Written by Matthew Robinson and directed by Gore Verbinski, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die attempts to grapple with our current AI tipping-point. The main character is simply the “Man,” played by Sam Rockwell, who has returned time after time from the future to a Los Angeles diner in an effort to recruit the right […]
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If there are any lessons to be learned from The Drama, it’s that you should avoid playing silly party games like “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done” before your wedding. If it can’t be avoided, for God’s sake don’t be honest. Pick something way down on your list of awful things that won’t give your […]
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Known for his darkly comic thrillers such as Kill List, Down Terrace, and Sightseers, acclaimed filmmaker Ben Wheatley, alongside his wife-cum-co-writer Amy Jump, has achieved cult-like fandom within the British indie scene. In recent years, his attention has shifted to what might be described as director-for-hire work with the likes of his Netflix adaptation of […]
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Bugonia fits squarely within the “science fiction as metaphor” tradition, where the question being asked is both philosophical and incredibly consequential. Underneath the alien paranoia and kidnapping plot lies a delightfully quirky character study reflected through a cockeyed lens. As a fan of challenging sci-fi, I loved it. Highly Recommended.
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Train Dreams tells an ambling, pensive and melancholy story through beautifully lived-in performances and stunning natural photography. The movie evokes our sympathy and compassion for everyone left puzzled by life’s inscrutability. Highly Recommended.
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When the world is on fire, thank goodness there’s art to temporarily remind us of the beauty of life. This is the heart of The Choral, a WW1 period piece that evokes universal truths about art and the horrors of war. Ralph Fiennes delivers another memorable performance as the arrogant conductor tasked with the impossible. Recommended.
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In Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, the myth roars back to life in this mostly successful adaptation. Jacob Elordi’s performance is a standout, while Oscar Isaac is miscast. Filled with beautiful and grotesque imagery, the film struggles for greatness and occasionally reaches it. Recommended.
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Well, let’s put it bluntly: think a combination of Crawl and plenty of Jaws and Sharknado touches to make the latest Netflix feature, Thrash. The only difference is that you’re most likely to forget the Netflix motion picture the quickest once you move on to the next thing. This writer admits that being eclectic is […]
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Roofman is a heartfelt movie that entertains the old fashioned way, with interesting characters and winning performances. Channing Tatum and Kristen Dunst are engaging in the leading roles, and Tatum’s performance represents a career best. It’s movie magic rendered at human scale. Recommended.
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A lonely OB-GYN in a rural Georgian hospital faces allegations of malpractice in Kulumbegashvili’s brutally slow-paced, if quietly devastating, sophomore feature—a Haneke-esque moral inquiry marked by hypnotic long takes and sublime use of film language.
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By Marc S. Sanders Only the headlining actors’ names appear before the title of the film, Lucy, but ten minutes into it I should have known I was watching a Luc Besson actioner. It’s over the top and proudly exaggerated in its fiction like Leon: The Professional or The Fifth Element. Because this one has Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman talking […]
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One of Kaurismaki’s funniest and most fascinating deviations in his oeuvre, this East Goes West road movie sutures music, cross-cultural misunderstanding, and deadpan humour into a pseudo-documentary, crowned by arguably the best hairstyle ever committed to celluloid.
Continue reading “Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)”
Whether it’s the Irish, Scots, Canadians, or Australians, former British Empire dominions have long been wary of how the British used their allies during warfare. From the killing of Canadian soldiers at Ypres to the brutal fights of Australians at Gallipoli, many believed the Dominion armies would be the first to attack, resulting in fewer […]
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‘Exploring’ features the filmographies of filmmakers that I’ve largely completed and celebrates them on the week of their birthdays.
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A better Netflix thriller than you may realize. I’m not surprised that the generic shark thriller “Thrash” would make it to Number 1 most streaming movie chart on Netflix a few weeks ago. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Charlize Theron vehicle “Apex” would reach the top, but unlike “Thrash,” this one is […]
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A provincial man who’s trying to find a job stays with his city cousin in Ceylan’s masterful third feature that probes issues of personal stasis and social alienation in contemporary Turkish society, marked by restrained performances that accrue a quiet emotional depth.
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Catalan filmmaker Carla Simon made her name with the tiny, plotless, yet moving family dramas Summer 1993 and Alcarras. Now, with Romeria, she expands her ambitions into a magical realist mystery but, sadly, the leap has not been made gracefully. A few strikingly beautiful moments aside, Romeria is a frustratingly dull and repetitive film, taking […]
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Rohmer’s provocative final entry from his ‘Six Moral Tales’ calls attention to the temptation of extramarital affairs, as a man in a happy marriage contemplates putting his immoral theoretical thoughts into practice.
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Lee Cronin’s The Mummy offers an interesting take on the Egyptology horror genre. It’s perhaps best described as being about two very different families, one American, one Egyptian. We spend most of the film with the American family, the Cannons, who are living in Cairo, and whose life is thrown into chaos when their daughter […]
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Michael is a lively, if incredibly constricted look at Michael Jackson’s life. It offers a swiss-cheese rendering of his personal life in between electric reenactments of him recording and performing. Thankfully, the latter makes up for the former, and the movie is entertaining in a “hall of fame highlight reel” way. Mildly recommended.
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