Study on Despair and Extremism
Priests, and their psychic struggle with obligation to the cloth, have always...
Maine | 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Review
Trail Mix: Brown Offers Ephemeral Romance on Appalachian Hike
The anti-thesis of a fight-against-the-elements type narrative a la Wild or Tracks, Maine unfolds quietly and emphasizes...
Backstabbing for Beginners | Review
The Oil and the Pussycat: Fly’s English Debut Sinks to the Bottom
Danish director Per Fly makes his English language debut with Backstabbing for...
Kodachrome | Review
Picture This: Raso’s Estranged Road Movie Wrecks At The Starting Gun
Coming across like a thin coat of bright paint over dated decorative wallpaper sans...
Come Sunday | Review
Preaching to the Choir: Marston Tackles Modern Heresy in Orthodox Glance at Evangelical Hypocrisy
There are numerous epithets various strands of Christianity tend to utilize...
Wildling | Review
The Kids Are Not Alright: Böhm Bares His Fangs In Tepid Feral Frightfest
Children are scary enough without them being feral, and that fear is...
Beirut | Review
Going Hamm in Beirut: Sharply Written, Compelling, Old school Hostage Drama
Set in guess-where, Beirut is a snappy foreign diplomacy thriller so smart and steeped in detail...
Salome (2013) & Wilde Salome (2011) | Review
Love’s Labours Found: Pacino’s Wilde Meditations at Long Last Find Life
Oscar Wilde’s 1891 tragedy Salome (originally written in French) has generated countless resurrections since...
First Match | Review
Newman Delivers a Nuanced Portrayal of a Troubled Wrestling Prodigy
The physicality of wrestling lends itself to cinema, each movement part of a ballet. Matches...
Friday’s Child | 2018 SXSW Film Festival Review
Edward's Coming of Age Thriller on the Fringe is a Big Mood
Some films aren’t meant to be enjoyed, some instead exist to agitate and...
Isle of Dogs | Review
A Dog’s Tale: Anderson Returns to Animation with Scruffy, Eclectic Fantasy
We’ve come to expect a certain technical formality from Wes Anderson, even across a...
Eighth Grade | Review
Grade A Time Capsule: Bo Burnham’s Offers Torturous Last Week of Middle School.
Eighth Grade is literally eighth grade in hyphenate-comedian Bo Burnham’s resonant directorial...
Private Life | 2018 Sundance Film Festival Review
She’s Not Having a Baby: Jenkins Returns with Freewheeling Fertility Melodrama
American indie director Tamara Jenkins returns with her first directorial effort since 2007’s Oscar...
The Disaster Artist | Review
A Room of One’s Own: Franco’s Sincere Paean to the Art of Failed Art
The notion “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” has assumed...
Wonder Wheel | Review #2
The Wheel of Their Discontent: Allen Stages Crumbling Marital Drama in the Dog Days of Coney Island
As impeccably administered as it is at times...
Wonder Wheel | Review #1
Woody Allen’s Wheel of Misfortunes: An Opera of Human Frailty
Year after year, films by the prolific Woody Allen seem to build on each...
Lady Bird | Review
Call Her by Her Name: Gerwig Shifts Shrewdly in Director’s Seat
Actress Greta Gerwig, alum of the American film movement known as Mumblecore and ingenious...
Last Flag Flying | Review
Looking Back Instead of Forward: A New Kind of Coming-of-Age Tale for Linklater
Rare is the filmmaker who can entertain with little more than old-fashioned...
Novitiate | Review
And Then There Were Nun: Betts’ Novel Approach to the Nunnery
Director Maggie Betts revisits a fascinating transitional period in the Catholic church with her...
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women | Review
Women Wanted: Robinson Explores the Fascinating Origins of Wonder Woman in Solid Biopic
Truth may often be stranger than fiction, but it’s not always as...
Message from the King | Review
To Live and Die in LA: Du Welz Explores the Los Angeles Underbelly in Revenge Noir
Belgian auteur Fabrice Du Welz makes his English language...
Good Time | Review
White is Right: Pattinson Shines in the Grime of the Safdie Bros. Urban Squalor
American indie directors Joshua and Ben Safdie craft their most polished...
The Moderns (1988) | Review
Bujold’s last appearance with Alan Rudolph is in 1988’s The Moderns, a high-minded, sometimes amusing attempt to examine the potent ex-pat community of 1920s...
