Julia Hart Powers Up with ‘Fast Color’
“‘Fast Color’ deserves a close look…”
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.”
Threatened Individualism: On François Truffaut’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’
“Throughout both the foreground and background of ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ Truffaut emphasizes the characters’ self-absorption via a hyper-sexual form of narcissism in a society lacking real love.”
‘The Banana Splits Movie’: A Bloody Horror Take on a Saturday Morning Favorite
“Esterhazy’s direction is consistently flat and uninspired given the nonstop opportunities for twisted weirdness, but the failure of ‘The Banana Splits Movie’ can be pinned almost entirely on the sawdust-packed script…”
‘District 9’: Xenophobic Themes Still Resonate a Decade Later
“‘District 9’ might not be a classic like ‘Alien’ or ‘The Terminator’ (not many films are), but it’s still an effective sci-fi film with depth and style.”
‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ Is Far from Amazing
“‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ is a sophomoric attempt to capture the visual flair and look of the old comics; Watts fails to capture the bite and necessary substance.”
The Monsters Are Loose: Grief and Regret in A.T. White’s ‘Starfish’
“Many ‘Starfish’ reviews pick up on the film’s unmistakable exploration of grief, but just as many neglect to mention the other half of White’s semi-autobiographical work and its reckoning with guilt and regret.”
Forty Years of Facehugging and Chestbursting: ‘Memory: The Origins of Alien’
“‘Alien’ is a gift that keeps on giving, and ‘Memory: The Origins of Alien’ unwraps so many colorfully wrapped boxes of various shapes and sizes.”
Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ Is a 40-Year-Old Elevated Horror Masterpiece
“If ‘Alien’ came out today, it’d likely be hailed as some sort of genius elevated horror/prestige sci-fi movie. It’s an engrossing, pulse-pounding thriller with brains and a unique and stunning visual style. Forty years later, ‘Alien’ remains one of the best sci-fi AND horror films of all time.”
There Is Another: Transgenerational Trauma and the Skywalker Legacy
“By viewing a family over three generations, the audience can see patterns that the characters themselves cannot, and then see patterns in their own lives as well, hopefully.”
Review: A.T. White’s ‘Starfish’
“This is a moody, thoughtful and impressively weird debut feature from White.”
Review: Frant Gwo’s ‘The Wandering Earth’
“If ‘The Wandering Earth’ is China’s first step in big budget space adventure, it promises a giant leap not far down the line.”
Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Falls Short
“Rodriguez’s battle scenes and the performance capture acting of Rosa Salazar (Alita) are shining aspects of the film, but not enough to render it praiseworthy overall.”
The Boundary-Pushing Comedy in Frank Henenlotter’s Films
“Frank Henenlotter and his films have the demeanor of a naughty uncle making wild, dirty jokes while telling a campfire ghost story. He wants you to take the material seriously, but he’s mostly concerned with you having a great time.”
Long Live the New Flesh: Bodies, Horrors and Desires in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crash’ and ‘Videodrome’
“In ‘Crash,’ sex feels like a traffic accident. In ‘Videodrome,’ it becomes the subject of a warped, projected fantasy.”
‘It Comes at Night’ and the Trouble with Horror Movies That Don’t Fit Into a Genre-Specific Box
“The genius of ‘It Comes at Night’ is that its monsters are, for the most part, human.”
Casting a Spell for Peace: On ‘Arrival,’ Max Richter and Our Unending Need for Violence
“It’s in Louise’s absolute refusal to allow our barbaric side to win that ‘Arrival’ shows its moral core.”
‘Arrival’ and the Perils of Science Fiction
“What is awkward about these ‘Arrival’ reviews is how they oppose the film’s best qualities to its generic roots.”
Review: Francis Lawrence’s ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’
“Lawrence is simply marvelous again and delivers a surprisingly beautiful vocal performance that demonstrates her well-rounded talent as a performer.”
Review: Chasing Kristina Buožytė’s ‘Vanishing Waves’
“‘Vanishing Waves’ boasts a touch of Andrei Tarkovsky, but I found many similarities to the psychosexual thrillers of French director Alain Robbe-Grillet, most notably ‘Eden and After’ (1970) and ‘Successive Slidings of Pleasure’ (1974).”