Reviews

There’s a scene early on in My Sailor, My Love where shut-in Howard and newly-hired housekeeper Annie are tending to Howard’s long-neglected apple trees. As they place the fruit into baskets, they both reach for…

Life goes by in a blink of an eye. One second, we are young with (hopefully) years ahead of us. The next thing we know, we are middle-aged and dealing with work, family, and other…

It’s been funny to see Knives Out essentially take the Hercule Poirot franchise’s lunch the last few years. That’s not to say Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie trilogy is an abject failure, but comparing the two…

When facing war, a political leader knows that there will be hard choices to make. They also know that lives will be lost. The new biopic, Golda, follows the late Golda Meir (Helen Mirren) during the Yom Kippur War.…

Editor’s note: A previous draft of this review for Mad Cats included the pun, “It’s not purrfect.” We apologize for even considering such a bad pun. We’ll do better in the future.   A movie…

If there’s one thing to take away from New Life, it’s that John Rosman knows how to structure a screenplay. Rosman’s debut is the special kind of film that withholds just the right amount of…

One of my toxic traits is that I love a good single-location thriller. There’s something about being trapped in a life-threatening situation with one character that always pulls me in. Are they hurt? Are they…

In a time when so many big-budget blockbuster hopefuls are prepackaged as the start of an entire universe of films before they arrive in theaters, it’s nearly impossible for someone like yours truly to imagine…

Hundreds of Beavers. Amazing title. No notes. The content of the film itself? Shockingly little notes there too! Hundreds of Beavers is the epitome of a film festival discovery: a wildly creative, handmade project that…

Sophie (Judy Greer) is reeling after her husband Mal (Edi Gathegi) tragically died in a drunk driving incident eight months ago. Mal was a scientist, and shared that love with their daughter Riley (Faithe Herman);…

Countless moments in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie had me thinking, “I can’t believe this is a real movie.” From a hilarious 2001-style opening in which little girls smash their old dolls, to Margot Robbie drinking imaginary…

If Tom Cruise is the last true bankable movie star, then Christopher Nolan is one of just a handful of truly bankable auteur blockbuster directors we have left. Someone who is not a job-for-hire director…

Where would we be without Tom Cruise? What is it about this crazed cinematic daredevil in his early 60s that keeps us coming back to the movies in droves? Hollywood is now a minefield of…

Blue Jean initially premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September of last year, but its global theatrical rollout, which initially began in the United Kingdom in February, has finally branched out into other nations…

Although it might not have always seemed like it, the recent wave of movies and television shows about businesses and their founders is part of the logical next step in the movie industry. In a…

Having anxiety is hell on Earth. I open with this thought despite it likely seeming painfully obvious to anyone afflicted by it. There is nothing redeeming about spending many of your waking moments in conflict…

In an age with too many Adam McKay or Aaron Sorkin movies that are punishingly tone-deaf and insultingly superficial in their political critiques, R.M.N. is a breath of fresh air. Well, maybe not exactly —…

It has been said that a woman’s intuition is usually correct. What matters is if others listen to her or ignore what has been said because it comes out of the mouth of a female.…

Saim Sadiq’s debut feature has that creeping sense of profundity that is usually the mark of an experienced artist. Never rushed, living in each scene until the proper moment. One can gather that Joyland is…

Anthologization needs to make a comeback. In this era, franchises choose one of two paths: becoming overwhelmingly serialized, assembly line products that by design perpetually keep the wheels turning with ever-diminishing returns. Or, they get…

As a twenty-something American, I am no stranger to the existential angst associated with pondering the horrors of climate change and how it will negatively impact my life. It’s impossible for me to fathom the…

It’s been a long time between drinks for Mario and Luigi at the movies. The absolutely gonzo and bizarre 1993 live-action adaptation of the classic game was such a notorious critical and financial failure that…

Among the Bronte sisters, Emily is the most mysterious. Reclusive and shy, she preferred walking on the Yorkshire Moors and the companionship of close family and friends to strangers. The new biopic, Emily, was written and directed by Frances O’Connor. It tells the…

With the rise of COVID-19 shutting down indoor movie theaters, drive-ins saw something of a rebirth in 2020-21. It was the only option for entertainment for many people. A way to both go out and…

The Rocky franchise has left an indelible mark on cinema history. It created the blueprint for the modern sports movie that had audiences passionately cheering for the underdog and making them want to get up and…

As a seasoned film viewer, it takes quite an experience to truly rattle me. This is the long-term effects of a lifetime of desensitizing myself by a (possibly unhealthy) overexposure to horror films. I find…

As someone who spent the first eight years of my life in a turbulent, abusive household, generational trauma is something I have thought about often throughout my adulthood. For some, there is a palpable fear…

In reflecting on the year, a film that always comes up in my mind is Audrey Diwan’s 1960s abortion drama, Happening. Many would point to the film’s startlingly prescient release just weeks before the Dobbs…

There’s a palpable sense of “less is more” in Joanna Hogg’s brand of formalism. Her camera is happy to sit back and observe, only moving very precisely when the scene calls for it. Commonly shooting on…

Abortion is one of those topics that are guaranteed to generate strong opinions, regardless of where one stands on the political and religious scale. At the end of the day, it is just another medical…