Halloween Kills is an ambitious take on a sequel. While the film picks up where 2018’s Halloween ended, this isn’t a movie about the franchise’s villain Michael Myers or his prime victim Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Instead, it’s a movie about Haddonfield and the mournful community who have been living in fear; being given a tormented reputation by its infamous serial killer. The locals, having not felt protected by the town’s law enforcement, rally…
From the Academy Award winning team who brought you Free Solo comes The Rescue, a documentary that chronicles the 2018 search-and-rescue of the Wild Boars soccer team who were trapped in a flooding cave in Thailand.
Every so often, an overly confident filmmaker comes along to lighten the mood around taboos. There was Josh Lawson’s comedic approach to bizarre sexual fetishes in The Little Death, then Dave Schultz’s tasteless handling of suicide and death in Considering Love & Other Magic, and now Stephen Wallis with Defining Moments, an exhausting flume of individual stories dealing with heavy subject matter (like mental health) and the writer/director’s unbearably quirky perspective.
I liked The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but I loved the dynamic and on-screen chemistry between actors Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield. As infamous televangelists Tammy Faye Bakker and Jim Bakker, Chastain and Garfield are excellent and shine through their make-up and prosthetics with believable performances and vibrant personalities. We’re constantly having to remind ourselves that we’re watching a contemporary film; not the 2000-era documentary of the same name that serves as source material.
The film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen is a solid gateway towards introducing movie goers, like me, to the award-winning stage production its adapted from. The movie creates curiosity and builds interest for those who have been wanting to see it and missed out on the opportunity to do so.
Films are rewarded when they think outside the box and resist their genre’s conventions. But sometimes, a movie can remind us of how narrative prerequisites can be misinterpreted as cliché by indifferent filmmakers.
Much like an expert poker player, writer/director Paul Schrader underplays The Card Counter. Instead of a flashier approach that boasts with style, Schrader captures the subdued focus and routine of a gambling sub-culture and its players. One of those players being William Tell (Oscar Isaac), a former serviceman who invests in high-rolling card games to keep himself distracted. It’s an efficient, time-consuming past-time that prevents William from possibly falling back into bad habits.
9/11: Inside the President’s War Room is a candid documentary meant to commemorate the events of September 11th, 2001 and serve as essential viewing for its 20th anniversary. While the film delivers on its candid nature, featuring exclusive photographs and interviews with past White House officials including former president George W. Bush, Adam Wishart’s doc is not as considerate as it could be.
For as morbid as it is, I had a really good time watching The Comeback Trail, a dark comedy about a scheming film producer banking on the “accidental” death of his leading star. Think Bowfinger or The Producers with more slapstick and cynicism.
“What’s the point to remaking She’s All That?” is a question that frequented my thoughts when I first heard of He’s All That. It was another random project that seemed as if it was putting all of its eggs in one basket, hoping to simply capture the attention of movie goers with the idea of swapping the gender roles of its predecessor. Other than looking to be entertained, I was hoping most of all that…