“Life and death, mere moments apart, catalyze the narratives of both Matt Ross’ ‘Captain Fantastic’ and Taika Waititi’s ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople.’
“Ida Lupino may have thought of herself as a poor man’s Don Siegel as a director and Bette Davis as an actress, but I think that’s far from true.”
“‘Even if Neel makes a lousy ‘Final Girl,’ ‘Goat’ is an excellent monster movie, where the monster is toxic masculinity itself.”
“It can’t help but seem like there was one film about a dog bringing people together in light of troubled times, if only briefly, but then it was decided that there would also be a film about a dog being a prop for stories that his detractors would label as ‘autopilot Solondz.'”
“One action hero can change the world.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
A conversation on cinema between film critics Drew Morton, Landon Palmer and Justine A. Smith.
“Tatiana Huezo and cinematographer Ernesto Pardo have struck a balance between natural beauty and human squalor in a way that mirrors how Mexican citizens have had to live with the ever-present possibility of life-ending terror.”
“At a festival dedicated to the documentary, the opportunity to meet a true giant of the field was an unmissable, and indeed, unforgettable experience.”
“Legacy can be a tricky topic for any perspective documentarian to cover, but when that legacy belongs to a close family member, and one who was himself a documentarian, it feels almost necessary.”
“Nothing mixes quite like politics and a funny name.”
“The 2016 iteration of the Sheffield Doc Fest boasts a film lineup consisting of 29 world, 20 European and 14 international premiers, alongside an international contingent of buyers and programmers hunting for the best of the best.”
“After viewing ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ for the first time, I wondered, ‘Doesn’t a woman have to be at least a little bit monstrous to survive?'”
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
“As an adult viewer with a wider range of experiences and reference points than my pubescent self (this is what I tell myself anyway), what engages me most about ‘Candyman’ now is the themes on the fringes of the urban legend focus.”
“A gripping drama whose defiant youths refuse to bow to war, hunger and indifference, Grave of the Fireflies is a film for children to learn the harsh realities of life so that they can do all in their power to prevent the cycle from continuing.”
An Essay by Kyle Turner
“Call it the Silver Age of Comic Book Movies.”
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith