Author Archives
UNC Charlotte '18 graduate | Film Intern at CLTure | North Carolina Film Critics Association member | Lover of bad teen horror movies and 90s pop music
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Fabulous performances and beautiful aesthetics aren’t enough for “Sorry We Missed You.” [Film Fest 919]
In a new world where mega-corporations run the world and are bigger than ever before, it’s becoming harder to levy legitimate criticism towards these parables of late-stage capitalism because…well…these corporations also own distribution companies. Amazon has its own Amazon Studios… Read More ›
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“Waves” is an utterly transportive experience as it presents the ups and downs of pure love. [Film Fest 919]
“Stick to what you know” is something we’re told as kids to keep us stuck to the ways we’re used to and to not question authority, keeping us confined. It’s an adage that unfortunately sticks in many of our minds… Read More ›
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Director Mike Flanagan makes “Doctor Sleep” his own while keeping pace with Kubrick and King.
Doctor Sleep marks the fifth major adaption of a Stephen King work in 2019 alone, joining the theatrically released Pet Sematary and It: Chapter Two, Netflix’s In the Tall Grass, and Hulu’s original series Castle Rock. Adapting King novels and… Read More ›
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Craig Brewer’s “Dolemite is My Name” is an absolute joy from beginning to end. [Film Fest 919]
Everyone loves a good comeback story. Everyone cheered when Rudy made that touchdown at the end of Rudy, everyone loves Robert Downey Jr.’s comeback in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and today, we get to celebrate not only one, but two,… Read More ›
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Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria)” is a quiet, intimate, and retrospective piece. [Film Fest 919]
There are certain filmmakers who simply embody the essence of what their country, culture, and style are at their core; that the sheer mention of their name conjures a body of work worthy of showing off as the crème de… Read More ›
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Taika Waititi’s period comedy “Jojo Rabbit” lacks the bite satire requires. [Film Fest 919]
It used to be that everyone agreed that the Nazis were bad. It was one of the world’s universal truths, but unfortunately, because everything today has to be terrible and awful at all times, we’ve re-entered the age of neo-Nazism… Read More ›
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Fernando Meirelles’s “The Two Popes” explores the push-pull involved in church reformation via the conversation of two old men. [Film Fest 919]
In another life, I swear I’d be Catholic. Of course, I’m too much of a dirty sodomite to get away with it in this life, but something about the sheer pageantry of it all feels more like drag than RuPaul’s… Read More ›
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James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari” exudes cool, placing his undeniable stamp on the car film genre. [Film Fest 919]
Despite my aversion to the complexity of the vroom-vroom-crashy-crashy machines called “cars” today, there was once a time I was obsessed with automobiles. I had every Matchbox car under the sun and, as a three-year-old, I could talk a car… Read More ›
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“Motherless Brooklyn” possesses a strong statement on gentrification, which is mired by cliché noir tropes and bland filmmaking. [Film Fest 919]
Being from Durham, North Carolina, I have seen a lot of changes happen in my city over the last few years. Durham kept a large, mostly black, working-class population due to the employment of so many citizens at the tobacco… Read More ›
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“Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)” is unlike anything else released in 2019. [Film Fest 919]
I love lesbian romance movies. Please, hear me out before you think I’m a total sleaze. As a gay man, there’s no “entry point” for me in queer love stories involving two women. I am taken out of contention to… Read More ›