In the opening shot of Magellan (2025), an Indigenous Malaysian woman walks into a stream, filling a vessel. Suddenly, she spots a white man past the fourth wall of the proscenium and takes off running. She shouts through her village… Read More ›
In Theaters
Gore Verbinski’s darkly comic sci-fi actioner “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is a hilarious harbinger for our digital times.
Photosensitivity Warning: The climax of the film includes an extended sequence of flashing that may prove triggering for photosensitive individuals. Take precautions. “Information devours its own content. It devours communication and the social.” – Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation from… Read More ›
Jason Statham-led action thriller “Shelter” is a simple tale that’ll satisfy your January cinematic doldrum needs.
A figure living a controlled life is interrupted, ripped even, from his organized lifestyle when the unexpected happens and the man is forced into action. This is the general premise that applies to countless action titles and thrillers (even with… Read More ›
Jodie Foster est magnifique in French dark comedy thriller “A Private Life (Vie Privée).”
Born in Paris, French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski initially planned to be a teacher and graduated from École Normale Supérieure before earning an Agrégation higher degree in literature. Then she joined the screenplay department of La Fémis and met several students… Read More ›
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” masterfully utilizes subtle dramatization to portray the real experiences of those who try to save lives in Gaza.
When the world first stopped to hear the voice of Hind Rajab, the little girl from Gaza hiding from bullets in her family’s car, Kaouther Ben Hania was standing frozen in the airport. Now, she’s delivered a masterpiece that asks… Read More ›
In examining the past, documentary “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” illuminates aspects of the present we’d rather not acknowledge. [Sundance]
It didn’t used to feel complicated to be Jewish before October 7th, 2023, and the Israeli-Gaza Conflict began. Having grown up in a Reform Jewish household, I believed in the existence of and even the right of a Jewish state… Read More ›
Documentary “Cookie Queens” heralds the trials and tribulations of your local Girl Scouts during Cookie Season. [Sundance]
The official Girl Scouts of America website identifies Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low as the individual responsible for creating the organization in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, and to whom all the troops worldwide are connected. While all the efforts of the… Read More ›
“Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant” will have you laughing and crying while being arm-deep in goop, gore, and gunk. [Sundance]
Photosensitivity Warning: Several sequences in Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant feature flashing or sudden bursts of light. This may prove triggering for photosensitive individuals. Children are parasites. Yes, you read that correctly. After the sperm and egg connect and a zygote… Read More ›
Even with Christophe Gans back in the director’s chair, “Return to Silent Hill” struggles to meet its own potential.
Asking me to describe my relationship with the Silent Hill franchise is opening a Pandora’s Box of epic proportions. The series, centered around a cursed ghost town in rural Maine, has haunted, compelled, comforted, entertained, frightened, and shaped me in… Read More ›
Maxime Giroux’s crime thriller “In Cold Light” challenges its audience through dissociative storytelling and a distant protagonist.
There’s a common misconception that stories, by nature of being broadcast or shown in a theater, condone behavior, justifying choices, always, simply because they are the behaviors and choices of the main character. This is an egregious failure of media… Read More ›
“Infirmary” masterfully wields found footage to a terrifying degree. [DWFNY]
First time feature director Nicholas Pineda (Disquiet) and screenwriter Katy Krauland (A NoHo Heist) create an intense, eerie, horror drama, Infirmary. It utilizes found security camera and bodycam footage to infest its way into the brains of audiences and send… Read More ›
Steven Grayhm’s sophomore effort, family drama “Sheepdog,” battles itself as it seeks to implore audiences to reconsider our social responsibility to our veterans.
The Latin phrase “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” (roughly translates to “who guards the guardsmen?”) is attributed to Roman poet Juvenal and was made prominent by the philosopher Plato in their work Republic. The phrase has come to be interpreted as… Read More ›
“Killer Whale” gets back to what audiences love about creature features.
Killer Whale is reminiscent of the killer shark movies audiences were spoiled with throughout the 1990s, yet it feels noticeably more grounded and contemporary in its approach. Rather than leaning entirely into camp or excess, the film finds a satisfying… Read More ›
Horror thriller “Night Patrol” shines a floodlight on goings on under the cover of night.
To ignore history is to imprison yourself in repetitive cycles. Even worse, to make presumptions based solely on what you’re told is to doom yourself to being a keystone cause of those cycles continuing. This is a key component in… Read More ›
“Tuner” expertly uses all the right tools to fine-tune a pitch-perfect crime-thriller rom-com. [TIFF]
What does one expect when a documentarian partners with a co-writer to write and direct his first feature? If you guessed a riveting, pulse-setting, sensational thriller about a heist and love and the chaos that unfolds, then you’d be right… Read More ›
Filmmaker Zak Hilditch’s zombie horror drama reminds us that “We Bury the Dead” to say goodbye.
At the start of 2025, the documentary Eternal You from co-directors Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck released on digital and VOD. The feature sought to explore the ways in which companies are developing artificial intelligence to participate in the grieving… Read More ›
Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner burn up the screen in the Bonnie and Clyde-inspired “Carolina Caroline.” [TIFF]
If you’ve never heard of Adam Rehmeier, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. The indie gem Dinner in America (2020) is a completely underrated, under-the-radar gem that deserves to be seen by all audiences. Rehmeier’s newest, Carolina Caroline, has him… Read More ›
Western thriller “Frontier Crucible” is a by-the-numbers tale with a few worthy standouts.
The idea of American Individualism is a fascinating way in which an entire populace has recontextualized selfish and detrimental behavior into something to be sought after. Impressively, the arrogance of the U.S. is a key component in western thriller Frontier… Read More ›
“Withdrawal” takes the audience inside for a sincere look at two battles for sobriety.
It doesn’t particularly matter what your income level is when it comes to drug addiction. In fact, historically, there was a time in which using cocaine was not only viewed as safe and medicinal, it was a staple of high… Read More ›
“The Housemaid” is a thrilling ride.
Director Paul Feig has come a long way from the comedic musings of Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), and Spy (2015). Starting in 2018, he pivoted into a campy thriller territory with A Simple Favor. The result of which delivered… Read More ›