I Kill Giants Review

Clearly bearing inspiration from Where the Wild Things Are and other fiction that stars kids using fantasy to escape their tragic reality, this comic book adaptation is able to conjure enough empathy for its protagonist to deliver it through some rocky pacing in the first half. I Kill Giants stars Madison Wolfe as Barbara, a …

The Death of Stalin Review

There’s an inherent absurdity to the brutality of the early Soviet Union, millions of citizens butchered due to a combination of paranoia and obsession with maintaining control through fear. Scottish satirist Armando Iannucci (In the Loop, Veep) clearly has no quibbles dealing in such a dismal historical context, squeezing hilarity out of the insane extremes …

Suspiria Quick-Review

A transfixing technicolor marvel; harsh reds, blues, and greens painting a kaleidoscopic nightmare of paranoia. Suspiria is a horror flick that puts aethsethics above all else, telling its story more succinctly through the undulated terror in the eyes of its stalked victims, than through its somewhat stilted dubbed dialogue. The tension, which is stretched throughout …

Police Story Review

Holy crap. That’s about all I can muster in response to Police Story, my first full experience with a Jackie Chan directed movie. Chan’s athleticism combined with his eye for directing action compositions makes for some the of most outlandishly cool fight choreographies ever caught on celluloid. The fluidity of each blow and movement, the …

Annihilation Review

*Warning: Spoilers Ahead* I think it's fair to say that we are always searching for meaning. As a collective we yearn for answers, whether that is through religion, philosophy, science, film, simple conversation, or any other way in which we process our surroundings. Some of us contemplate the possibility of other forms of intelligent life …

Thunderbolt Fantasy: The Sword of Life and Death Review

*Spoilers ahead Oh Thunderbolt Fantasy, how I’ve missed your weird marriage of wuxia, Taiwanese puppet animation, and maximum ham-level anime flourishes. For the uninitiated, Thunderbolt Fantasy was a 12 episode TV series created and written by Gen Urobuchi, one of the premier auteurs in the world of anime. Urobuchi coordinated the collaboration between Nitroplus, Good …

Black Panther Review

Warning: * Spoilers Ahead* At this point, it largely feels like the MCU formula is set in stone. A rotating cast of pithy white dudes take center stage, each offering a somewhat distinct twist on a familiar formula. Throwaway villains of the week appear with some menacing new plan at the end of the first …

Brawl in Cell Block 99: Review

I’m not entirely sure if I like grindhouse. The genre is an interesting time capsule into a particular brand of exploitation film, but at a certain point it’s hard for me to buy into the degree of sadism that is standard. However, leave it to the Craig Zahler and Vince Vaughn pairing to lend a …

Phantom Thread: Review

With the Phantom Thread, one of the film industry’s premier talents has further proven his ability to create a uniquely confounding, dense, and singular work. Initially it appears to be a have the trappings of a love story. But as the warning signs compound, and the hidden inclinations of our leads begin to surface, we …

The Last Jedi: Review and Rebuttal

*Warning: Spoilers Ahead* The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters. Star Wars means a lot to a lot of people. In many ways, it’s the perfect film portrayal of the Hero’s Journey, summarizing hundreds of years of myth into the story of …