★★★ Bergman Island features a movie-within-a-movie and makes a fatal error: the fake film is way more interesting than Bergman Island itself. This makes the whole affair feel incredibly uneven. It had me wishing that either the real life and script worlds were reversed, or that it was simply a straightforward portrayal of one or … Continue reading Cannes 2021: Bergman Island
Cannes 2021: Annette
★★★ The award for weirdest musical of the year goes to… Annette! Opening with a message imploring the audience to “keep silent and hold your breath till the end of the show”, Annette then busts out into a full-on throwback musical number entitled “May We Start.” That this sequence is the high point of the … Continue reading Cannes 2021: Annette
Film Review: The Last Letter From Your Lover
★★★ As soon as Netflix’s new romance, The Last Letter From Your Lover, begins with a pretentious Ernest Hemmingway quote, a red flag is raised. From here, things only get worse, as director Augustine Frizzell attempts to cross-stitch two different time periods as if crafting Netflix’s version of The Notebook. The biggest issue is that … Continue reading Film Review: The Last Letter From Your Lover
Film Review: Old
★★★★ Love him or hate him, M. Night Shyamalan is one of the signature filmmaking voices of our time. With his newest movie, Old, Shyamalan returns to the feel of his older films like Signs, while carving out an exciting and original niche in the thriller genre. Working with perhaps the largest cast he has … Continue reading Film Review: Old
TV Review: Turner & Hooch
While I’ve never seen the original Turner & Hooch starring Tom Hanks, I have to imagine it is significantly better than than this strange mish-mash of clashing tones and action drama. Explosions, shooting, blazing fire, and hand-to-hand action combat—2021’s Turner & Hooch reboot is certainly not what I was expecting from Disney. The pilot is … Continue reading TV Review: Turner & Hooch
Film Review: Alice
★★★ A selection from the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, Alice is supercharged by a great turn from Emilie Piponnier as the title character. However, it is very lacking in a dramatic and narrative sense. It is about Alice (Piponnier), who finds out the hard way that she is broke and on the verge of homelessness. … Continue reading Film Review: Alice
Film Review: Deep
★★★★ Coming soon to Netflix’s neverending collection of titles, Thai thriller Deep carries impressive script pedigree and a perfectly cast roster of quirky characters. It is a modern slice of fun, a foreign take on Flatliners that dives into an elusive and bizarre facet of human biology. How long can a person go without shut-eye? … Continue reading Film Review: Deep
Cannes 2021: Zero Fucks Given
★★ (Written by Allison Brown) Zero Fucks Given (Rien à foutre), the debut feature of directing duo Julie Lecoustre and Emmanuel Marre, truly gives zero fucks about offering up a compelling story. Although there is some interesting commentary, it is depicted without flair or flourish. The French drama meanders slowly through a narrative chronicling the … Continue reading Cannes 2021: Zero Fucks Given
Film Review: Here Comes Your Man
★★★★ From TLA Releasing, curators of such bonafide gay classics as Latter Days and Another Gay Movie comes your new favorite romance! Here Comes Your Man is an intimate and extensive examination of one surprising gay relationship from top to bottom (no pun intended). Hailing from writer/director Omar Salas Zamora, the sexually-charged drama follows Aaron … Continue reading Film Review: Here Comes Your Man
Cannes 2021: Medusa
★★ Medusa is quite possibly one of the strangest horror films I have ever watched, and I have seen a hell of a lot of them. It tries to follow in the footsteps of Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria, the nearest movie tonally, but it does not come close to nailing the right level of both drama … Continue reading Cannes 2021: Medusa