Tag: U.S. Indie Film Review
Carol | Review
Locked Out of Heaven: Haynes Delivers Chilly Lesbian Romance
Todd Haynes makes an exciting return with Carol, his first feature film since 2007’s I’m Not...
Dangerous Men | Review
Man Trouble: Rad Enters Race for Worst Film Ever Made
A unique oddity even amongst contemporary counterparts competing for notoriety as one of the worst...
Shelter | Review
A Hard Knock Life: Bettany’s Naive Debut Exudes Good Intentions
Actor Paul Bettany makes his directorial debut with Shelter, meant to be a glimpse into...
Trumbo | Review
The Brave One: Roach Recapitulates Black List Era Hollywood
Examining the past from the safer perspective of our more enlightened period, Jay Roach’s Trumbo is...
Burnt | Review
Chef Boyardee: Wells Fails with Filmmaking Recipe
For his third film outing, director John Wells delves into the catty universe of high-end cuisine with Burnt...
Julia | Review
Beyond Therapy: Brown’s Illogical Entry of Femme Revenge
For the most part, director Matthew A. Brown presents his directorial debut Julia without the exploitative flourishes...
The Sound and the Fury | Review
But a Walking Shadow: Franco’s Faulkner Redux Merely Serviceable
Continuing to thumb his nose at naysayers, James Franco plunges onward into his own particular directorial...
Jason and Shirley | Review
Holliday Heart: Winter Reimagines the Peripheral Flotsam and Jetsam of Famed Interview
The nagging obscurity of Shirley Clarke’s famed 1967 documentary Portrait of Jason remains...
Rock the Kasbah | Review
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World: Levinson’s Afghan Exploration Prizes Diversion
After a unique pit stop in found footage horror with 2012’s The Bay...
Bone Tomahawk | Review
Down to the Bone: Zahler’s Debut a Dapper Genre Hybrid
For his directorial debut, screenwriter S. Craig Zahler assembles an illustrious cast in Bone Tomahawk,...
Meadowland | Review
Downward Slopes: Morano’s Debut of Downtrodden Beats
Cinematographer Reed Morano (The Skeleton Twins; Kill Your Darlings) makes her directorial debut with Meadowland, an increasingly cheerless...
Room | Review
Of One’s Own: Abrahamson Delivers Emotionally Potent Adaptation
Irish director Lenny Abrahamson continues his trajectory of unpredictable cinematic platforms with his latest film, Room, an...
The Final Girls | Review
Spoofaway Camp: Strauss-Schulson’s Playful Mash-up Takes a Tumble On You
Director Todd Strauss-Schulson, whose last feature was A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)...
Knock Knock | Review
While We’re Young: Roth’s Revisits Grindhouse Home Invasion
Genre director Eli Roth presents his first remake, Knock Knock, a rehash of a 1977 grindhouse thriller,...
Pay the Ghost | Review
All Sallow’s Eve: Edel Gets Stuck in the Cage
For those who had a modicum of hope that German director’s Uli Edel's Canadian production of...
Addicted to Fresno | Review
But I’m a Sex Addict: Babbitt Returns to Dark Comedy with Mixed Results
Though the film rests rather comfortably on the shoulders of its talented...
Partisan | Review
Pledge Allegiance: Kleiman’s Intriguing Debut a Fascist Allegory
Sure to draw superficial comparisons to other famed pre-teen assassin films like The Professional (1994) or Hanna...
Freeheld | Review
The Equality in Dying: Sollett’s Topical Gay Rights Issue Explores Yesterday’s Nightmares
Had a film like Freeheld been released in the late 2000s, shortly after...
Ashby | Review
Three Months to Kill: McNamara’s Derivative Hodge-Podge
You’ll neither laugh nor cry, but hover somewhere in an emotionally dysthymic plateau watching Tony McNamara’s sophomore debut,...
The Keeping Room | Review
Ruminations: Barber’s Sophomore Effort Brings the War Home
Director Daniel Barber returns with sophomore effort The Keeping Room, his first film since the Death Wish...
99 Homes | Review
Housing Complex: Bahrani Extends Capitalism Criticism to Housing Market
Though his 2012 farming melodrama At Any Price found director Ramin Bahrani gaining wider visibility with...
Mississippi Grind | Review
Let the River Run: Boden & Fleck’s Melancholy, Character Driven Road-Trip
Filmmaking duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck return with their best collaboration since the...
Sicario | Review
The Company of Wolves: Villeneuve’s Superb Packaging Enhances Customary Cartel Themes
There’s much to be excited about with Sicario, the latest film from Quebecois director...
Time Out of Mind | Review
Time to Time: Moverman’s Austere Portrait of Homelessness
There’s a deliberate soul-crushing methodology to Oren Moverman’s third feature Time Out of Mind (taking its title from...
Sleeping with Other People | Review
Other People’s Mousetraps: Headland Heads to Romcom
One of the most acerbically hilarious new voices in the American indie world is writer/director Leslye Headland, whose...
