After working on their respective short films and co-directing the documentary short Dollar Pizza Documentary, Brooklyn-based filmmakers Travis Wood and Alex Mallis are upping the ante as their debut feature The Travel Companion is having its world premiere in the US Narrative Competition section of the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival. …
Sentimental Value won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival thanks to the three central performances by Renate Reinsve, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård. Director Joachim Trier has a real talent for pulling out the emotional subtexts of ordinary lives and figuring out why people make the choices …
Without knowing absolutely anything about Deep Cover, I began watching it at home with zero expectations – sometimes, that’s truly the best way to discover little cinematic surprises throughout the year. The lack of anticipation allows one to fully enjoy the unpredictability of the humor and the narrative lightness of …
Now here is where things get very good. There’s a sense of humour in Escape Velocity Protocol which we haven’t seen before, just as we haven’t seen violence this serious in Murderbot before. But the main issue here is the dichotomy between the world as Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) understands it …
We’re off to the races! Can free planets handle themselves? Can Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) stand to be “stuck with these people and their pheromones in a small craft”? Although for a being that claims not to care about people, it sure does spend a lot of time paying close attention …
The six hippie scientists from the non-corporation planet that Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) is tasked with protecting on their mining mission are as follows: Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), the admired mission leader, parent of seven, and terraforming expert who is secretly prone to panic attacks Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu), the non-binary lawyer and …
The eponymous hero of this new TV show Murderbot, based on the first of The Murderbot Diaries series of novels by Martha Wells, is strictly speaking a cyborg. It – though sometimes its clients misgender it as a he – has a metallic structure covered with cloned human flesh, including …
Well. This is the darkest episode yet of Carême and where almost all of the various plot points from earlier in the season have finally converged. Our hero Antonin (Benjamin Voisin) finally has it drilled into his skull not only that actions have consequences, but also that he is not …
This episode of Carême pays off some serious buildup, but the important thing is this is when our cutie hero finally grows up. Antonin (Benjamin Voisin) finally comes to appreciate how his skills as the best cook in France mean that he is not just a pawn on the chessboard …
The 1980s were perhaps the best decade for high-concept, low-budget, effects-driven horror films. There are many examples, but one that has stood the test of time and become a cult classic for horror fans is Stuart Gordon’s 1984 feature Re-Animator. Based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, it tells …
Japanese director Masayuki Suô’s 1996 romantic comedy, Shall We Dance? Follows Shohei Sugiyama (Kôji Yakusho), an accountant who is surprisingly discontented. Despite his successful career and a wife and daughter who love him dearly, there’s something missing in Sugiyama’s life. On his daily commute, he spies from the train a …
There is a certain charm in looking back at a film that you watched as a kid. 1995’s A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, from director Michael Gottlieb and writers Michael Part and Robert L. Levy, was an easy choice for family movie night. It stars Thomas Ian Nicholas as …
Everything in Hacks blew apart in A Slippery Slope, episode 9 of season 4. So many threads that we have been following all season came to a head in the penultimate episode. And I admit, the writers had me on the ropes in this one, waiting to see how everything panned out. And …
The dual drop of Hacks episodes 7 and 8 was interesting, but it makes sense for these two to air at the same time. The two work well together and set up the final three episodes well. By the end of episode 8, several conflicts have been set up that should make …
I take it all back! Hacks season 4 is perfect and I love it and everyone needs to watch it! Okay, not quite that, but episode 6, Mrs. Table, is an impressive payoff for what has been a lackluster season thus far. This is the kind of writing and performing that I expect …
You wait your whole life for two female directors to adapt books written by women about artists who are thunderstruck by the prison of motherhood, then two come along in the same year. In December 2024 Marielle Heller gave us Nightbitch, and now this year’s Cannes Film Festival has given …
We meet Devon (Meghan Fahy) on her way out of jail, on her way home to her father, who is suffering from dementia. There is a fruit basket on her Buffalo stoop, a lavish gift in a very unlavish part of town. Devon suspects it’s from her sister Simone (Milly …
The Un Certain Regard section is the second most significant section of the Cannes Film Festival. It presents rising directors who already have a presence in world cinema. It is the case of Un Poeta (A Poet), directed by Simón Mesa Soto. The Colombian filmmaker presented his last film, Amparo, …
On the one hand, this is the weakest episode yet of Carême, full of characterisations that are regrettable cliche. On the other, director Matias Boucard, cinematographer Julio Ramón Ribeyro and editor Jean-Baptiste Beaudoin managed to create a mood that makes palpable both the price of power and the cost of …
The Semaine de la Critique (Critics Week) is a crucial sidebar at the Festival de Cannes. It focuses on debut and sophomore films. A Useful Ghost (Pee Chai Dai Ka) by the Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke is another hyped first-time directorial effort. The semaine is responsible for unveiling buzzy titles …