“If the cinema was responsible for so many happy childhood memories, how could I continue to embrace reminiscing when it was equally responsible for the soul-crushing tedium of a public-facing retail job?”
“Having the killer unmasked and identified is a fresh take on a well-worn trope, while the accidental matricide angle offers a unique, strong premise to kick-start the eventual mini-massacre.”
“Whether it is economic, ethnic or geopolitical, ‘The Heavy Burden’ keeps finding new ways to frame the marginal life of its protagonists.”
“In just 23 minutes, ‘Vader’ presents a nuanced and complex picture of fatherhood, as shaped by both individual personalities and wider social events.”
“These tentative, tangential films each act like a pause for reflection, a moment of reprieve from life itself as the makers each summon a voice from their past to explore their present.”
“Zhao’s style is evocative but accepting.”
“Never weird for the sake of weird, July’s movies are perfectly prismatic, refracting facets of recognizable life experiences through the singularity and peculiarity of her vision.”
“The Red Room is something to conquer or contend with, just like the monsters of the real world.”
“‘Murder in the Woods’ is a slight but entertaining offering, sold completely and committedly by a talented cast of fresh, new faces and with a bonus appearance by the always-welcome Danny Trejo to boot.”
“Where Berkeley uses excess as a contrast to the real world, Verhoeven uses it as a magnifying glass.”
“While ‘The American Sector’ outstays its welcome, I’m not sure if ‘The Building’ wants to be invited in to begin with.”
“Even though Seimetz’s ‘ideological contagion’ might have its roots in coping strategies for depression and a range of mental health issues, the director works wonders by imagining how one might react upon learning about their imminent death.”
“Unfortunately, Kriya’s script is the weakest link. Much of the dialogue sounds like it was lifted straight from a soap opera, and the film occasionally veers into melodrama, which isn’t particularly becoming for a folk horror film set almost entirely in a single location.”
“For the next generation of filmmakers, documenting these strange times has just begun, and, thankfully, it’s going to be a physically distant but socially collaborative enterprise.”
“Although the events in ‘The Virgin Suicides’ may not be presented through an innately nostalgic lens, they become a binding source of nostalgia by viewing the film 20 years after its initial wide release.”
“With ‘Tenet,’ Nolan evolves as a surrealist director, yet his writing style does not similarly advance.”
“Point of view and selfhood have assumed for Kaufman a place of great consequence from ‘Being John Malkovich’ to ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ to ‘Anomalisa,’ and ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is a remarkable extension.”
“The appeal and popularity of the Action Park documentary and book, along with eager anticipation for the upcoming TV series, evidences a shared human proclivity to embellish one’s “street cred.”
“Deerskin’s methodology might be new, but the central tenets of its 77 minutes are part of the same cinematic heritage that created Jim McBride’s indie darling ‘David Holzman’s Diary’ (1967) and Krzysztof Kieslowski’s ‘Camera Buff’ (1979).”
“The manipulation of popular characters outside the control of original creators has existed for hundreds of years, but what makes ‘Feels Good Man’ especially significant is the entanglement with ‘fake news’ during the era of Trump…”