Nick Kush

When You Finish Saving the World Is it the least shocking film development ever that Jesse Eisenberg, one of our most anxious, idiosyncratic performers, centered his directorial debut around two highly anxious, idiosyncratic characters? If…

The reported heinous acts committed by the Russian government sound like something straight out of a 1970s political thriller. And that’s probably exactly how they like it. “If you want to kill someone,” Alexei Navalny…

For a brief moment, Sundance 2022 looked like it was going to function as a return to in-person festival moviegoing for the entire industry. Naturally, nature had other plans in store, so the entire festival…

If you’ve watched an indie film or two in your day, odds are you’ve stumbled upon a movie about a white guy who just can’t figure things out. They have no idea what to do…

Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love is truly a sensory overload, and not just because of its staggering archival footage of gorgeous volcanoes. On top of that, it’s edited like a French New Wave film to the tune…

After Yang has one of my favorite recent open credits sequences: after a few muted back-and-forths, Jake (Colin Farrell), his wife Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith), his daughter Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja), and his android Yang (Justin…

Rebecca Hall has been on a tear as of late, starring in one severely disturbing film after the next, while also taking time to direct a very impressive debut feature in Passing (which continues to…

I’ve given up on figuring out whether or not a given year is a “good” year for film. The conclusion is always based on a combination of personal taste and a willingness to explore. A…

Remake cynicism begone, Steven Spielberg’s retelling of West Side Story is pretty damn good. The titan filmmaker managed to inject some classic Spielberg Magic™ into the musical that we’ve been missing in film for some time,…

I often find myself listening to Jóhann Jóhannsson’s compositions as I go about my day, either those tied to the films he scored in the 2010s or his original works. He had a knack for…

We’ve waited and waited, and finally, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune has arrived. It’s a lot to unpack, but it’s undoubtedly one of the biggest moviegoing events of the year. We discuss our general thoughts on the…

The notion that a first-time filmmaker could blend the rugged, depressive existence of scrappy children struggling to get by in one of Glasgow’s most oppressive neighborhoods with a bizarre dream sequence that includes a mouse…

In a shocking twist, an anthology movie that has several shorts from some of our best international filmmakers is really good. The Year of the Everlasting Storm is yet another COVID-19-centered production, except it’s one…

So many pandemic-set films since the beginning of COVID-19 are about the immediacy of it. The near-instantaneous feeling that everything has changed without the time to possibly reckon with what’s happened. Kelsey Egan’s Glasshouse takes…

Almost every conceivable trigger warning is in effect for Rob Jabbaz’s pandemic horror movie, The Sadness. Saying the film isn’t afraid to “go there” is probably the biggest understatement of Fantasia 2021 — it’s undoubtedly the…

A mysterious social experiment brings a group of eccentric strangers together to compete for a prize. It’s the synopsis for many low-budget thrillers and dark comedies. And somehow, Stanleyville feels almost entirely divorced from the subgenre. You’ve…

Sadly for Hugh Jackman, Reminiscence flopped hard this weekend, both critically and financially. Despite the crew wanting more mid-budget movies with movie stars attached to them, Lisa Joy’s directorial debut just didn’t cut it. But…

Despite how much social media is seemingly at the center of our lives, there are still only precious few good movies about the subject. What is it that makes it so hard to capture? Is…

The PR machine for the film industry can sometimes be a nightmare as directors, actors, and others associated with a project do whatever they can to hype it up. After a while, the insane comparisons…

Three movies released wide in theaters this weekend. First was Free Guy, the Ryan Reynolds vehicle which finally opened after approximately 57 delays. Then there was Respect, the Jennifer-Hudson-led biopic on Aretha Franklin’s life and career which…

So many films present a dystopian future by isolating one particularly destructive idea and playing out its disastrous societal effects. Whatever the cause for the decline of civilization — whether it’s alien invasions, dictatorships, or…

In the never-ending LeBron James-Michael Jordan debate, it always comes back to counting championships. For many, LeBron will never surpass Jordan until he at least earns his sixth NBA title. Sitting at four currently, that…

After a three-week hiatus for the podcast, we’re back! A lot has happened since the last episode — box office shenanigans, big-budget flops, buzzy indie releases — and Brennan and I are here to take…

Crystal blue water, golden hour sunshine, delicious pasta, and plenty more lovely vibes. While watching Luca, you may come to forget it comes from the same company that made three Cars movies. It probably won’t…

The Conjuring Universe’s success continues to confound me. Generally, its films range from unwatchable to well-crafted, but obvious homages to better horror films from past decades. And yet, they continue to kill at the box office.…

A group of lovable misfits in a predominantly working-class Welsch village comes together to form a horse racing syndicate to compete against the big boys on the race track. They’re all down on their luck, either…

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who asked for a 134-minute origin story of a character who originated in a 79-minute cartoon, but alas, Cruella is here. Since the film premiered, much of the conversation has…

With The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and A Quiet Place: Part II performing well along with Cruella causing a stir, movie theaters have felt a noticeable jolt in the last two weeks, which…

All hail Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, purveyors of all things deliriously unhinged, meta, and yet still somehow deeply thoughtful. I still contend one of the biggest mistakes in blockbuster moviemaking the last decade was…

A recently discovered 80-year-old review ruined Citizen Kane‘s 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, vaulting Paddington 2 to the top of the site’s rating system. The news once again brought up the discussion of the value…