Michael Winterbottom has one of the most prolific filmographies of any contemporary British filmmaker. From docudrama miniseries like This England to black comedies like Greed to Palme d’Or competing projects like 24 Hour Party People, Winterbottom has shown bold experimentation and a refusal to be bound to one singular approach to media. His latest, the period drama Shoshana, is a …
In November of 2023, Hulu released The Artful Dodger, a thrilling series set in 1850s Australia filled with redemption, love, and social standards. Jack Dawkins (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), a former navy surgeon, is trying to create a life of respectability in the colony. As you witness the drama, betrayal, romance, and redemption that …
Denis Villeneuve’s much-awaited sequel to 2021’s spi-fi epic, Dune, is the first truly great film of 2024. Dune: Part Two’s scope is awe-inspiring, its pacing is electric, and the themes it explores are suspenseful and thought-provoking. While a faithful adaptation to its behemoth-sized source material, the ways in which it inverts the formula of …
Ray Yeung’s elegant and tender film All Shall Be Well begins with protagonists Angie (Patra Au Ga Man) and Pat (Maggie Li Lin-Lin) existing happily together as an elderly lesbian couple, their bond silent, no unnecessary words spoken between them as they eat, get ready and walk along an autumnal path. They’ve been …
Mia McKenna-Bruce Gives a star-making performance in this quietly devastating drama. The first thirty minutes or so of Molly Manning Walker’s feature directorial debut, How to Have Sex, is highly disorienting. Walker zips through one scene after the next at a breakneck pace as she posits the story as a coming-of-age tale where a group …
In 2021, Claire Keegan’s novel on the Magdalene laundries Small Things Like These was released to acclaim, going on to be shortlisted for the famous Booker Prize. The turnaround between a book’s release and a film adaptation being made can vary, with some taking years to find their adaptive footing. In the case of Small …
Sundance thrives on a level of strangeness within their films. Some premises are so absurd one wonders if they can be successful. This year’s festival alone offered plenty of surrealist entertainment. Movies like Presence, Loves Lies Bleeding, and Freaky Tales delivered a level of hyper-stylized fantasy. It helped the festival to give audiences …
Annihilation is a 2018 sci-fi horror film directed by Alex Garland and written by Alex Garland and Jeff VanderMeer. VanderMeer also wrote the novel the movie is based on. I love this movie dearly. I was already interested in watching this movie because it features Natalie Portman and Tessa Thompson. But hardly anyone knows about it. And that’s because it …
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. To say the least, it’s been a mixed bag. Venom, a film I thoroughly enjoyed for its edgelord sensibilities, made a mint at the box office despite negative critical reception. Its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, fared much better critically and commercially, but Sony’s next take on adapting …
If you’re an aspiring screenwriter, then you know how difficult it is to be able to read certain already-produced scripts to hone your craft. Some titles seem to be locked up in vaults. The BBC Writers Room just made life easier for emerging writers who are also sci-fi fans. The …
Shoplifters is a 2018 Japanese language film directed, written, and edited by the amazing Hirokazu Kore-eda. The movie tells the story of a found family that relies on shoplifting to survive a life of poverty. One thing I love the most about Shoplifters is how it focuses on found families. This family is built …
Driving Madeleine (2022) is one of the most lovely films I’ve seen. Directed by Christian Carion, I haven’t seen many people talk about this movie, which makes me sad. The story of Madeleine Keller (Line Renaud), an older woman in Paris taking a last taxi ride thanks to driver Charles (Dany Boom) …
Happy Black History Month! I am back again with four more films I recommend you guys check out during Black History Month that feature black leads. I decided to focus on films that center the black experience. But I recommend films with experiences that are relatable to everyone, even if …
Franklin Armstrong was the first black character in Peanuts. He’s also the character that the newest Snoopy Presents animated special is all about. Welcome Home, Franklin is Franklin’s origin story. First introduced in 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and at the behest of teacher Harriet Glickman, Franklin was a barrier-breaking character and …
Who says you can’t direct bone-crunching fight scenes AND like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine? Not Christian Sesma! I hopped on Zoom with the director of the pulse-pounding new action movie Lights Out, starring Mekhi Phifer, Jaime King, Frank Grillo, Scott Adkins, and Dermot Mulroney. Frank Grillo channels his signature intensity in Lights Out as Michael “Duffy” Duffield. It’s the kind …
Director William Eubank made a name for himself a few years ago at Sundance with the Sci-fi Thriller The Signal and more recently with the Kristin Stewart starring Underwater. He sat down with us over Zoom to talk about his new action movie, Land of Bad. Starring Russell Crowe, Luke Hemsworth, and Liam Hemsworth (in their first film together!), Milo Ventimiglia, and Ricky Whittle, this …
Surviving high school is no easy task, a sentiment that many of us can empathize with. Some thrived in high school, living at the top of the food chain, but it can be grueling if you’re not popular in some respect. Day in, day out, different day, same…well, you get …
When it comes to paintings and art, I’m not a huge connoisseur. I can walk through an art gallery and appreciate most pieces from a technical level, but as far as anything I would purchase and own for my own enjoyment, I’m pretty indifferent to most things. A new animated …
Biopics about popular celebrities can be difficult to create, largely in part because they will try to capture the scope of one’s whole life rather than the key elements that made them who they were. It’s not necessarily an incorrect approach to the genre, but for every fun or creative …
Sundance can always be an interesting start to the cinematic year. The festival’s films thrive on teasing audiences about the potential of great movies. In some cases, those films can even lead to prestigious Oscar winners like Coda. That does not mean every Sundance film has to have aspirations for awards. …