Trouble in Mind (1985) | Review
One of Alan Rudolph’s most idiosyncratic films is 1985’s Trouble in Mind, which features a buzzy ensemble of characters intersecting in the fictional Rainy...
Choose Me (1984) | Review
Of their three collaborations, the most intriguing Alan Rudolph film to feature Bujold is 1984’s Choose Me, which more or less focuses on two...
Wind River | Review
A Shiver Runs Through It: Sheridan Helms Satisfying Final Segment of Crime Trilogy
Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Sicario, Hell or High Water) makes his directorial debut...
Columbus | Review
Floating Weeds: Kogonada Looks at the Shape of Things in Masterful Debut
Kogonada, who may be familiar to most cineastes thanks to his video essays...
Kidnap | Review
Female of the Species: Berry Brings It in Middlebrow Action Drama
Playing like a throwback to 1990s studio thrillers starring Oscar caliber actresses navigating survival...
Detroit | Review
Horror Hotel: Bigelow and Boal Recount Grim Chapter of Racial Disparity
This year’s most harrowing horror movie, Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, happens to be based on...
Menashe | Review
Not Without My Son: Weinstein Crafts Tender, Orthodox Familial Drama
Graduating from documentary filmmaking to narrative cinema with Menashe, director Joshua Z. Weinstein examines universal...
A Ghost Story | Review
Voyage of Time: Lowery’s Distinctive, Elegiac Treatise on Grief, Time, and Elusive Solace
Although it isn’t an actual adaptation of her short story, David Lowery’s...
The Beguiled | Review
The Last Seduction: Coppola Eschews Subtext with High Profile Remake
Claiming to be a closer adaptation to Thomas Cullinan’s 1966 novel than the famed 1971...
The Florida Project | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah: Baker Offers A Portrait of the South Like No Other
This time out we can move away from lazily defining Sean Baker's cinema as...
It Comes at Night | Review
Night of Your Life: Shults Plumbs Fear and Fear Itself in Arch Sophomore Effort
As a pure exercise in the powers of suggestion, It Comes...
The Assignment | Blu-ray Review
It’s been an arduous journey for action auteur Walter Hill’s latest film The Assignment, a B-grade schlocky piece of grindhouse pulp which has been...
You Were Never Really Here | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Where Have You Been?: Ramsay Returns with Pronouncedly Fractured, Melancholic Adaptation
Returning from a six year hiatus after 2011’s We Need To Talk About Kevin,...
Wakefield | Review
A Most Wanted Man: Swicord Hangs Doctorow on the Snide Shoulders of Cranston
For evidence of Bryan Cranston’s ability to carry a film, look no...
Wonderstruck | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Time After Time: Haynes Captures Wistful Tone of Bygone Eras
American indie auteur Todd Haynes explores dual cinematic pastiche in his most family friendly film...
Paris Can Wait | Review
Forget Paris: Lane is a Fine Vintage from the Coppola Vineyards
At the age of eighty, Eleanor Coppola makes her narrative feature debut with the...
The Dinner | Review
Principles of Privilege: Moverman Dresses Morality Drama in American Clothes
Susan Sontag once famously wrote, “The white race is the cancer of human history,” an...
The Lovers | Review
The One You’re With: Jacobs Brings Mature Gaze to Dark Marital Comedy
Imagine if George and Martha actually had allowed themselves the opportunity to derive...
The Endless | Tribeca Film Festival Review
Circles in the Sand: Benson & Moorhead Latest Low-Fi Genre Hybrid another Mixed Bag
For a film as fascinated with notions of differentiation as The...
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
Fixer Downer: Cedar Unleashes Fascinating Portrait of Aggravating Underdog
There’s an unshakeable sadness to Israeli director Joseph Cedar’s English language debut Norman: The Moderate Rise...
The Ticket | Review
To Gain the World: Fluk’s Allegorical Fairy Tale Treads Perfunctory Territory
Pope Francis described materialism as ‘spiritual cancer’ in that the idolatry of earthly possessions...
Aftermath | Review
No Highway in the Sky: Lester’s Inane Exploitation of Compounded Grief
Director Elliott Lester takes a hard left into slipshod terrain with his latest feature,...
Colossal | Review
Seoul of the Matter: Vigalondo’s Environmental Impact Creature Feature Unique but Wonky
Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo scores major points for ambition and uniqueness in his...
The Assignment | Review
A Dish Best Served Bold: Hill’s Revenge-Thriller a Sleazy Mix of Action and Body Horror
Grindhouse groupies will have something to celebrate with the latest...
