Reviews

Are you ready for my second selection of short horror movies on YouTube? Here we go! As usual, I found these short gems via ALTER (except for the second one, which I found by accident).…

One of my deepest fascinations in film is when artists find a way to blur the line between art and reality. As I’ve said time and time again, meta readings of films are some of…

Lucky Grandma is the Chinese/American debut feature film directed by Sasie Sealy, and tells the story of Grandma Wong, an ill-tempered, chain-smoking, newly widowed Grandma eager to live an independent life in the bustling Chinatown…

As a filmmaker, Josh Trank is less famous for his body of work than for his public persona. It all started with the modestly budgeted, Chronicle. Told via a found-footage narrative, it entailed the story…

Recency bias affects us more often than we realize when it comes to analyzing films. Many are so quick to spread effusive praise, claiming some film as the “best” in one way or another. You…

I always think it’s a little silly when we ascribe descriptors to a film that never intended to have them. Clementine has been described by many as an “erotic thriller”, which is pretty hilarious when…

How To Build A Girl is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by English journalist and broadcaster Caitlin Moran. As a woman who was writing for a national music magazine at 16 and writing for The Times…

On April 15th, 2020, we lost the great Brian Dennehy. It goes without saying that, as an actor, he left behind a great legacy. As with many people, the first time I noticed him was…

Days before the release of Bad Trip, I had discovered the wonderful stupidity of The Eric André Show. It’s a baffling show, not just hilarious, but sometimes eerily surreal. It’s not a show that wants you…

Did you know that YouTube is home to a lot of really good short horror movies? There are even some channels that are devoted to them, such as ALTER, Omeleto, and Screamfest. My favorite by…

The Half of It, the most recent iteration of Cyrano de Bergerac, after Sierra Burgess is a Loser, follows Ellie, a shy, hardworking nerd, as she helps Paul, a slow but sweet jock, try to win the…

Clark Duke has made a sizeable living being the dependable comic relief. He was the one who traveled to the fictional eighties alongside John Cusack in Hot Tub Time Machine; he was the nerdy sidekick…

You probably don’t need me to tell you that ICE detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants throughout the United States is a hot button issue. You also probably didn’t need me to start this review by…

I agonized over the title of this article for some time. (SEO is tough, ya’ll.) But sometimes, when a movie is as ridiculous as Deerskin, being as plain as possible can do wonders. It paints…

In January of 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival, I saw a film that I was convinced was going to resonate wide and far in Martha Stephens melancholic coming-of-age film To The Stars. The film…

Pop quiz hotshot, when a witch moves in next door with the power to make you forget about ever having kids with a meer whisper, what do you do? The Wretched takes some elements from The Burbs, The…

High school reporter Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan) is photocopying financial records from her district’s archives when she notices water dripping from the ceiling. She’s working on a story about a skywalk her superintendent, Doctor Frank…

Every generation has their favorite high school movie. From Fast Times at Ridgemont High to Booksmart, seeing whipsmart or daffy teenagers played mostly by actors in their 20s traverse the difficulties of growing has made for…

Why Don’t You Just Die! comes from writer/director Kirill Sokolov and tells the story of Matvey, a young man who has been tasked with murdering his girlfriend’s detective father, Andrey, by none other than his…

It’s safe to say I wasn’t lamenting Bloodshot‘s uninspired opening weekend at the box office in mid-March amid virus concerns. (You know what’s worse than getting the Coronavirus? Getting the Coronavirus AND having to listen to…

Cults. They’re fascinating, aren’t they? Groups of people who are convinced of one belief system or one way to live at the expense of their best interests, charismatic leaders, and often weird outfits. The cult…

One of the very, very tiny benefits of the current state of the world which is otherwise forcing me to have an existential crisis every twenty minutes is the ability to discover some of the smaller, more…

On paper, The Hunt didn’t seem to offer anything new. The initial premise calls back to the 1924’s short story, The Most Dangerous Game, which has been adapted numerous times — most notably, of course,…

Melbourne and Sydney cinephiles craving cinema that is bold, subversive, unconventional, or just plain bizarre have rejoiced with the inaugural Fantastic Film Festival Australia. Over 2 weeks in late February and early March, the festival…

When I was a teenage boy, like many of my peers, I was obsessed with coming-of-age films. In particular, I loved the high school party comedies like Superbad, American Pie, and Dazed and Confused. I…

Onward, a movie I had no expectations for, but I went to see it anyway because it comes from Pixar. It turned out to be a great decision for two reasons: there’s a hilarious short…

It might sound ridiculous to some, but so be it: VFW was one of my most anticipated films of the year. It started with the premise: a siege-style thriller with a group of aging veterans…

Conducting a therapy session by way of moviemaking is something I’m intensely interested in…if done correctly. It feeds into our fascination with celebrity, and the films themselves take on deeper meanings than what’s on the…

Kelly Reichardt’s latest, First Cow, distributed by A24, is an intimate look at male friendship, the American dream, and baking. Reichardt is well-known for her films about American life, focusing on dire times and looked-over…

We don’t need to see eye to eye, we just have to remain respectful. This virtue is understood by most children, but it seems lost in American political discourse. It’s disheartening seeing people cheer for…

From generations of watching blood spew all over the screen — brought upon by some of our favorite horror icons and other nefarious ne’er-do-wells — we’re all a bit conditioned to bodily harm in movies.…

With a new calendar year, we are usually bombarded with a large number of bad movies. Whether it is big studios dumping films that don’t look too promising, betting on a movie star to bring…

It’s hard to find someone who wouldn’t know what the Superman emblem looks like these days. However, over the decades, Superman has had his fair share of critics who are frustrated with his seemingly unmatched…

Full disclosure: my family and I are fans of the television program, Impractical Jokers. In fact, on weekends, when my husband is home, it’s on for much of the day. It’s in heavy rotation on truTV,…

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…

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…