By Thomas Puhr. Different it is, though that’s just about where the praise will end. Outside of a promising first act and clever special effects, Demonic is an utter disaster.” I must admit I don’t understand the intense praise heaped on Neill Blomkamp’s feature debut, District 9 (2009). Its ham-fisted […]
A Worthy Rediscovery: Bill Duke’s Deep Cover (Criterion Collection)
Bill Duke’s 1991 neo-noir Deep Cover finding a home at the Criterion Collection gives the film the communal artistic reverence that it has always richly deserved. And there lies the bittersweet taste of acceptance.” By Johnnie Hobbs III. “So gather ’round as I run it down, and unravel my pedigree…” […]
Waiting for da Vinci, or Someone Like Him: The Lost Leonardo
By Elias Savada. Danish director Koefoed has created an absorbing gathering of principal players in the scams and schemes at play in the art world, gathering opinions, comments, and stories that could make your toes curl, and rob you blind.” When I say Leonardo, most of you will think either […]
Say Her Name: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s Kandisha
By Thomas Puhr. One suspects that Bustillo and Maury are going through the motions until they can get to the next death set piece…. And it’s a shame, because they clearly have what it takes to make a great horror film. They already have done so, as a matter of […]
Agnes; or, The Divine Pleasures of Director Mickey Reece (Fantasia International Film Festival)
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Agnes shrewdly balances sincerity with the filmmaker’s signature style of camp once again to extraordinary effect.” I’m not even three minutes into the international premiere of Agnes at Montreal’s Fantasia Fest and I almost had to be physically restrained from hugging the screen. All the things I […]
An Arthurian Fever Dream: David Lowery’s The Green Knight
By Elias Savada. Patel’s explosive performance pushes this fever dream of a film into award-worthy contender territory.” Mythical fantasy has met its latest fan, and his name is David Lowery. Yes, he’s aptly called a visionary filmmaker, one who likes to ambitiously spin genres on their heads. He loves to […]
Dream Tax and Video Visions: Inside Strawberry Mansion (Fantasia International Film Festival)
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. While certainly not everyone’s bucket of fried chicken, is a wildly creative reflection of life, love and the real threat of losing our souls – and our dreams – to the corporate, capitalist machine.” Premiering earlier in the year at Sundance and making its Canadian premiere at […]
Stillwater: Sub-Par McCarthy, with Damon as Everydad
By Elias Savada. I pray that Stillwater is just a blip on the director’s stunning career. I wish that I could recommend this latest film from director Tom McCarthy, whose first feature, The Station Agent, remains fresh in my mind after 18 years. I loved that inaugural work (“a film […]
Panorama of Change: Venus By Water (Cannes 2021)
By Yun-hua Chen. A tribute to all women who flourish against all odds, showing unusual maturity and sobriety for a debut film.” A panoramic view on women’s living conditions in a southern Chinese city in the 90s, Venus by Water, premiered in the parallel section ACID in Cannes, focuses on […]
Missed Opportunity – Joanne Woodward: Her Life and Career
A Book Review by Tony Williams. Compared to the acting studies of the type produced by Richard Dyer and James Naremore (neither of whom receive mention in either text or bibliography), this study is severely lacking.” This book promises much but delivers little. Far from being “the first to be […]