FEATURED
Film Reviews
Film Review – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) is such an explosion of kinetic energy – both in its visual design and in its storytelling – that the result borders on creative overload. Where Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) feels like a living, breathing comic book, Across the Spider-Verse acts like an amalgamation…
READ MORE
Film Review – Cracked
The Thai horror film Cracked (2022) creates effective creepiness with limited resources. Utilizing a small cast and a few locations, director Surapong Ploensang (who co-writes with Orunusa Donsawai and Pun Homchuen) evokes mood with relative ease. While the overall narrative is thin in terms of story and character, the craftsmanship on display…
READ MORE
Film Review – Kandahar
At this point in his career, Gerard Butler has settled comfortably into a string of mid-budget action thrillers. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily. In a time where theaters are crowded with tentpole superhero franchises, remakes, and sequels, Butler’s work has offered audiences a throwback alternative. Some…
READ MORE
Film Review – Fast X
***Warning: This review contains minor spoilers*** It goes without saying, but the Fast & Furious franchise has had several makeovers in its near two-decade existence. What started out as a gang of street racers boosting DVD players out of semitrucks has turned into a globe-hopping adventure involving…
READ MORE
Film Review – The Mother
Given her history as a dancer, as well as her willingness to take on physically demanding roles – from Hustlers (2019) to the slapstick of Shotgun Wedding (2022) – it’s surprising that Jennifer Lopez hasn’t done more action films. She clearly has the physicality to do it. In The Mother (2023), she runs,…
READ MORE
SXSW Review – Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
The film opens in 1990 at a hotel in Florida. Woken up by what Michael J. Fox thought was a moth fluttering against his cheek, it was instead a trembling pinkie finger animating itself, and he could not get it to stop. Thinking of why…
READ MORE
Film Review – Carmen
Director/choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s Carmen (2022) is not so much an adaptation of the famous novel/opera, but a complete re-imagining that uses the source material as a groundwork. The result is an intoxicating and vibrant sensory experience. Some viewers may be turned off by its poeticism (some might describe…
READ MORE
Film Review – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
There is an air of finality all throughout Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Sure, when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is anything really over? I wouldn’t be surprised to see any one of these misfits show up again in some form or another down the road.…
READ MORE