Tag: U.S. Indie Film

Smashed | TIFF 2012 Review

Leaving Los Angeles: Ponsoldt’s Feature of Addiction & Recovery Anchored by Strong Lead Director James Ponsoldt follows up his under seen 2006 debut Off the...

Interview: Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights On)

We sat down with Ira Sachs shortly after the world premiere of his latest film, Keep the Lights On, after its world premiere at...

Keep the Lights On | Review

Dying of the light: Sachs' Latest a Quiet Heartbreak of Growing Apart Multifaceted director Ira Sachs returns with Keep the Lights On, his first feature...

The Words | Review

In Need of a Thesaurus: A Tepid Debut Feature With Little to Say For a film centered on the literary world using literary devices to...

The Possession | Review

The Jewish Exorcist: Bornedal Dips Back into English Language for Derivative Genre Effort Danish master Ole Bornedal already has a finicky history with the...

For a Good Time, Call… | Review

Hold, Please: Travis’ Debut an Anachronistic, Hilarious Laugh Penned by Katie Ann Naylon and star Lauren Miller, For a Good Time, Call… is a surprisingly...

The Tall Man | Review

Head In the Clouds: Laugier’s English Speaking Horror Feature Poorly Manufactured After his infamously violent 2008 horror flick Martyrs landed him on the top of...

Little Birds | Review

Teenage Wasteland: Elgin James Gives Us Teen Angst for Debut A Sundance Lab creation, Elgin James’ debut, Little Birds is a strong first effort, one...

Sleepwalk With Me | Review

Standup comedian Mike Birbiglia has taken his personal tale of failed relationships, comedic development, and serious sleep disorders to the stage, the page, and...

Red Hook Summer | Review

Summer Bummer: Lee Offers Strong Ending for the Devoted With his first fictional film since 2008’s Miracle at St. Anna, the ever divisive Spike Lee...

Interview: Ron Nyswaner, Phil Dorling and Melissa Leo (Why Stop Now)

Originally titled Predisposed after the short it was based on, Why Stop Now made a splash at this years Sundance where it caught the...

Chained | Review

A Jennifer Lynch film never fails to polarize audiences. 1993's Boxing Helena was widely panned by critics and avoided by filmgoers, but a small...

Robot & Frank | Review

We all need a PAL. Robot & Frank, the feature debut of director Jake Schrier, sounds like it has the potential to land in independent...

Goats | Review

Where’s an Attenborough When You Need One?: Neil’s Debut a Blank Slate Acting and dialogue coach Christopher Neil, a vague member of the Coppola Clan,...

Mosquita Y Mari | Review

Feels Like The First Time: Guerrero’s Debut Nondescript But Heartfelt Writer/director Aurora Guerrero’s feature debut, Mosquita Y Mari is a coming of age exercise in...

Celeste and Jesse Forever | Review

Krieger Asks You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone An emotionally grounded dramedy authored by a pair of television veterans and a burgeoning...

Killer Joe | Review

Friedkin Back with A Vengeance: A delicious, glossy throwback to the daring exploitative themes of the 1970s. Incest, murderous rednecks, and a bucket of chicken...

Criterion Collection: Metropolitan Blu-ray Review

With this past Spring’s release of Damsels In Distress, his first new title in thirteen years, the Criterion Collection has refurbished two Whit Stillman...

The Do-Deca-Pentathlon | Review

Men at Work: Duplass Bros. Deliver Painfully Funny Olympiads Over the past seven years, the Duplass Brothers have made five feature-length films with each exploring...

To Rome With Love | Review

Roma, Ti Amo: Woody Allen Sketches Snippets of the Eternal City Say what you will about Woody Allen, but he’s had an amazing decade with...

Dark Horse | Review

Parent Trapped: Solondz Does Arrested Development The latest from provocative filmmaker Todd Solondz, Dark Horse, seems deceptively simple, already touted as one of his most...

The Perfect Family | Review

Turner’s Classic Movies were far Superior to this Insipid Comic Family Drama Kathleen Turner attacks the lead role in Anne Renton's ‘The Perfect Family’ as...

A Little Bit of Heaven | Review

Cancer Eats More Than Just Kate Hudson’s Colon in Kassell’s Emotional Porn After her excellent 2004 feature debut The Woodsman, Nicole Kassell finally returns with...

2012 SXSW: Starlet | Review

POV Shot: Baker and Hemingway Craft Intricate Tale Pornography, prostitution, and pimping, worlds that are often portrayed as a dark underbelly, away from the center,...

2012 SXSW: Leave Me Like You Found Me | Review

Californian Flip-Flopping: Romanski Examines the Rekindling of a Past Connection In producer Adele Romanski’s directorial debut, Erin and Cal (Megan Boone and David Nordstrom) rekindle...

Two Shades of Blue; Music Box Makes Post Sundance-Berlin Pick-Up of ‘Keep the Lights On’

Contempo Queer cinema is alive and well. After showings at Sundance and in Berlin, Ira Sachs' Keep the Lights On is following along in...

Crazy & Thief | Review

Watch My Home Movie: Cory McAbee’s Latest, Masturbation Or Art? You may not know exactly what to expect from a Cory McAbee film, a man,...

The ABCs of Death | Review

Sing ‘em With Me: Ambitious Horror Anthology Overreaches Itself Nearly every anthology film ever made suffers from the same predicament in that there are usually...

John Dies at the End | Review

If Only Everyone Else Did, Too If you’re seeking shamefacedly cheesy special effects, a lobotomized H.P. Lovecraft inspired tale, and mortifyingly bad performances, then look...

Black Rock | Review

No Picnic At This Rock For a long time now there’s been a problem with the output of horror films made in America. Let’s face...

ME at the ZOO | Review

Leave Chris Crocker Alone, or Don't You're first introduction to the self documented web star, Chris Crocker, may very well be the now infamous “Leave...

Lay the Favorite | Review

Don’t Lay Any Bets On This Loser Every once in a while, a great director, an auteur even, will helm such a dastardly atrocious film,...

The Descendants | Review

Paradise Lost and Found: Payne Delivers Heartbreaking Tale That Will Pull Heartstrings Among the films guaranteed to not implode between its premium fall festival showings...

Interview: Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky (The Patron Saints)

We've been keeping tabs on this husband-wife filmmaking team the first time we herd about them via Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of 2007...

Popular

2025 Cannes Critics’ Panel: Day 4 – Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’

Unless we count some items he produced, Ari Aster...

2025 Cannes Critics’ Panel: Day 4 – Hafsia Herzi’s ‘La Petite Dernière’ (The Little Sister)

Actress-filmmaker (she forever stole our cinephile heart for her...

Eddington | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review

No Country for Smart Men: Aster Satirizes the Obvious It...

La petite dernière (The Little Sister) | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review

The Lost Daughter: Herzi Passes Up Potency in Standard...