“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.”
“There are many ways that Gaia’s concepts can be expounded into more interesting discussions, yet Bouwer is fine with maintaining a simplistic if metaphorically informed tale about Mother Nature’s revenge.”
“‘Enfant Terrible’ is one of the more successful examples of a director biopic, but the familiar conventions of the genre eventually do a disservice to such a talented filmmaker.”
“Stone has the look of a teenager with the earned maturity of someone who’s been through some heavy shit, which lends itself well to her teenage prostitute in ‘Honey Bee’ and works just as brilliantly in ‘Come True.'”
“While ‘Limbo’ may not be groundbreaking with its formulaic detective narrative, the sheer sense of place and space that Cheang creates allows for a visceral cinematic experience.”
“Bryan Fogel’s new documentary about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is unsurprisingly hard-hitting, but it’s the context for macro-scale geopolitics that ‘The Dissident’ communicates so well.”
“‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ welcomes a reflection on its Asian-fusion design because western adaptations of Asian culture, even with visible and vocal creative Asian input, will come with a spectrum of orientalism…”
“‘Reality fiction’ contours everything in ‘City Hall,’ from the microscopic level of scene transitions to the macroscopic level of entire sequences given deliberate framings…”
“Rather than using the violence itself as a punchline, ‘Voice of Silence’ builds a comedy of manners out of Chang-bok and his colleagues’ sensibilities.”
“The most powerful aspect of ‘Lost Course’ is how it portrays the struggle of the Wukan citizens as a general metaphor for political corruption and the futility of activism.”