Review

By Cleaver Patterson. As the autumn nights draw in and winter fast approaches, the season seems more disposed to cinematic tales which induce unease within the viewer. The time is then perfect for the release of The Messenger (2015), a psychological chiller from BAFTA and Emmy winning British director David […]

By Kyle Huffman. In the first scene of Straight Outta Compton (2015), Easy E (Jason Mitchell) barely escapes a drug den being raided by the LAPD. This harrowing sequence feels like something ripped right out of a war movie, as the confusion of overwhelming force scatters the opposition like roaches. But […]

By James Slaymaker.  Alex Ross Perry’s latest feature, Queen of Earth, explores similar thematic territory to his first three (Impolex, The Color Wheel and Listen Up Philip), but marks a radical expansion of his artistic palette in regards to both form and content. What largely makes the film fascinating when considered alongside his existing […]

By Jude Warne. “I move around a lot, not because I’m looking for anything really, but because I’m getting away from things that get bad if I stay,” says Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson), the protagonist of Bob Rafelson’s 1970 classic Five Easy Pieces. Bobby Dupea is The Guy who Never […]

By Kyle Huffman. Every action movie relies on the audience’s suspension of disbelief regarding the humanity and dexterity of its star. Some, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, portray themselves as tank-like monuments of granite that through sheer force of will annihilate all in their path. Others, like Bruce Willis […]

By Jeremy Carr.  In The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), Eddie Coyle sure could use a friend. Surrounded by many, known by even more, with a family and with former and current partners in crime, Eddie is nevertheless alone. He is a tragically solitary figure whose perhaps naive earnestness leaves […]

By Elias Savada. There’s a tendency toward sexual subversion and sly mystery in any François Ozon film. Naughty fun in the comic farce 8 Women (2002). A year later, the voyeuristic Swimming Pool‘s American tagline was “On the Surface, All Is Calm.” More recently came the unsettling relationship between a […]

By John Duncan Talbird. New Zealand has given the world actors Sam Neil and Russell Crowe and directors Jane Campion and Peter Jackson. But above all others, I would have to express a soft spot for New Zealander Jemaine Clement, one half of the folk pop comedy duo, Flight of […]

By William Repass.  In today’s economic and political climate, it can be tempting to dismiss film as merely spectacle: a flimsy replacement for or deflection from lived experience that nonetheless empowers and enriches the few at the expense of the many. Even accomplished films, if we step back and consider […]

By Elias Savada. I like looking at mountains. From a safe distance. Or on my computer screen saver. Occasionally, from above, in a well-protected, warm airplane. And, of course, from the comfort of a nice secure seat in a earthbound movie theatre. I’ll leave the climbing of such extreme big […]