★ Any new horror film catches my attention with little effort. When I heard about new micro-budget, indie Dementer, it instantly shot on to my list to check out. The closest relation I could draw to this exhaustingly repetitive cult flick is 2018’s Children of the Corn: Runaway. Similar to that direct-to-streaming film, Dementer is … Continue reading Film Review: Dementer
Film Review: The Stylist
★★★ If you have ever felt your pulse racing in the chair of a barber or hairdresser, Arrow’s new horror film The Stylist will crawl under your skin like no other. Taking obvious inspiration from horror classics like Maniac and May, female director Jill Gevargizian never shies away from the gore. Brutal scalping sequences punctuate … Continue reading Film Review: The Stylist
Film Review: Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry
★★★★ At best, I’d call myself a casual fan of Billie Eilish’s music, so I didn’t have the biggest level of anticipation towards the new film Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry. My earliest exposure to the multiple-Grammy-winning artist was via the soundtrack of 2017’s explosive first season of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. I … Continue reading Film Review: Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry
Film Review: Paradise Cove
★ Most similar in tone to a Lifetime movie-of-the-week, Paradise Cove tries so hard to capture that erotic thriller 90s vibe from movies like Single White Female and Poison Ivy. Where it fails most is in a flimsy script that appears to reach for dangerous and silly social commentary. It’s disappointing and so misguided, but … Continue reading Film Review: Paradise Cove
Film Review: Crisis
★★★ Crisis is a new crime drama that’s desperately trying to get out from underneath the shadow of 2000’s Oscar-winning Traffic like so many of the clones that emerged around that time. Three separate stories about the opioid epidemic never quite come together in a satisfying way, though just honing in on one of them … Continue reading Film Review: Crisis
Film Review: The Vigil
★★★★ Jewish horror is a subgenre rarely - if ever - tackled, with the only movies that come to mind being The Possession and The Unborn, though I’m sure there’s a handful more. That all changes when new film, The Vigil, featuring dialogue in Yiddish, releases this Friday. It isn’t perfect, but it feels very … Continue reading Film Review: The Vigil
Film Review: Tyger Tyger
★★ Produced pre-pandemic, Tyger Tyger is a new drama film that is constantly juggling shifts in tone and an often languid pace. A quiet movie with very little action, this instead relies on a vibe more than anything. It explores only the surface of our characters yet fully-forms this strange world. The lack of narrative … Continue reading Film Review: Tyger Tyger
Film Review: I Care A Lot
★★★★★ If you thought Rosamund Pike couldn’t get any crazier after her completely unhinged performance in 2014’s Gone Girl, think again. I Care a Lot is my favorite film I’ve seen from Pike’s filmography, a dark and gutsy cat-and-mouse thriller where the leverage is our healthcare system itself. The commentary never feels heavy-handed or exploitative, … Continue reading Film Review: I Care A Lot
Film Review: French Exit
★★★★ Going into French Exit, the newest film from director Azazel Jacobs, I expected more of a straight drama with very little comedy. To my surprise, the film quickly pulled me in with its quirky dark humor, excellent and fully-formed characters, and masterful acting from both Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges. The supporting characters peppered … Continue reading Film Review: French Exit
Film Review: Take Me To Tarzana
★★★ The feature film debut of director Maceo Greenberg, Take Me To Tarzana is wildly uneven and at times laugh-out-loud hilarious. A dead guy’s dildo, a dancing stoned monkey, a Tarzan-obsessed baddie, and a logistically impossible sex scene are clear highlights. The core trio of whistleblowers - played by Andrew Creer, Samantha Robinson, and Jonathan … Continue reading Film Review: Take Me To Tarzana