Genre
Film Review – The Housemaid
The Housemaid (2025) – the big screen adaptation of the bestselling novel by Freida McFadden – contains just the right mix of cheese, trashiness, sexiness, humor, and thrills. It calls to mind ‘90s erotic thrillers you’d see on late night cable. The narratives were less concerned with plausibility…
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Film Review – Avatar: Fire and Ash
The Avatar series has bucked the trend of modern blockbusters, in that it doesn’t rely on pre-existing properties. There were no books, toys, video games, or TV shows in which it could mine fan nostalgia. Sure, it borrows elements from other works – FernGully (1992) being the most common…
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Film Review – Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Wake Up Dead Man (2025) continues the series of Benoit Blanc mystery thrillers headed by writer/director Rian Johnson. And just like the previous two entries – Knives Out (2019) and Glass Onion (2022) – Johnson infuses his whodunit with sharp writing, colorful characters, an engaging plot, and insightful social commentary. Even…
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Film Review – Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
***Warning: This Review Contains Spoilers*** The idea of Quentin Tarantino combining his Kill Bill saga into one complete work felt something of a distant rumor. It existed – at least for me – on the same level as a Vega Brothers spinoff or a potential Bond film. Soon after Vol.…
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Film Review – Left-Handed Girl
Left-Handed Girl (2025) marks the solo directing debut of Shih-Ching Tsou. She previously co-directed Take Out (2004) with Sean Baker and has since helped produced his films from Tangerine (2015) through Red Rocket (2021). With this latest release, the two have switched roles, in a way, with Tsou taking the director’s chair and Baker…
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Film Review – Wicked: For Good
The continuation of the Wicked musical adaptation – Wicked: For Good (2025) – arrives in theaters riding the success of the first film. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last two years, Wicked (2024) was a massive success, appeasing fans of the stage show and garnering a…
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Film Review – Train Dreams
The beauty of Train Dreams (2025) is how it understands that life isn’t just about the highs and lows. It’s about the daily routines, the traveling to and from work, the mundane chores, etc. It’s about the quiet moments where people reflect on where they come from…
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Film Review – Nouvelle Vague
The French New Wave has become such a milestone in the history of cinema that it risks being under appreciated. Take any film course and you’ll eventually arrive at it. It’s a major inflection point – we can see the change in filmmaking technique almost…
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