Filmmaker Sean Baker follows up his American masterpiece The Florida Project, a drama about a helpless community living on the fringe of fantasy, with Red Rocket, another winner that dabbles in the same wheelhouse but broadening its scope to a rural population. And much like how The Florida Project found humour in innocence, Red Rocket finds humour in ignorance.
Numb from the sudden death of his screenwriter wife Oto (Reika Kirishima), actor Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is recruited for a brief residency to direct the play he had previously performed in, and the last play Oto watched him in. Yūsuke has formed a shell around him, refusing to let anyone catch him with his guard down. Aside from theatre, he likes to be alone. His routine is rocked, however, when the theatre program assigns…
Zeros and Ones begins with an enthusiastic vlog from Ethan Hawke, who eagerly tells the audience that he’ll be playing a dual role in the movie that we’re about to watch. He also speaks highly of the film’s writer/director Abel Ferrara (Ms. 45, Bad Lieutenant, 4:44 Last Day on Earth), and how the filmmaker has made a truly special movie that speaks “to this moment” and that it’s “Abel’s hit on what we’ve been going through…
The most interesting thing about Marionette is the question it made me ask myself: if a generic movie is a functioning entry in its genre, should it receive a passing grade? I had just given Netflix’s bombastic blockbuster Red Notice a recommendation because of this same grading method. So, what’s preventing me from doing the same with Marionette?
The Surprise Visit features a small ensemble of actors who seem to be challenging each other. Only they’re not inspiring each other, they’re competing against each other for who can exaggerate the most. And director Nick Lyon is letting his cast “duke it out”.
June Again is a pretty good movie that’s headlined by the first excellent performance of the year.
By: Trevor Chartrand See For Me, directed by Randall Okita (The Lockpicker), is an engaging thriller that’s sort-of a reverse Don’t Breathe. In both films, a blind person fends off would-be home invaders – but in Okita’s movie, our visually-impaired lead character is not a sadistic sociopath – she’s (mostly) a good person.
Lowell High School is the top-ranked public high school in San Francisco. In a world where everyone is a straight-A student, Lowell seniors are stressed out, scrambling to secure places in the country’s top universities and balancing overwhelming pressure from their families and communities.
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a mind-melting, time-bending farce that works like a fine tuned juggling act.