Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story may be a crash course on the popular gaming staple, but it’s also about the waffling relevancy of skateboarding – a journey through its cultural ebb and flow – during the sport’s ongoing search for innovation.
I don’t think it’s always required for a filmmaker to have an opinion about war if their movie is about war. Sometimes, the movie simply exists to entertain or educate about a significant historical event. But, if a filmmaker was to tell a story about the effects of war (primarily the long-term psychological impact), I feel like the filmmaker should use the platform to send a message about the value of combat.
In Andrew Trauki’s Black Water: Abyss, five friends set out to investigate an unexplored cave system in Australia, only to discover that the cave is inhabited by a crocodile with a hankering for fresh meat. It’s a bit like someone decided it would be a good idea to mash together Lake Placid and The Descent (two movies I adore, despite their flaws) – but unfortunately, Black Water: Abyss lacks both the campy charm of the…
Short films do not get a fair shake in the modern cinematic world. Not only do they not get equal screening time in theatres, but they are also often ignored by critics; unless they are being reviewed as part of a bigger body of shorts. This is certainly disheartening, because these shorts often come from those who will compromise the future of film, and because you will occasionally come across something notable – something which…
Daniel Roby’s deftly directed thriller Target Number One fictionalizes the true story of a Quebecois drug addict who was imprisoned in Thailand as a result of a set-up by Canadian intelligence in the 1980s. Taking some of its procedural cues from Spotlight, Target Number One is a kinetic, uncompromising look at the impacts and importance of journalism on the overreach of power in counter-intelligence.
Things I Do For Money could be compared to 2004’s You Got Served, which is a movie I thought I wouldn’t be referencing 16 years later. Yet, here we are.
By: Jessica Goddard It’s an intriguing premise: a crude ex-convict will stop at nothing to build a motivational speaking empire. Tijuana Jackson is unrefined, unreliable, and painfully pompous; but for better or for worse, he is motivated.
Russell Crowe gives an absolutely terrifying performance in Unhinged. The film is a high-octane, single day thriller, but there are times when Derrick Borte’s movie is a straight-up horror because of Crowe. As the story’s antagonist Tom Cooper, Crowe ditches his inhibitions. He’s purposely underdeveloped to build an aura of mystery and terror. The audience is given minor clues of who Tom could be, but he still resembles a stranger; someone who could break under…
The title She Dies Tomorrow refers to a line spoken by the film’s lead character Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) to her sister Jane (Jane Adams) early on in the movie. Jane shrugs it off, but then slowly becomes obsessed by the possibility that she too could die tomorrow. She goes to a birthday party where she passes on her distressed theory to a group of four (Chris Messina, Katie Aselton, Jennifer Kim, and Tunde Adebimpe),…
Just as California Typewriter taught us about the cult culture about its title antique, The Booksellers is an equally nifty-and-thrifty doc about the history and culture behind collecting and preserving literature.