Reviews

“The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever being one.” – Billy Connolly Since 1935, The American Legion has sponsored Boys State (and Girls State, which is somehow a separated…

Lara, Jane-Ole Gerster’s sophomore feature, follows Lara Jenkins, a divorced mother on her 60th birthday. Not only is this her birthday, but it is also her son’s first solo concert as a pianist and composer.…

World War II was as far-reaching as its name would suggest. Not only did soldiers and civilians die, but their friends, families, and even hometown acquaintances were all affected by this devastating war. Summerland highlights…

The Killing of Two Lovers begins with an unbelievably harrowing moment, showing a painful closeup of David’s (Clayne Crawford) face as he stands over the bed with a cocked gun, pointing it at his wife…

Movies have trained us not to trust AI. We’ll never forget seeing Hal 9000 lay waste to a group of astronauts; Skynet has threatened to destroy humanity so many times, it has become synonymous with…

There’s something about micro-budget, social realist, mumblecore adjacent independent films with an emphasis on naturalism and a kind empathy for deeply flawed and troubled characters that feels so invigorating. Canadian director, Kazik Radwanski’s deeply uncomfortable…

She Dies Tomorrow is the latest film from writer/director/actress Amy Seimetz. It is her second feature film in the director’s chair, but she has directed a fair amount of TV including some episodes of Atlanta…

Initially, the concept of Palm Springs is easy to grasp. Boy meets the girl. Boy and girl hook up. From this point on, however, it becomes a bit of a whirlwind. Partly produced by The…

A mob enforcer with a troubled conscience, a crime boss who wants to go legit, and an oilman with a fatalistic code of honor. These are the three main players of Scott Wiper’s The Big…

Samurai Marathon desires to be placed among the ranks of impressive historical Japanese films that have come before it. The filmmakers were inspired by history and took a small moment of Japanese history and wrapped…

I grew up in a Catholic household, went to Catholic high school, and went to church every Sunday. So yes, Catholic guilt is coursing through my body every waking moment. Seriously, the amount of guilt…

As far as foreign-language films go, I am in love with cinema from all over the world, with Korean cinema taking a strong lead. Being from a country with a small number of movies that…

Biopics, or biographical films, are often difficult to pull off. They are often polarizing, especially among those who are experts or fans of the subject. Bohemian Rhapsody was revered in many ways, but historians and…

Promising to do for Airbnb what Unfriended did for Skype, The Rental takes two genre types and blends them to chilling effect. Two couples, comprised of Silicon Valley tech-bro Charlie (Dan Stevens) and his partner…

Clearing up after a film shoot, Day (Theeradej Wongpuapan) takes a break to float in a 6-meter deep pool on an inflatable. Unfortunately, it’s a slowly draining pool and after a little nap, he wakes…

For a country with a population of only five million people, Norway punches above its weight in the world of scary movies. Maybe it’s the unfathomable depths of the fjords, maybe it’s the long dark…

Check out the rest of our coverage of the 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here. Read Part 3 here. Paradise Without People Even though the Syrian refugee crisis…

Check out the rest of our coverage of the 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here. The Walrus and the Whistleblower CW: Mentions of animal abuse Nathalie Bibeau’s portrait…

Read part 1 of our 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival coverage here. The Wheels of Wonder Play is a very important aspect of every child’s development. It gets them moving, stimulates their imagination, and helps…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some film festivals have moved online. This allowed me to — despite being based in London — screen some of the slate in the 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.  So,…

On the first day of October, 2017, tragedy struck in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the final night of Route 91 Harvest, an outdoor country music festival. An estimated 22,000 people were in attendance. At…

When I saw Relic at the Sundance Premiere in January (it feels like an eternity ago), I was floored. Catching up with the film before sitting down to pen this, soon to be, overwhelmingly positive review,…

Young couple Emily and Randall (Liana Liberato and Noah Le Gros) travel to a getaway beach house for a weekend of relaxation. On arrival, they find the beach house double-booked with an older couple Jane…

Editor’s Note: The following review of The Truth initially ran during MovieBabble’s coverage of the 2019 Denver Film Festival. The Truth (La vérité) seems a particularly tricky film to handle. It covers the stormy reunion…

As a Dutch person who is used to having government made up of coalitions, American politics can feel daunting. Even scary at times, when they are essentially only two ways you can vote, for the…

The American dream has destroyed a lot of people. Sometimes one person’s dream comes at the expense of others. Other times, a dream required too many sacrifices, leading to spiritual decay or a short lifespan.…

What a FUN movie Scare Package is. Shot by seven different directors, the film is packed with diverse storylines. I am reasonably familiar with the anthology genre, and I like that it is mainly just…

I would describe myself as a Judd Apatow defender, for the most part. I tend to even enjoy his films many consider as his weaker efforts. While I wouldn’t describe him as one of the…

As MovieBabble’s unofficial and self-appointed Australian correspondent, it is my obligation to pounce on any Australian film that falls into the lap of the MovieBabble staff to review. My ears especially prick up when I…

Five sittings. It took me five different sittings to finish Disney’s Artemis Fowl, a mere 94-minute movie including the entirety of the end credits. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for what was supposed to become…

This is part 2 of my 2020 Sydney Film Festival Coverage. To read Part 1, click here. Part 1 covered the narrative features, and now we are here to focus on the documentaries screening online…

Like most good things in life that were put on hold or canceled due to COVID-19, the 67th Sydney Film Festival cannot go ahead in its traditional form in 2020. But thanks to the tireless…

Welcome to Part 3 of this ongoing series about interesting short horror movies on YouTube. I find most of them via the channel of ALTER, unless otherwise noted. Let’s have a look, shall we? Read…

What I expected from The Dinner Party was a wonderful combination of horror films Would You Rather and Ready or Not. Even though those movies are both about playing a traditional game with a horror spin, and The…

The name Shirley Jackson is well-known to horror veterans. She’s someone I mainly know for inspiring the hit Netflix television show The Haunting of Hill House. Personally, I’ve been too terrified to rewatch the show or even…

I like to live by a few principles, one of them being Willem Dafoe makes every movie better. It doesn’t matter if he has a hilarious man-bun and speaks a few lines of exposition in…

In small-town New Mexico in the 1950s, teen switchboard operator Fay and radio DJ Everett discover a strange audio frequency and they decide to investigate, which leads to them finding some terrifying history of their town…

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…