Author Archive
Film Review – Music by John Williams
Hundreds of years from now, people will revere composer John Williams the same way we do of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. Some might already put him on that pedestal now. His music has come to transcend generations, embedding into our collective consciousness like a fond memory. There…
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Film Review – Woman of the Hour
Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour (2023) is a tense and insightful thriller in which a struggling actor crosses paths with a serial killer on the television show The Dating Game in the 1970s. But Kendrick – along with screenwriter Ian McDonald – doesn’t just focus on this brief…
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Film Review – The Apprentice
Imagine taking the scene between Matthew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – in which the former gives advice to the latter on how to be a successful stockbroker – and expanding it out to feature length. What you end up with would probably resemble The Apprentice (2024).…
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Film Review – V/H/S/Beyond
Another year, another V/H/S film. At this point, the V/H/S franchise has firmly planted itself in the horror tradition of putting out a new release almost every year, replacing the likes of the Saw (2004) and Final Destination (2000) films. And like its predecessors, the results have been uneven. In a sort of weird…
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Film Review – The Outrun
The Outrun (2024) further confirms Saoirse Ronan’s talent as a performer. From Brooklyn (2015), Lady Bird (2017), Little Women (2019), Ammonite (2020), and now this, Ronan has gradually built up a resume that can stand toe to toe with just about any actor of her generation. She has a chameleon-like ability to adapt to any situation…
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Film Review – Wolfs
The oddly titled Wolfs (2024) – shouldn’t it be “Wolves?” – is about as laid back as you can get when it comes to a crime comedy. There are a lot of shady characters getting into all kinds of hijinks, but it’s all done with an even keeled,…
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Film Review – The Substance
Whoa. The Substance (2024) is one of the most freewheeling, grotesque, and beautiful films you’ll see this year. It is extreme in nearly all phases – thematically, conceptually, and cinematically. Writer/director Coralie Fargeat – who gave us the excellent thriller Revenge (2017) – is back with an even more bombastic…
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Film Review – The 4:30 Movie
It’s been a long time since Kevin Smith burst onto the scene as part of the American Independent New Wave of the 1990s. In films like Clerks (1994), Chasing Amy (1997), and Mallrats (1995), Smith became a voice for a very specific subset of Generation X. His ruminations over relationships, comic books, movies, and…
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