★★★★ What is a more perfect time to watch a searing thriller set during a raging snowstorm? A wintry atmosphere engulfs both the audience and its characters in a sticky web of intrigue, secrets, and murder. Writer/director Kyle Butenhoff emulates the thrillers of the 90s in this endlessly entertaining chamber piece. At first, the complex … Continue reading Film Review: Laced
Film Review: Hayseed
★★★★ In the spirit of Knives Out and other modern whodunnits, indie flick Hayseed depicts an engaging treat that challenges viewers to actually pay attention. Writer/director/producer Travis Burgess embraces his obvious inspirations with a loving touch of admiration that permeates the film. The phrase “passion project” is maybe a tad bit overused, yet that perfectly … Continue reading Film Review: Hayseed
Film Review: The Marsh King’s Daughter
★★★★ (Written by Intern, Kali Coogan) Need to heal some deep childhood trauma? A rifle and the wilderness is surely the key to a solution in tense thriller The Marsh King's Daughter. Based on Karen Dionne's bestselling novel, the story delves into an intricate web of family dynamics, redemption, and a haunting specter of a … Continue reading Film Review: The Marsh King’s Daughter
Film Review: Susie Searches
★★★★ Kiersey Clemons leads a fun mystery/thriller in writer/director Sophie Kargman’s Susie Searches, based on her own 2020 short film. Similar to Tribeca favorite Poser, Susie Searches catalogues a struggling outsider as she goes to great lengths to help her podcast go viral. Of course, there are many more layers of nuance to what happens … Continue reading Film Review: Susie Searches
Film Review: They Cloned Tyrone
★★★ Weird, cerebral sci-fi-tinged movies are a dime a dozen. When they actually work (see: Get Out, The Stepford Wives, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), they can become instant-classics that carve themselves permanently into the pop culture mythos. They Cloned Tyrone has high aspirations, written and directed by Juel Taylor (Creed II, Space Jam: … Continue reading Film Review: They Cloned Tyrone
TV Review: The Afterparty – Season 2
The sophomore season of Apple TV’s hilarious murder mystery series, The Afterparty, has finally arrived, albeit with decidedly less bite. Prepare to shift from a high school reunion afterparty to a wedding afterparty—would the presence of another dead body really surprise anyone at this point? Returning from season 1 are a handful of familiar faces, … Continue reading TV Review: The Afterparty – Season 2
TV Review: The Crowded Room
Apple TV+ adds to an already stellar lineup (including The Afterparty, Servant, Black Bird, and Ted Lasso) with their new crime/mystery/thriller The Crowded Room. Starring an ensemble cast of rising talent, The Crowded Room is unique in the way it approaches how we view mental illness and trauma. Tom Holland delivers an acting masterclass that … Continue reading TV Review: The Crowded Room
Film Review: Hypnotic
★ If it was the late 90s or even the early 2000s and a movie was announced teaming Ben Affleck with Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn, The Faculty), I would be jumping up and down with excitement. Even now, the teaming of these two has potential for an especially memorable action flick, or genre-bending … Continue reading Film Review: Hypnotic
Film Review: Murder Mystery 2
★★★ Marking the third collaboration between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston after the first Murder Mystery and Just Go With It, Murder Mystery 2 arrives in a landscape where whodunnit cinema spectaculars Glass Onion, Bodies Bodies Bodies, and Scream VI have recently debuted to great fanfare. Expecting the unexpected is the new norm. Audiences are … Continue reading Film Review: Murder Mystery 2
Film Review: Scream VI
★★★★★ Proving yet again that it remains the most consistent franchise ever made, Radio Silence delivers another instant classic to sit alongside Wes Craven’s masterpieces with the intense, horrifying, ridiculously fun Scream VI! With the beautiful love letter to the original having been firmly established in the previous movie, part VI forges ahead to an … Continue reading Film Review: Scream VI