By John Duncan Talbird. Terrance Davies’ most recent film, A Quiet Passion, is a strange drama. It is a biopic and a period piece, an adaptation without a source text, an homage, and a fiercely original work. Most of the action takes place inside the walls of Emily Dickinson’s home in […]
Phoenix Sans Gimmicks: You Were Never Really Here (Cannes 2017 Review)
June 2, 2017
By Ali Moosavi. Lynn Ramsey’s violent film noir was the last film to be shown at the Cannes Official Competition. It is based on a short novella by Jonathan Ames. Joaquin Phoenix has considerably beefed up to play the role of Joe, a heavy, doing jobs for a private dick. He […]
The Lights Are On, But Is Anybody Home?: House & House II on Arrow/MVD
June 1, 2017
By Jeremy Carr. The 1980s was a pivotal period for horror films. As low-budget “Video Nasty” provocations steadily faded from America’s grindhouse screens, the down and dirty days of the 1970s were getting displaced by family-friendly creature features and box office-busting franchises. Though there had been historical antecedents for decades, […]
A Brief Review of Alien: Covenant
By Vanessa Crispin. Since the release of Alien: Covenant, reviews have been of a mixed variety, some praising it for paying homage to the original, while others dismiss it as Ridley Scott’s possibly last foray into directing. And it is true, the latest film in the franchise is a mixed […]
When We Last Saw Her: An Interview with George Pappy on The Green Girl
May 31, 2017
By Irv Slifkin. Star Trek fans thought they knew Susan Oliver, as “Vina” the green alien woman in the abandoned series pilot episode “The Cage,” which featured Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike. She was so memorable that she was hired to play the same role in “The Menagerie,” the rebooted opening […]
The Roots of Social Change: Ermanno Olmi’s The Tree of Wooden Clogs on Criterion
By Christopher Weedman. The Criterion Collection deserves to be commended for their continued efforts to bring greater attention to the underappreciated films of director Ermanno Olmi. It is regrettable that, over the past fifty years, this Italian filmmaker’s deeply humanist oeuvre has largely lived in the critical shadows of the […]
Home Is Where the Hermit Is: Wakefield
By Elias Savada. There is a hidden recluse swirling around our theaters (and video on demand), and his name is Wakefield. Please go find him. While Howard Wakefield seems normal enough when first spotted in the hustle and bustle crowds pushing air about the streets of New York City, his […]
Cannes 2017 Wrap-up: Four from the Official Competition and Un Certain Regard
May 28, 2017
By Ali Moosavi. In A Gentle Creature, by the Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa which played at the Cannes Official Competition, a woman in a Russian village receives a parcel, which she had sent to her husband in prison, as undelivered. She sets out to go to town and personally hand in […]
REEL EAST FILM FESTIVAL 2017 Full Schedule Announced: Saturday, June 17
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Please Contact reeleastfilm@gmail.com for more information Third Annual REEL EAST FILM FESTIVAL Full Schedule Announced, Saturday, June 17, 2017; Tiela Garnett, followed by World Premiere of Sickness and other local premieres Cherry Hill, NJ (May 28, 2017) – The Reel East Film Festival (REFF), […]
Not Your Grandfather’s Raging Bull: The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
May 26, 2017
By Elias Savada. Aki Kaurismäki may have to scooch over a bit to make room in the upper tier of Finnish cinema for thirty-something director Juho Kuosmanen. While Kaurismäki’s deadpan style has spanned 18 features since 1983, the 60-year-old auteur said his latest film, The Other Side of Hope, would be […]