An incredible calling card of a feature debut, Small Engine Repair is a remarkably well-written and acted character study of three deeply flawed men trying to reconnect with each other.
Category: Reviews
The Evening Hour is a heartbreaking portrait of addiction and desperation
Set with the gorgeous backdrop of Appalachia all around them, The Evening Hour is an indictment on how little opportunity and a lot of desperation can push a man to thing he never would have considered otherwise. Cole (Philip Ettinger, First Reformed) was born and raised in a small town destroyed by corporate greed and coal mining and living day to day the best he can. An orderly at the local senior home, he also makes ends meet by selling opiates around town. We’re immediately drawn to him for his good deeds around town: bringing groceries to elderly locals, giving cash to his grandmother, but he’s still part of a system that creates and keeps folks addicted.
Yakuza Princess, a gritty, bloody hallucination set in São Paulo
in her lap along with a stranger (Jonathan Rhys Myers) who can’t remember who he is, much less why he’s drawn to her. Running on instinct and a small bit of info from friends of her grandfather, she travels to a hidden compound where things begin to reveal, and unravel, themselves. She discovers her destiny and for some reason knows the stranger fits into it.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is awesome in the same ways (nearly) every other Marvel movie is also awesome
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is getting a lot of acclaim and attention for being the first Marvel movie to be led by an overwhelmingly Asian cast. It’s quite cool and mostly lives up to all of that hype.
Candyman can scare the bejesus out of you, if you want it to
Set in the fast-gentrifying Chicago arts scene, this updated-for-2021 slasher/thriller wants you to know that it’s politics are righteous. If it provides a few thrillers, even better. Overall, I liked it, even if there were often times when the politics felt heavy-handed and took away from the scarier aspects of the thriller, even when I agree passionately with the points the filmmaker is making. Still, there was plenty of horror that came through clearly.
Together finally brings us a lockdown relationship dramedy worth our time
A snapshot of a couple in this time, captured naturally and told compellingly.
For a movie about memory, Reminiscence is certainly a memorable attempt (for better or worse) at blending science fiction with noir
An audacious directorial debut from Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy, Reminiscence drops Hugh Jackman into a science fiction-noir that is less hard boiled and more of a light simmer.
Nine Days contemplates the Great Before as the ultimate slow-burn reality competition.
So much of literature, cinema, and religion contemplate the afterlife. What happens to us when we die, where do we go, how are our lives judged? Less spiritual attention — at least in the west — is paid to how and why we get to be alive on this planet in the first place. Something must be in the air: just as Pixar’s holiday release Soul introduced The Great Before as the first episode in a trilogy ending with the Great Beyond, Edson Oda’s festival favorite Nine Days contemplates a process by which souls come to inhabit a life on Earth.
Somehow, Ryan Reynolds’s Action Comedy Free Guy Shows the Dark Side of Labor Exploitation in the Video Game Industry
If someone told me a year ago that a long-delayed movie with Ryan Reynolds as a non-player character (NPC) in a videogame would also grapple with the downright exploitative nature of the videogame industry, I would have said they were out of your mind.
A dark glimpse at wealth, the soul and climate change in Never Gonna Snow Again
The scene is set in a small gated community with perfectly manicured lawns, lavishly decorated living rooms and constantly roaming security guards on Segways. A young man, Zhenia (Alec Utgoff), convinces the powers that be that he should get a pass to work as a masseur within the high walls.