In Mira Shaib’s debut feature film, audiences are immersed in the bustling streets and vibrant life of Beirut through the compelling narrative of Arzé. The film chronicles the journey of Arzé (Diamand Abou Abboud), a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. However, she never shies away from …
Despicable Me 4 sees Gru and the family take on a different dynamic. Instead of trying to achieve world domination as a villain, the Gru crew has to accomplish the most challenging mission they have ever faced. Somehow, they must achieve the impossible feat of “blending in.” On the surface, …
Producer Kayla Foster introduced Your Monster at the Sundance London Film Festival, describing it as a romantic-comedy horror. While this may seem like an unusual combination of genres, this is truly the best way to define what the film is and what makes it utterly unique. Combining elements of the …
A Family Affair is the newest rom-com from the streaming magnate Netflix. Directed by Richard LaGravenese and written by Carrie Solomon, the movie doesn’t positively add to the company’s track record. While it’s not a copy-and-paste version of it, the film is certainly deeply reminiscent of Prime Video’s rom-com from …
Writer and Director Liz W. Garcia is the latest to take on NASA and space with her new comedy, Space Cadet. In the movie, Emma Roberts is Rex Simpson, a brilliant Florida bartender with big dreams among the stars. She doesn’t exactly have the resume of a typical NASA astronaut, …
I appreciate all genres of cinema. It’s true: there’s no style of storytelling or any fictional setting that automatically puts me off – I genuinely believe all genres have their respective masterpieces. That said, like any viewer, I have my personal preferences, and, indeed, there are a few types of …
With On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, director and writer Rungano Nyoni returns to Cannes with an exciting sophomore feature after her successful feature film debut with I Am Not a Witch. Nyoni’s latest film competed in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, where the Zambia-born director won the …
I can’t tell if Cora Bora is satirical, ironic, or sincere. That’s a problem. You know the type of humor: it’s funny in Portland or LA, but somehow loses its charm anywhere else. If you think that embodying and ever-so-slightly playing up the most annoying parts of Gen-Zers is funny, …
Land of Women is the new dramedy from Apple TV+, drawing inspiration from the Sandra Barneda novel La Tierra de la Mujeres. It’s a multigenerational story led by Eva Longoria as Gala, whose life has completely come undone in the clink of a wine glass. Apple TV+ has another well-balanced comedy on its …
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In Mira Shaib’s Beirut-set drama, Arzé, the narrative framework that is imitated is that of Bicycle Thieves, a pantheonic piece of Italian neorealism. Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 classic follows a father and his son searching for a stolen bike, a symbol of means …
I have been a fan of The Boys since the jump. I love the way that it skewers Hollywood. I love the way that it skewers performative wokeness. I love the way that it skewers right-wing fanaticism. And, yeah, the voyeur in me loves the over-the-top violence and sexual content. …
No filmmaker is more unconcerned about the audience than Quentin Dupieux. His previous movie, Yannick, was an hour-long dark comedy that tiptoed around in circles as its titular character (played with pitch-perfect timing by Raphaël Quenard) turns a grating complaint about the play he’s watching into a total nightmare for …
Inside Out 2 is another home run from Pixar. It’s full of heart, honesty, and the stress-induced Anxiety of becoming a teenager. Almost nine years to the date, Pixar is releasing the follow-up to the 2015 smash hit Inside Out. Have you ever felt like your life is together as you prepare …
Comedy is one of the great cultural forces. It is, in many ways, the great equalizer. In the hands of a talented performer, comedy speaks truth to power, whether that means mocking our leaders or finding commonality in the human experience. It’s the latter of these that filmmaker Neil Berkeley’s …
The coming-of-age genre has always explored teenage sexuality. More often than not, it is a genre filled with thoughtful ideas, discussing topics about teenage sexuality that are held taboo in society. Nicholas Colia’s feature debut, Griffin in Summer, an awkward and staid comedy, covers the topic of inappropriate sexual crushes …
In the first minutes of They’re Here, we meet Cookie, a sympathetic old lady from New York who enthusiastically talks about her past experiences with Unknown Flying Objects (UFOs). She answers the directors, Daniel Claridge and Pacho Velez, saying she was taken fourteen times, only in her current home. Cookie …
2022’s Venice Film Festival opened with the Noah Baumbach directed White Noise, a quirky and chaotic genre-mash up. It is a visually enrapturing film about a family surviving a toxic event while grappling with the feeling of impending doom and the mundane cataclysm of their lives. Adapted from Don DeLillo’s …
A little over one year ago, Ted Lasso aired its finale. Despite being off the air for an entire year, it has never dipped out of the top five of Apple TV+’s most-watched shows. While plenty of shows gain a new life when they are released in a new format (think Suits …
In Hit Man, Richard Linklater’s latest film, the beloved director teams up with his star Glen Powell to write a script loosely based on a stranger-than-fiction news feature by legendary Texas Monthly reporter Skip Hollandsworth. It should be stressed that the real story, while remarkably gripping, does not go quite …
In an unprecedented move, the Cannes Film Festival jury awarded the Best Actress prize this year to the four actresses of Emilia Pérez – Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz. This is almost as startling as French writer-director Jacques Audiard making a primarily Spanish-language musical about …