There’s a moment in writer/director Mitzi Peirone’s Braid where you’re either all in or all out. When the mayhem’s rising, the blood flowing, and the veil of reality’s so thin it’s barely perceivable, a choice has to be made: embrace… Read More ›
In Theaters
“Piercing” manipulates your expectations to great satisfaction.
February is becoming a strange month. Like January, February tends to be a dumping ground for films not likely to find an audience or for films leaning into Hallmark’s notion of love. While some aspects of this remain true (markets… Read More ›
Like the phrase itself suggests, “In Like Flynn” is incredibly charming, but not charming enough.
When anyone mentions the name Errol Flynn, those familiar likely think of the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood, a portrayal of the infamous bandit to which every future performance has been compared. Working in Hollywood for 26 years,… Read More ›
“King of Thieves” steals nothing but your time.
The concept of ensemble pieces has long been a staple of films since its inception. Films like The Towering Inferno, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Dark Knight trilogy have all been incredibly successful pieces which use their casts to… Read More ›
RLJE’s “The Standoff at Sparrow Creek” is a quietly unnerving character study.
As a millennial, seeing mass shootings has become the norm. Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 (when I was 2), which was far from the first mass shooting, it seems like the number has increased exponentially. It’s not… Read More ›
“All These Small Moments” is a surprisingly refreshing mix of clever dialogue and fabulous performances.
The idea of a coming-of-age teen comedy-drama is far from original in the film industry. If anything, it’s one of the most heavily-treaded upon sub-genres. From Stand by Me to Lady Bird to The 400 Blows, these films come in… Read More ›
“Don’t Come Back From the Moon” is a meditation on the complexities of growing up and parenthood.
Parenthood is an experience which changes you in ways you can’t imagine until it happens to you. You can hear about it, you can be adjacent to it, but not until you become responsible for someone else’s everything does the… Read More ›
Documentary “Who Will Write Our History” examines the past as it cautions about the future.
On January 27th, 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated those individuals the Nazis had imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration and death camp in operation. In recognition of that act, the United Nations established International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005… Read More ›
“Swing Kids” celebrates the promise of freedom.
Films are often more than an escape from your lives or a distraction from politics, family, friends, or whatever ails you. Even hidden within the most harmless looking story is a thematic nugget propelling everything forward, desperately asking the audience… Read More ›
Unable to move beyond grief, we enter a “State Like Sleep”.
In times of crisis, the mind seeks a reason, an explanation, to latch onto to make sense out of the chaos, to offer something to rail against, barter with, and blame. State Like Sleep tackles this notion in a twisting… Read More ›
Nicole Kidman is the best part of director Karyn Kusama’s “Destroyer”. [Film Fest 919 Review]
Representing EoM as press, contributor Hunter Heilman attended the first annual Film Fest 919 in Raleigh, NC, to review several films that are either in limited release now or are yet to be released. Every actor has that one role… Read More ›
If you’ve been craving a family-friendly “Deadpool”, you certainly get your wish.
For the uninitiated, Deadpool is a comic book character unlike any other. It’s not that he’s indestructible thanks to a mutant healing factor or that he’s a highly trained assassin, it’s that he knows he’s in a comic book. Having… Read More ›
“Cold War” is a bittersweet tale of two lovers’ dogged determination to be together.
The term “love story” is often attached to stories in order to denote a tale of passion or romantic coupling. Sometimes, a love story is even one of friendship, as love is really just a term to describe a bond… Read More ›
“Aquaman” ensures that Arthur Curry is no one’s punchline anymore.
2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice offered global audiences a first glimpse of Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, known in the DC Comics world as Aquaman, swimming away from an intrusive underwater camera in a brief mid-film clip. Later,… Read More ›
Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” is perfectly personal, effortlessly ephemeral, and absolutely devastating.
When Gravity came out in 2013, it physically changed me as a person, as I have not breathed the same since. I saw the film five times throughout its theatrical run, all five times in IMAX 3D, taking a different… Read More ›
The lessons of “Maine” come from the journey, not the destination.
Rounding out to around 2,000 miles, the Appalachian Trail welcomes all who would tread its path. The number of hikers who walk its length from Georgia to Maine has dramatically increased since the 1930s (5 individuals then, and roughly 7,864… Read More ›
Thoughtful dramedy “Asher” offers a killer time.
There’s something intriguing about good assassin films. These stories have been used as fodder for buddy comedies (The Hitman’s Bodyguard), romantic comedies (Grosse Pointe Blank), coming of age stories (Leon: The Professional), revenge thrillers (John Wick), or just straight up… Read More ›
Sebastián Silva’s “Tyrel” feels like an unscripted social nightmare.
There’re a lot of comparisons between writer/director Sebastián Silva’s Tyrel and Jordan Peele’s Get Out simply because each feature a Black male engaging with a group of white individuals in a remote New York location. Both do explore race, but… Read More ›
Are your spidey senses tingling? Because “Into the Spider-Verse” is unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Since 2012, the world’s seen two reboots of the cinematic Spider-Man hit theaters, each with their own triumphs and failures. When it was announced that a new film – albeit an animated one – would introduce another Spider-Man into the… Read More ›
Bridey Elliot’s feature debut “Clara’s Ghost” is a disquieting drama, full of existential dread.
In a year that has offered terrors real (Bad Samaritan), imagined (Annihilation), and supernatural (Hereditary), there’s been no shortage of tales to make audience’s blood run cold. Yet, for all the screams and all the nightmares, there’s really nothing more… Read More ›