February 2020

The Hunt for Red October has always been a favorite movie of my family. I don’t know what it is about a Soviet commander defecting to the United States in a nuclear submarine that I …

I like to think I’m a fan of most film genres, but there’s something about a taut mystery that is extra exciting. Disappearance at Clifton Hill channels a lot of what makes the genre great, trapping …

You don’t always know how important something is until you’re confronted with its sparse reality. It’s sort of the converse of saying you don’t really appreciate something until it’s gone. Universal’s new film, The Photograph, …

Dating at a young age is like trying to maneuver through a minefield, especially in relationships that go horribly wrong. You still have no idea who you are, and you can almost forget knowing how …

Although it was received with mixed reviews, 2016’s The Boy attracted a reasonable amount of attention thanks to its unusual conclusion. It managed to steer clear of the familiar ‘creepy doll’ horror tropes and was …

Every so often, a romance film comes around and wrecks just about everyone who sees it — Portrait of a Lady on Fire is that film. After a small, awards-qualifying release late in 2019, the …

I wasn’t planning on seeing The Call of the Wild (2020) this year. Harrison Ford seemed out of place and the CG dog seemed like an abomination. Plus, I’d seen behind-the-scenes shots of Harrison Ford petting a …

It is a truth universally acknowledged…wait, wrong one. “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly …

“Someone’s always watching…” Such is the tagline for The Night Clerk (2020), the straight-to-home-rental crime drama from Michael Cristofer. Weaving the yarn of a voyeuristic everyman desperate to prove his innocence, it emulates Sir Alfred …

The strangest feeling I had in quite some time was elation after watching this year’s Academy Awards. Who would have thunk it, the Academy made a cool choice for Best Picture! Although, with the benefit …

I’m always fascinated by what people in the industry can do with such limited resources. It’s a constant reminder that filmmaking is a marvel. And also that it’s hard. Incredibly hard. Amazingly, for Olympic Dreams, director …

It’s been 10 years since the release of Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and hence, 10 years since I was totally enthralled and disturbed by it as a 14-year-old. When I first heard the film’s ominous …

As we all know by now, the marketing campaign for Sonic the Hedgehog started as an all-out disaster with a terrible trailer displaying a humanoid Sonic in the middle of a movie that looked just …

When it comes to films with a heavy focus on artists and art in general, it is difficult to not be a little apprehensive. It can often be a slippery slope leading into shallow self-indulgence …

Title pun aside, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood remade Ruben Östland’s Force Majeure. The premise is just too good to pass up, being both a high-concept, attention-grabbing jumping-off point for marketing …

Pinocchio (1940) celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, which is astounding to me. It’s staggering to think that animation has been around for well over 80 years at this point, let alone Disney being relevant for a similar …

The Assistant, Kitty Green’s first fictionalized film, is a master class in subtlety and illustrates just how powerless young women are when faced with powerful, abusive people. Julia Garner plays Jane, a quiet but talented …

Capitalizing off the CGI technology available to it during this age of digital filmmaking, Jeff Fowler’s Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) could have been a dream come true for younger fans of Sega as well as …

When it comes to dunking on things that seem really, really stupid, the internet is just about undefeated. The weekend brought with it an exception to that rule: Sonic the Hedgehog. The big-screen adaptation of …

I had a funny experience when I caught up with Netflix’s Miss Americana, the Taylor Swift documentary which captures her political awakening while also recapping her career and work leading up to the release of …

Some movies that just seem to drag. They may have an interesting story or beautiful cinematography but they just are hard to watch if you’re not 100% engaged. They often get the label “boring,” even …

To All the Boys I Loved Before was one of Netflix’s more notable successes. Released to little fanfare in the middle of summer, it took off in a big way. It sits at 97% fresh …

A few years after whatever the hell Suicide Squad was released, Harley Quinn has her very own movie in Birds of Prey. Or, the actual title, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One …

The 2020 Oscars went according to plan…until it didn’t. Parasite shocked just about everyone with four wins, including Best Director and Picture, while stealing the night away from 1917. It was truly a momentous group …

Sometimes, a tragedy happens that is so beyond the scale of my comprehension, that I cannot fully engage in it. It can be hard to watch relentless news coverage or read emotional articles about senseless …

Like my fellow ordained Dudeist Ministers out there, I’ve seen The Big Lebowski countless times. It’s a film that not only became increasingly entertaining after each consecutive viewing, but its underlying message also became of great philosophical and spiritual …

Elijah Wood will most likely be remembered as Frodo Baggins, the kind-hearted and heroic hobbit who struggled through the corrupting powers of Sauron’s Ring. But his acting career besides his middle-earth ventures should be not …

After my first experience at Sundance last year, I arrived this year at the festival cognizant of the hyperbolic reactions that come with the environment. (Or, at the very least, I did my best. I’m …

Similar to its leading lady, Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey (2020) was dealt a shit hand. David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016) is a music video masquerading as a feature film, a two-hour movie trailer full of undeliverable promises. And …

Birds of Prey came in well below studio and industry expectations, battling a slew of Oscar-nominated movies as well as other popular movies in their latest weeks of release. Was it the quality of the …