Author Archive
Film Review – Slave to the Grind
Toronto-based filmmaker Doug Robert Brown set out to make the most comprehensive film he could about the extreme heavy metal sub-genre known as grindcore. Given that grindcore, the speedy, more aggressive cousin of death metal and hardcore punk, has always been the red-headed stepchild of…
READ MORE
Film Review – My Friend Dahmer
Derf Backderf’s graphic novel My Friend Dahmer is an honest character study of a person who lacks so much basic humanity that he was barely able to function beyond whatever role society wanted to project onto him. Jeffery Dahmer was a real life monster; a…
READ MORE
Film Review – Raw
Julia Ducournau’s French/Belgian horror film Raw reinterprets the emotional and physical strains of post-adolescents into a grisly genre masterwork. Within her gory exploration of common coming-of-age tropes, such as peer group hierarchies, the awkward discovery of sexuality and the love/hate whirlwind of sibling rivalry, Ducournau…
READ MORE
Film Review – Goat
Andrew Neel’s latest feature Goat is an archetypically American film that explores the psychology of toxic masculinity. This dark indie debuted at Sundance, where it was met with some early buzz for its lead performances by the up and coming Ben Schnetzer (Warcraft, Punk’s Dead: SLC…
READ MORE
SXSW Film Review – Hired Gun
As anybody with a liberal arts degree will tell you these days, it’s tough to be a freelancer. Job security is more and more becoming a fleeting indulgence and those looking to survive on their craft alone are met with viciously fluctuating economic circumstances that…
READ MORE
Film Review – Do I Sound Gay?
David Thorpe’s documentary Do I Sound Gay? comfortably sits just outside of a larger political question within the context of a personal journey. This is not an unusual way to frame a broad argument, such as western society’s attitudes towards perceived femininity in men, but…
READ MORE
Film Review – Salad Days: The Birth of Punk in the Nation’s Capital
It’s for good reason that there is still a lot interest and respect for the highly influential DC punk rock scene and for Dischord Records, the label in which many of its bands belonged. While the majority of groups and record labels associated with American…
READ MORE
Film review – Appropriate Behavior
Desiree Akhavan’s breakup comedy Appropriate Behavior cautiously and honestly blends the familiar with the new, as she competently writes, directs, and stars in her first feature. Indiscriminately using every aspect of her own life to the screen, Akhaven plays Shirin, a second-generation Iranian who’s struggling…
READ MORE