“Revolving around an encounter in a single Russian apartment, Kirill Sokolov’s ‘Why Don’t You Just Die?’ is an electrifyingly-kinetic black comedy with densely-packed homages to international action cinema and a satirical commentary about Russian society.”
“‘Echoes of the Invisible’ is both calming and exhilarating in equal measure.”
“Perhaps the exaggerated disregard for human life in the name of national pride, entertainment and prosperity in ‘Death Race 2000’ is a timely trigger for reassessing priorities as we await a return to normalcy.”
“Relishing in its ability to wrong foot and thrill right to its final moments, ‘Bacurau’ is an unashamedly cinematic experience, with its makers playing in a sandbox of tropes and expectations, subverting them to put forward a radical and wholly essential message.”
Greg Carlson Interviews Documentarian Mike Scholtz About VHS Collecting
“Jened’s real-life teen angst and its participants’ hopes and dreams — from endless makeout sessions to the hysterical aftermath of a crab outbreak — are as horny, heartfelt and human as it gets.”
“It is during the 70s that the disaster film’s most pure and admirable entries were made, bookended by two significantly different stories involving air travel fiascos.”
“Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, ‘System Crasher (Systemsprenger)’ features a tremendous central performance from Helena Zengel, along with superb use of editing and colour.”
“Abstract and disjointed, the narrative of ‘Mysterious Object at Noon’ is progressively piecemeal, and what occurs in ‘Limite’ is even more inconclusive.”
“Channeled through science and machines, good ol’ American ‘know-how’ had helped win the war, save democracy and crush tyranny. It’s understandable that a similar story would percolate through to the small-scale conflicts of cops and criminals.”
“As a chronicler of the justice system in a dozen or more films, Lumet is intimately concerned with the ways in which it represses individual thought and fails to live up to its supposedly defining principles.”
“In the cinema of Michael Mann, romance comes fast or not at all, often smothered by the anonymous network of mankind itself or maybe just your job.”
“Stories of older women emotionally manipulating younger acquaintances remain commonplace, but Nebbou’s film manages to find something genuinely human beneath tired hagsploitation tropes.”
“In these increasingly confusing times, taking solace anywhere we can is more important than ever, and it’s impressively weird, intelligent movies like ‘Sea Fever’ that offer such comfort.”
“In Australia, our cinematic art has been trying to shake us from apathy for 50 years.”
“‘Finding Yingying’ doesn’t try to offer answers that it can’t manifest in reality, and instead allows the legacy of its subject to lead the way, through intimate diary entries, by pondering the important questions of who we want to be, for each other and for our communities.”
“Hittman’s third feature continues to demonstrate the talents, sensibilities and cinematic evolution of a first-rate writer-director…”
“‘The Lawyer’ doesn’t fully grapple with its weighty white saviour theme, and ends up becoming as simplified as what it was setting out to subvert.”
“It’s not difficult to see how PlayTime’s jubilant finale — with its invocation to fashion the city to its occupants’ sense of fun, desires and needs — is perhaps Tati’s most profound statement of his participatory cinema.”
“The female gaze is strong in ‘The Other Lamb,’ lovingly capturing Cassidy’s delicate, open features particularly when they begin twisting into something resembling anger…”