8% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender according to an Oct 2025 Pew Research Center article based on a summer 2024 survey. There are reportedly over 342 million people living in the United States, which means… Read More ›
In Theaters
Ghost procedural “Never After Dark” offers a fresh perspective on a well-worn genre. [SXSW]
When it comes to the occult, there are about as many famous fictional investigators as there are ways to approach a ghost story. There’s Daffy Duck (voiced by Mel Blanc) bringing the silly, while John Constantine is more serious. There’s… Read More ›
Skip out on Sunday Church and head straight for the punk rock hilarity of teen comedy “Edie Arnold is a Loser.” [SXSW]
“Teenage girls are like mysterious, dark, and dangerous …” – Keely Jones, Ted Lasso First films are not barometers by which all subsequent films must account, but they play a massive role in the expectations audiences create. If a first… Read More ›
Maya Annik Bedward’s “Black Zombie” is a strong piece in the restoration of dignity to Black and Vodou cultures criminalized by media representation. [SXSW]
Zombies are everywhere. They’re on your television set, in your movie theaters, in your comics, in your novels, in your video games, and, yes, even in Minecraft nerdcore tunes. Why? What’s the obsession with zombies and where did they come… Read More ›
“Reminders of Him” makes it work.
Reminders of Him is a needlessly self-conscious film. Like the Nicholas Sparks canon before this Colleen Hoover wave (It Ends with Us; Forgetting You), the film plays melodrama as grounded drama, which often drives stray target-audience members, like unaware boyfriends,… Read More ›
Depression lies and Peter Warren’s directorial debut “Kill Me” might, too. [SXSW]
Trigger Warning: Kill Me features explorations of mental health and suicidal ideation, as well as depictions of attempted suicide that may be difficult for sensitive viewers. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal ideation (active or passive),… Read More ›
Comedic horror thriller “Ugly Cry” explores the drive to obtain the unobtainable. [SXSW]
Having 35 acting credits to her name already and having not yet turned 30, Emily Robinson (Saturday Night Live; Edge of Everything) is no stranger to the Hollywood machine. Having landed her first role when she was just nine years… Read More ›
Mumblecore dramedy “Danny Is My Boyfriend” encapsulates the quixotic nature of heartbreak. [Slamdance]
“Oh, and I don’t know I don’t know what he’s after But he’s so beautiful Such a beautiful disaster And if I could hold on Through the tears and the laughter Would it be beautiful Or just a beautiful disaster?”… Read More ›
Co-directors Jacob Hatley and Tom Vickers cinema verité doc “Clovers” explores the notion of self-determinism within the citizens of Asheboro, NC. [Slamdance]
In 2024, filmmaker Jacob Hatley released crime drama Rowdy Friends, a tale featuring a mixture of professional and non-actors set in rural North Carolina. This film centered J.D. Cranford playing a version of himself after he left prison and went… Read More ›
Sci-fi action comedy “Operation Taco Gary’s” is a frustrating mission: unaccomplished.
Operation Taco Gary’s has all the ingredients of a modern cult comedy on paper: an absurd premise, a self-aware tone, and a cast filled with performers who understand how to toe the line between satire and sincerity. With Simon Rex… Read More ›
Animated adventure “The Pout-Pout Fish” is an engaging, fun, and adventurous rollercoaster ride of silliness the whole family can enjoy.
Photosensitivity Warning: The final act of the film includes a sequence in which characters change colors to glow with a pulsating white light that may provide triggering for sensitive viewers. After it happens the first time, it’s easy to predict… Read More ›
“The Old Man and the Parrot” intermingles comedy and drama in a story of love and loss that may just soothe the soul. [Slamdance]
There are many ways to process grief. Some of them are beneficial, accompanied by a sense of healing and the ability to move on from the pain and loss, while others are like an anchor, prohibiting one from moving on… Read More ›
Yuen Woo-Ping’s comic adaptation “Blades of the Guardians” is a rich wuxia adventure that’ll thrill you from start to finish.
There are some filmmakers for whom audiences will show up simply by their name being attached to a project. Universal Pictures has turned the latest Christopher Nolan film, The Odyssey, into an event by selling tickets a year in advance… Read More ›
Road trip dramedy “BRB” beautifully captures the struggle of forging one’s identity online and IRL. [Slamdance]
“In this farewell There’s no blood, there’s no alibi ‘Cause I’ve drawn regret From the truth of a thousand lies…” – “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park from the 2007 album Minutes to Midnight There’s a joke floating around the… Read More ›
Documentary “Sell Your House” captures the real costs, literally and figuratively, of independent film making in today’s systems. [SBIFF]
At Fantastic Fest 2023, writer/director Francis Galluppi made his feature-length directorial debut with The Last Stop in Yuma County, a tense thriller involving bad timing, worse luck, and oh so much greed. By May of 2024, it was released in… Read More ›
Generational trauma, cultural horror, and the persistence of healing converge within James Takata’s “California Scenario.” [SBIFF]
Trigger Warning: California Scenario includes depictions of self-harm and sexual material that may be difficult for sensitive viewers. “Art is our weapon. Culture is a form of resistance” – Shirin Neshat, Iranian photographer and visual artist Regardless of the generation… Read More ›
“The Mortuary Assistant” undercuts its audience experience by keeping us in the observation room instead of elbows-deep at the slab.
We’re only slightly over a month into 2026 and it has already been a *rough* year for video game adaptations. First we had Return to Silent Hill, which our very own EoM Senior Critic Hunter Heilman, fan of the franchise,… Read More ›
“All of the Above” demonstrates the significance of embracing curiosity while creating space for multiple answers. [SBIFF]
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” – Tao Te Ching The concept of religion never quite seemed like a casual topic of conversation, but it has grown to be quite the sticky wicket. It often seems that around… Read More ›
Filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda’s “Scarlet” riffs on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in a time-bending animated adventure that challenges the validity of revenge.
Photosensitivity Warning: Several scenes in Scarlet may prove triggering for photosensitive viewers through the use of stylized lightning. It occurs a handful of times in the film and can often be predicted, enabling a viewer to shield oneself, but it’s… Read More ›
Documentarian Rustin Thompson’s “The Last Picture Shows” explores what’s lost when local picturehouses disappear from communities. [SBIFF]
Photosensitivity Warning: In one of the later segments of archival photos, they are stylized like old film footage with light blips and visible scratches which may prove triggering for photosensitive individuals. The evolution of the movie-watching experience is fairly straight-forward…. Read More ›