By Thomas M. Puhr. Newton really shines and has a funny swagger about her. It’s too bad the surrounding film never quite matches this winning performance.” Lisa is lonely. Her widower father, who has promptly remarried and moved in with Lisa’s new stepmother and stepsister out in the candy-colored suburbs, […]
Youth (Spring): Wang Bing on Youth Labor
By Yun-hua Chen. The first installment of Wang Bing’s documentary triptych explores the textile industry in rural China and its young workers, aged 16 to 22, engrossed in intricate maneuvers for extended hours….” Having premiered in Cannes and subsequently showcased at major film festivals including Viennale and IDFA, Youth (Spring) […]
Illustrative but Incomplete: Dario Argento Panico
By Jeremy Carr. Ideal for Argento newcomers but ultimately lacking in fresh perspectives….” Dario Argento Panico, a new documentary about the iconic, enigmatic, and—especially during the peak of his career—astonishingly inventive director, is a well-illustrated and reasonably informative look at the life and work of the man who largely defined […]
Spies So Silly: Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle
By Elias Savada. An incredibly overproduced, over-CGI’ed Universal release.” Even before its release, rumors were frantically flying all over the internet that the only recently published “inspired by” source novel (released January 9th) for Argylle (released February 2nd), the latest film from producer-director-writer Matthew Vaughn, was written not by Elly […]
Small Town, Big Drama: DK and Hugh Welchman’s The Peasants (2023)
By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. DK and Hugh Welchman’s film, which recreates frames as oil paintings, is a captivating portrayal of the darker and most unsettling aspects of human nature, such as oppressive patriarchy, small-minded shared beliefs, selfishness, narcissism and jealous behavior within the constraints of a small community.” People […]
Don’t Look Away: Stephen Gerard Kelly and Garry Keane’s In the Shadow of Beirut (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. What emerges is a record of a people that is unwaveringly empathetic in its portrayal but incomplete in terms of either interrogating its position as a historical artifact or providing cultural context.” The poor Lebanese neighborhoods of Sabra and Shatila are the subject of Stephen Gerard […]
Tom DeLonge Wants You to Believe: Monsters of California (2023)
By Jonathan Monovich. Despite its imperfections as an introductory feature film, fans of the sci-fi, horror, and adventure genres will walk away with a smile and will want to believe.” “We all know conspiracies are dumb.” Knowing his extraterrestrial obsessions, it’s a lyric sung ironically by Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge in […]
Not a Creature was Stirring, Not Even a Demon: Jenn Wexler’s The Sacrifice Game (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. Maybe I was too harsh toward last year’s Violent Night after all; at least that one seemed to enjoy its own company.” If you saw The Holdovers (2023) and wondered, “What if this were a horror movie, and not good?” then The Sacrifice Game (2023) might be for you. In […]
More “Dead Men and Broken Hearts”: Liminal Noir in Classical World Cinema
A Book Review by Dávid Szőke. While acknowledging the broadening of the debated canon, this volume, edited by Elyce Rae Helford and Christopher Weedman, focuses on how liminality extends beyond physical spaces, emphasizing the fragmented psychological and social realms onscreen after the war.” “Dead men are heavier than broken hearts,” […]
Say Goodbye to Hollywood: John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust (1975)
By Jeremy Carr. There has never been a self-referential Hollywood feature quite like 1975’s The Day of the Locust, a twisting and twisted tale of sullied lives, desperation, and, ultimately, sheer madness.” Hollywood has always been rather good at building itself up, generating films that flaunt the glamour of Tinseltown, […]