★★★ Palm Trees and Power Lines, like last year’s You Mean Everything to Me, puts coercive control in its crosshairs. If the thought of a 34-year-old man getting with a 17-year-old girl makes your stomach churn, just wait until the final act, when the film approaches a whole new level of uncomfortable. Lily McInerny and … Continue reading Sundance 2022: Palm Trees and Power Lines
Sundance 2022: Cha Cha Real Smooth
★★★★★ How refreshing that even in the year of our lord 2022, a romantic dramedy can come along, still managing to feel every bit as fresh and fluffy as that genre’s output in the 90s. What was once hailed as dying cinema in the early 2000s had a resurgence over the last few years. Many … Continue reading Sundance 2022: Cha Cha Real Smooth
Sundance 2022: Master
★★★★ The second racially-charged Amazon Studios release at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Master is potent, twisty psychological horror. Led by a terrific cast, including Regina Hall and Zoe Renee, this slick slow-burn builds up a tangible atmosphere of racism and intensity. The darkness of the film’s thematic thrust may make audience members uncomfortable. For … Continue reading Sundance 2022: Master
Sundance 2022: Happening
★★★★ (Written by Allison Brown) Happening, natively titled L'événement, piqued my interest when it was chosen for Venice last year, and was only furthered when the film took home the festival’s prestigious Golden Lion. The feminist drama is adapted from a novel by Annie Ernaux, which details her personal endeavor to terminate an unwanted pregnancy … Continue reading Sundance 2022: Happening
Sundance 2022: Dual
★★★★ This year’s Sundance Film Festival features quite the eclectic lineup of titles. Dual, written and directed by Riley Stearns, was one of my most anticipated movies going into the festival, and it absolutely does not disappoint. The consistently fantastic Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy, Oculus) plays two roles with a committed fervor. A … Continue reading Sundance 2022: Dual
Sundance 2022: Framing Agnes
★★★ Framing Agnes is all about the reclamation of a divisive figure in transgender history: Agnes, who took part in Harold Garfinkel’s UCLA gender studies program in the 1960s. In a rather unconventional style, this film (which only clocks in at just over an hour) intersperses vintage reenactments of never-before-seen Garfinkel transcripts amongst present-day interviews … Continue reading Sundance 2022: Framing Agnes
Sundance 2022: Speak No Evil
★★★ Speak No Evil is bleak, potent horror that evokes feel-bad classics like Funny Games and Wolf Creek. Picked up by Shudder ahead of its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, this crazy little film is a slow-burn indie with a mind of its own. The haunting images of the movie’s final moments will no … Continue reading Sundance 2022: Speak No Evil
Our Favorite Films of 2021
As another year comes to a close, we shut the book on a year of surprising and often excellent movies. We reveal our choices for our favorite movies of year, along with some yearbook-style superlatives! Be sure to let us know which movies in 2021 connected with you! Movie Yearbook Superlatives! Best musical sequence JOSH: … Continue reading Our Favorite Films of 2021
FrightFest Halloween 2021: Last Survivors
★★★ As a selection from FrightFest Halloween, I expected Last Survivors to be far more horror-leaning than the end product would suggest. A smidgen of sci-fi adds flavor to a pared-down simple story about survival and hope. However, as the narrative unfurls, the true complexities of the scenario rear their ugly head, adding an entirely new … Continue reading FrightFest Halloween 2021: Last Survivors
Animation is Film 2021: Poupelle of Chimney Town
★★★★ Poupelle of Chimney Town is an absolutely delightful story of a young introverted chimney sweep named Lubicchi and the magical pile of garbage that becomes his new best friend. Set in Chimney Town—“a world of day and night wrapped in smoke”—where the sky is completely covered, the prospect of ‘stars’ is simply a fairytale. … Continue reading Animation is Film 2021: Poupelle of Chimney Town