Review: Cary Joji Fukunaga’s ‘Beasts of No Nation’
“As an empathetic machine, Beasts of No Nation tries too hard to convey the unimaginable, leaving in its place a sense of cold insouciance towards a system that is shown to be irreparably broken.”
London Film Festival 2015 Review: Karyn Kusama’s ‘The Invitation’
“Thanks to the skilled hand of director Kusama (Girlfight, Jennifer’s Body), The Invitation is a deeply uncomfortable but also eerily funny skewering of the hostility that can lurk under the veil of hospitality.”
FNC 2015 Review: ‘Transfixed’ (Alon Kol, 2015)
“The film reveals the importance of communication in love, but perhaps even more, the importance of empathy and understanding.”
FNC 2015 Review: ‘Blonde aux yeux bleus’ (Pascal Plante, 2015)
“Blonde aux yeux bleus never feels anything but natural and organic, and it is working in the service of great and contradictory emotions.”
VOD Review: Todd Strauss-Schulson’s ‘The Final Girls’
“A surprisingly funny and sharp-witted caricature of mass-produced horror, The Final Girls is the product of cult film iconography and our culture’s obsession with the ironically good.”
London Film Festival 2015 Review: Bao Nguyen’s ‘Live from New York!’
“The documentary suggests that the makers of Saturday Night Live, in all likelihood, probably don’t have contempt for their audience. It’s harder to say that’s the case for the team behind Live from New York!”
VOD Review: Bryan Carberry and J. Clay Tweel’s ‘Finders Keepers’
“Plunging into the depths of love, loss, addiction, family and life aspirations, Finders Keepers is far more than the story of a smoked left foot.”
London Film Festival 2015 Review: Hèctor Hernández Vicens’ ‘The Corpse of Anna Fritz’
“Where this slick and sick debut falters is in its leanings towards repetition, with the same arguments played out over and over, and even some of the same set-piece conceits seeing repeat play.”
Review: Douglas Tirola’s ‘Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon’
“Expanding on the standard documentary outline, director Douglas Tirola strings a series of in-depth interviews together with original National Lampoon magazine artwork, album excerpts and stage show footage — providing enough tits, drugs and comedy to satiate fans young and old.”
Review: Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years”
“45 Years is unconcerned with the “cuteness” of love — Haigh wants to know what makes it tick.”
Review: David Chen’s ‘The Primary Instinct’
“A remarkably pervasive journey through one man’s search for meaning in his own life, The Primary Instinct captures an utterly captivating performance in a very standard way.”
Review: Baltasar Kormákur’s ‘Everest’
“As impressive and excruciating as Hall and his team’s journey was, Everest fails to capture the specifics.”
VOD Review: ‘The Overnight’ Is a Sincere Sex Farce
“The Buñuelian meets the Duplassian in The Overnight, a chamber comedy of social and sexual manners from director Patrick Brice (2014’s Creep).”
Review: Brian Helgeland’s ‘Legend’
“Little more than an extravagant, blood-soaked and alcohol-fueled story, Legend fulfills its title; an overinflated piece of bar room folklore better told over a cold pint of Guinness (or several)”
SANFIC 11: Kill (f)or Love: Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s ‘The Assassin’
Jaime Grijalba on Santiago Festival Internacional de Cine
Review: Bob Byington’s ‘7 Chinese Brothers’
“While framed as a film about learning some great lesson about life and happiness, 7 Chinese Brothers never really builds from this assumed groundwork.”
Review: Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Queen of Earth’
“An intimate character study of a shifting, indefinable character, Queen of Earth pushes the already exceptionally talented Elisabeth Moss to new levels of intense frenzy and naked emotion.”
VOD Review: Jonas Alexander Arnby’s ‘When Animals Dream’
“This recurring theme of women fighting against their suppression and abuse at the hands of men who fear them, despise them, or sometimes both, is by far the most interesting aspect of When Animals Dream.”
Locarno 2015: ‘I Remember Nothing’ (Zia Anger, 2015)
“Creating something beyond just an experience of mood and sensuality, Zia Anger offers a film that is consistently engaging and fun.”
Review: Sarah Violet-Bliss and Charles Rogers’ ‘Fort Tilden’
“A refreshing and dryly-hilarious glimpse into life at a certain time in a certain place, Fort Tilden brilliantly captures the “struggles” of two women who are uncertain of their roles in life.”