Boong (Gugun Kipgen) is a precocious kid that lives for getting into playful trouble, more annoying than harmful, with his best friend Raju (Angom Sanamatum). He’s too smart for his own good sometimes, but he knows what’s important.
Year: 2025
I Think You Should See Friendship
Some movies have trigger warnings. I’d propose a content test before seeing Friendship, the new Tim Robinson comedy. Have you seen at least one episode of I Think You Should Leave on Netflix? Were you able to make it through the twenty minutes of sketch comedy show without nearly (or actually) choking to death with laughter? If you survived by turning it off immediately in cringing discomfort and cancelling your subscription, Friendship is certainly Not For You.
SIFF 2025 Notebook: Northwest Connections Documentaries
Although “International” is right there in SIFF’s name, each festival also showcases a series of films made or set closer to home. This year’s Northwest Connections program includes five films. Here, we review of the two documentary features that’ll play throughout the festival: Suburban Fury and Wolf Land.
SIFF 2025 Notebook: Some weird features
SIFF prides itself on its selection of offbeat films and for that, I am thankful. Man cannot subsist on documentaries about indigenous water rights and unfairness in the Mexican penal system alone. I don’t know if these are going to be the weirdest movies at SIFF (Fucktoys and Spermageddon issue some promises in their respective titles I expect them to deliver on), these are some of the notable, uhh, unique offerings so far.
Final Destination: Bloodlines does the reboot thing right
No one would likely accuse the Final Destination horror franchise of being high art, but all five previous entries in the series deliver their respective thrills consistently.
SIFF 2025 Notebook: Northwest Connections Features
Although “International” is right there in SIFF’s name, each festival also showcases a series of films made or set closer to home. This year’s Northwest Connections program includes five films. Here, we review of the two narrative features that’ll play throughout the festival: Evergreens and Monarch City.
SIFF 2025: Opening Weekend Picks
The 51st Seattle International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow! Running in person from May 15–25, the festival features 245 films playing in-person across the city — including daily programming at the recently-reopened Cinerama — with many getting online encore screenings the following week. Sorting through the whole program and/or film finder can help you to dial into your exact needs for a cinematic holiday (per SIFF’s vacation-themed, “Trip to the Reel World”), but we’re also here to help.
Last week, we gave you some quick picks in the wake of the press launch. Now, with some more time with the program and some screeners, we have a few more suggestions for how to spend the opening days of the festival.
David Mamet’s Henry Johnson explores the human condition, theatrically
David Mamet’s new film, Henry Johnson, is based on his play of the same name, which was first presented onstage in 2023 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, CA, and directed by Marja-Lewis Ryan. The stage version of Henry Johnson featured the same cast as the film, and reportedly, the cast proposed creating the feature film as a record of their experience and as something that could endure as part of Mamet’s filmography.
For a few magical moments Eephus freezes time
In actor/cinematographer/film critic Carson Lund’s directorial debut, it’s Sunday October 16 in mid-1990s1 suburban Massachusetts. It’s a sunny day, but the hint of a chill in the air already has residents minds turning to the long dark winter ahead. Between radio reports — voiced by master documentarian Frederick Wiseman — of a coyote terrorizing the area and the “New Hampshire Justice” that awaits the poor creature, we hear that a beloved park will soon be the site of a new elementary school.
Can Florence Pugh and the Thunderbolts* save the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Thunderbolts* opens with a shot of Florence Pugh on the ledge of the 2,227-foot-tall Merdeka Tower in Kuala Lumpur. From this harrowing start to the film’s last scene, the expression on her face perfectly tracks the feeling of watching a Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the year 2025. As the film opens, it’s one of absolute dejection and dutiful dread. Her character Yelena Belova has yet another job to do, but the thrill is long gone, and she’s questioning whether it’s still worth the paycheck.