Drama
Film Review – John Wick: Chapter 4
The John Wick series started as a small revenge tale and has grown to become one of the definitive action franchises of the new century. Incorporating muscular hand to hand combat, gun choreography, and awe-inspiring stunts, each entry upped the ante in terms of death-defying acrobatics. Beyond…
READ MORESXSW Review – Deadland
***Trigger/Spoiler Warning: This film contains depictions of suicide*** Deadland (2023) revolves around the struggle of immigrants trying to cross into the US from Mexico at any cost. Screenwriters Lance Larson (also the director) and Jas Shelton take it one step further, with their main character…
READ MOREFilm Review – Boston Strangler
The title of Boston Strangler (2023) references a series of murders that took place in the early to mid 1960s. However, it also operates as a sort of red herring. Yes, the film revolves around the manhunt of those responsible for killing over a dozen women in…
READ MORESXSW Review – If You Were the Last
Sometimes a SXSW screening is chosen just because you love the actors involved, regardless of everything else. The choices do not always work out, and you see a not-so-great film. In the case of If You Were the Last (2023), the opposite happens, and it…
READ MOREFilm Review – One Fine Morning
For many, life is not made up of big sweeping moments, but of small intimate struggles. Going to work, making money, taking care of our loved ones – these are the responsibilities that make up our daily existence. But the small things can eventually build…
READ MOREFilm Review – The Strays
We all want a better life, but what lengths should we go to obtain it? Is wealth and privilege worth suppressing our very souls? That is at the heart of writer/director Nathaniel Martello-White’s feature length debut, The Strays (2023). He weaves a tale that has beats of the horror…
READ MOREFilm Review – Hidden Blade
There are few films that evoke atmosphere and mood as well as Er Cheng’s Hidden Blade (2023). A spy thriller set in Japanese-occupied China during the height of WWII, the tone and visuals have such rich textures that every frame looks like an oil painting. Compositions place characters…
READ MOREFilm Review – Sharper
Movies involving con artists must walk a narrative tightrope. Because they rely on surprise and misdirection, they run the risk of being more about the trick than the trickster. Filmmakers paint themselves into a corner by establishing stakes, but work out of it by saying…
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