Julia Hart Powers Up with ‘Fast Color’
“‘Fast Color’ deserves a close look…”
Emilio Miraglia and the High-Gothic Giallo
“Miraglia’s deliberate interweaving of castles and glimmering blades taps into the one element that both Gothic and giallo art share: the ability to taffy-pull delight from terror. Both Poe and Bava would tip their hats.”
Review: Daniel Kremer’s ‘Overwhelm the Sky’
“Mesmerizing and immaculately-structured, ‘Overwhelm the Sky’ is an ambitious indie epic that doesn’t waste a single minute.”
The Beautiful Brutality of Sergio Corbucci’s ‘The Great Silence’
“‘The Great Silence’ is miles away from the graceful, operatic majesty of Leone’s more famous entries. Corbucci’s cynical vision is fashioned from a style that is brutal and spontaneous…”
New York Film Festival Review: Edward Norton’s ‘Motherless Brooklyn’
“‘Motherless Brooklyn’ may not be a sterling example of traditional noir, but its subtext is gripping in its own way. The victim of this crime story isn’t a dead man or a damsel in distress, but the spirit of a city.”
Review: Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon’s ‘The Addams Family’
“The most devoted fans will appreciate the authenticity of the character design, which sticks closely to the look of the classic illustrations.”
12 Angry Films: Sidney Lumet on Justice #4 – ‘Serpico’
“With ‘Serpico,’ Lumet becomes a defining chronicler of American institutional corruption, most obviously within the justice system.”
Joanna Hogg Directs a Dazzling Honor Swinton Byrne in ‘The Souvenir’
“‘The Souvenir’ is essential viewing for devoted cinephiles.”
London Film Festival Review: Marco Bellocchio’s ‘The Traitor’
“It wouldn’t be surprising to see ‘The Traitor’ filed in the Dad-canon of crime cinema alongside other European films like ‘Mesrine’ or ‘The Baader Meinhof Complex’ — films where the context is too wide to sufficiently cover…”
Losing My Religion: Unhallowed Irreverence in ‘Alice, Sweet Alice’
“Alice, Sweet Alice’s attitude is an unforgiving one. What, Sole asks, is the difference between Alice, who hurts because she’s sociopathic, and the zealous Ms. Tredoni, who hurts out of righteousness?”
Review: Rob Grant’s ‘Harpoon’
“Rob Grant’s ‘Harpoon’ exudes all the sly confidence of a well-prepared and half-in-the-bag wedding table orator.”
Review: Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker’ Is Aggressively Decent
“‘Joker’ is what so many controversial films turn out to be: it’s fine — neither masterpiece nor trash fire, well-executed in some parts and poorly thought out in others.”
Lynn Shelton Goes South in ‘Sword of Trust’
“Shelton convincingly alternates between the absurd misadventures of the core quartet and the well-observed moments of confessional pathos during which the audience sees the characters as humans doing their best to get along in the world…”
Review: Henry Alex Rubin’s ‘Semper Fi’
“‘Semper Fi’ leans heavily on male codes of honor but doesn’t fully explore the motivations for the primary players, a group of Marines trying to re-acclimate to life in upstate New York. As a result, the final act suffers.”
The Diffusion of Giallo in Nicolas Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’
“‘Don’t Look Now’ stands as one of the best iterations of the giallo film. It takes the best elements of the commercialized Italian psycho-thriller and presents them with a Hitchcockian flair.”
One Country’s Trash: Enzo G. Castellari and Exploitation
“Exploitation filmmakers like Castellari treat other films like air just waiting to be breathed in. Theft, plagiarism, remix, citation, reference — to these exploiters, they are all the same thing. Everything, these films suggest, belongs to all of us.”
Speaking Power to Truth: Roberto Rossellini’s ‘Paisan’
“Rossellini astonishingly blends the good and the bad into an imperfect merging of society in all its multiplicity of guises. Death, desolation and violence are as pervasive in the film as love and empathy.”
Open City Docs Fest Review: Lei Lei’s ‘Breathless Animals’
“Despite the 68-minute duration, ‘Breathless Animals’ might feel occasionally redundant, especially when the animation creates psychedelic vibes, but its many sketches of a woman’s life make up for any minor flaws.”
The Empowerment of Female Pleasure in ‘The To Do List’
“‘The To Do List’ not only made me feel comfortable with my sexuality and my body as a woman, but it also helped me understand that sex is natural and organic.”
Peter Lorre: The Foundations of the Stranger
“Lorre brought to his strangers the psychological wounds carried by the exile.”