Blood Punch | Review
Blood of Your Blood: Paxson’s Comedy Horror Debut Lacks Bite
Unspooling with all the finesse of a drunken yet trenchant teenager’s expletive laden ranting at...
Dirty Weekend | Review
Afternoon Delight: Enjoyable, Downplayed Provocation from Labute
Walking into a film called Dirty Weekend knowing it’s directed by Neil Labute, an author known for his...
Before We Go | Review
Here We Go Again: Evans’ Nondescript Venture a Familiar Recipe of Whirlwind Romance
Love is not a many splendored thing in actor Chris Evans’ directorial...
Zipper | Review
The Ballad of Franks and Beans: Stephens’ Dips Toes and Other Bits into Political Scandal
It is still very much a man’s world, or so...
Queen of Earth | Review
Earth Below Us: Perry’s Esoteric Puzzle of Women and Madness
What a delight to see director Alex Ross Perry continuing his delightful examinations of unlikeable...
Z for Zachariah | Review
This is the End: Zobel’s Post-Apocalyptic Love Triangle
Following the success of his galvanizingly uncomfortable 2012 film Compliance, director Craig Zobel teases his way into...
The Curse of Downers Grove | Review
Teenage Wasteland: Ellis & Martini Join Forces for Derivative Teen Angst
Check your expectations at the opening credits with The Curse of Downers Grove, a...
6 Years | VOD Review
There’s Always Tomorrow…Maybe: Fidell Explores the Familiar Predicaments of the LTR
Director Hannah Fidell follows her 2013 debut A Teacher with concisely minded 6 Years,...
Digging For Fire | Review
Dem Bones: Swanberg’s Mellow Examination of Married Life
A married couple’s weekend apart turns into the sort of mildly enterprising exploration of what happens when...
Some Kind of Beautiful | Review
Some Kind of Nonsense: Vaughan’s Unintentional Antithesis of the RomCom
Not long into Some Kind of Beautiful, the new film from director Tom Vaughan, a...
Grandma | Review
Citizen Lily: Weitz’s Character Study Homage to Iconic Lead
Since beginning his directorial career with 1999’s American Pie, Paul Weitz has hovered in an in-between...
The Mend | Review
Mysteries of Miseries: Magary’s Misanthropic Glance at Troubled Brothers
There’s a perverse pleasure to be had watching John Magary’s directorial debut, The Mend, if mostly...
The Boy | Review
The Sad Seed: Macneill’s Portrait of Rural Malaise Flickers with Occasional Menace
In the cinematic landscape of evil (or at least sociopathic), children, it’s rare...
She’s Funny That Way | Review
Funny Ha-ha: Bogdanovich’s Pleasant Return to the Screwball Comedy
The buzz has been rather hushed concerning She’s Funny That Way, the return of 70s auteur...
American Ultra | Review
The Long Spliff Goodnight: Nourizadeh’s Stoner Action Flick Mixes Kooky with Convention
Comprised of a tangle of similar narrative threads spliced together from a variety...
Ivans Xtc | Retrospective for Bernard Rose at the American Cinematheque Review
Notes from Hollywoodland: Rose’s Heady, Meaningful Tolstoy Update
“It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up,” realizes...
Amnesiac | Review
Before I Go to Steal: Polish’s Familiar, Bare Bones Genre Trick
It isn’t long after the film’s opening car crash sequence that the essence of...
Big Sky | Review
Wide Open Spaces: Grau’s Arid English Language Debut Misses the Mark
For his long awaited follow-up to his handsomely unsettling 2010 debut We Are What...
One & Two | Review
One is the Loneliest Number: Palermo Exercises Tone Over Content
Playing like the tangential origin story you’d expect to see from some rurally grown mutant...
Ten Thousand Saints | Review II
New York I Love You: Berman & Pulcini’s Schmaltz Soaked Latest
Nostalgia, especially in large doses, tends to hobble the authenticity of a text, whether...
Return to Sender | Review
Harder Candy: Pike Headlines Predictably Exploitative Rape Thriller
It seems Rosamund Pike is now the girl most likely to…. exact ruthless retribution on her instigators,...
Ten Thousand Saints | Review I
East Village Ennui: Coming of Age Story Displaced, Too Hip For Own Good
A coming of age narrative comprised of the familiar: teen angst, frustration,...
Mistress America | Review
Sister, My Sister: Baumbach’s Energetic Return to Facades of NYC
The latest in Noah Baumbach’s prolific slew of projects, Mistress America is the follow-up collaboration...
People, Places, Things | Review
Here in the Noun: Strouse’s Familiar, Charming RomCom
The kids are basically all right in People, Places, Things, director James C. Strouse’s third outing as...
Two Step | Review
Ordinary Madness: Johnson’s Character Study Enriched by Neo-Noir Aesthetic
Premiering earlier this year at the SXSW Film Festival, Alex R. Johnson’s directorial debut Two Step...
