“With ‘This Is a Robbery,’ Barnicle manages to pinpoint what probably happened at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on St. Patty’s Day 1990 while amplifying the long-term mystery.”
VVoices #5: Film Critics List the Best Space Horror Movies
“Roger Ebert once wrote ‘it’s not what a film is about, it’s how it is about it,’ and it’s this phrase that I usually return to when thinking about cinema that deals with humanity’s worst impulses.”
“‘Nina Wu’ isn’t just a ‘#MeToo thriller’ or ‘slow burn cinema,’ it’s a progressive spin on psychological horror and a master class in visceral visual design.”
“End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock’ belongs to a tradition of activist filmmaking that draws from investigative journalism as well as from artistic principles and techniques.”
“The utter sadness of Little and Big Edie’s story is why ‘Grey Gardens’ is so moving — direct cinema allowed this story to be explored with a level of intimacy previously unavailable.”
“Bargatze delivers a strong one-hour set in ‘The Greatest Average American,’ even if he seems more interested in referencing his family and friends than owning the stage with original bits.”
“‘The Serpent’ fashions itself as a serial killer epic, but feels more like an uninspired Jacques Audiard knockoff that shows little interest in deconstructing the psychology of its subject.”
Mannhunting #1 by Bill Bria: “The protagonists and antagonists in Mann’s films tend to be mirror images of each other, all of them caught within masculinity’s shackles.”
“‘No Hard Feelings’ takes queerness as a given, capturing queer joy onscreen while never losing sight of the stark realities of migrants seeking refuge in a still highly xenophobic Europe.”
“‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’ bears the unmistakable stamp of an artist at the very apogee of his creative prowess.”
Greg Carlson Interviews Filmmaker Toby Jones About Movie Collecting
“‘All these books, all this magic, yeah, they have potential. But what exactly is ‘DOTA: Dragon’s Blood’ trying to say?”
VVoices #4: Film Critics React to the 2021 Oscar Nominations
“Joe’s backstory allows ‘Cowboys’ to explore the difficulty of being young and trans, but never in a way that feels exploitative.”
“For a debut feature, ‘Kiss Me Before It Blows Up’ is a bold and assertive movie that nails a few funny moments, but it would’ve benefitted from a more nuanced exploration of its complex subject matter.”
“In an era where Disney allows Marvel to experiment boldly with narrative structures in a show like ‘WandaVision,’ ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ seems like a tired old horse that needs to be put out to pasture.”
“Too often, the tongue-in-cheek tone veers into the empty calorie territory of VH1’s cable television time-filler ‘I Love the ‘80s,’ as subjects like Doug Benson and Ron Funches can’t resist using their screen time to test what feels like standup material.”
“It’s unrealistic to expect every queer film to tackle all aspects of queer life and history, but ‘Cured’ presents its narrative in a way that’s too clean and neat, too much of a happily-ever-after.”
“Sound of Violence’s nonchalant depictions of violence, which occur with such obfuscation due to uncoordinated quick-cut editing and color filters, render it a fangless drama with un-engaging sequences of killing and torture.”