Any description of The Shameless could make it sound like the most exploitative trash, so it’s stunning to realize that despite the grim setting, the exceptionally troubled characters, and the hopelessness of their situation, that it isn’t. This is a testament to the skill of writer-director (and Bulgarian-American) Konstantin Bojanov, …
Miguel Gomes won the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for Grand Tour, which he co-wrote with Telmo Churro, Maureen Fazendeiro, and Mariana Ricardo, because it is an impossible film. It’s an epic pan-Asian journey best described as a mash-up of Wisconsin Death Trip and Apocalypse Now, …
The art-house multiverse is here, but this is not necessarily a good thing. The entire point of a multiverse is to enhance the ways in which people engage with each other, whether across time, the planets, or weird dimensions, and to offer space for human interaction not bound to the laws of physics. But the ways …
Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos need each other. Through Ms. Stone, Mr. Lanthimos has an entry into Hollywood and the chance for his work to go mainstream worldwide, and through Mr. Lanthimos, Ms. Stone gets the art-house credibility usually denied to actresses whose careers began in teenage sex comedies. But just because they make quite a pair, that doesn’t mean the work …
Other reviews compare Anora to Pretty Woman, but this is a bad mistake. The world has moved on considerably since 1990, and these days, capitalism is now second to oligarchy. Oligarchs are people for whom life is to be lived without consequences because their incredible wealth means anything, or anyone, can be bought. …
For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard that artificial intelligence would one day rule the world. As technology advances at an exponential rate, the fear that stems from that sentiment seems to be increasing as well. Will one day machines and A.I. completely take over our world, resulting …
Netflix has a reputation. There’s no getting around it at this point. They make three things: a bunch of good-to-great TV shows, one or two prestige movies every year, and a boatload of cheap-looking action movies made up of bits and pieces from other, better movies that somehow star A-list actors. Atlas belongs in …
Calling a TV show “underrated” can feel like simplistic praise. With the cavalcade of streaming content, viewers will always have what they call “underrated” favorites. These favorites can still lead to numerous Emmy nominations and critical praise. MAX’s television show Hacks has had thirty-two Emmy nominations and six wins. Seasons one and …
The Girl with the Needle (Pigen med Nålen) is based on such a well-known criminal case in Denmark that mentioning the name of one of the characters is a local spoiler. For the rest of us, the horror must unspool the old-fashioned way as we watch a young woman’s truly desperate …
Google a definition of the word reality, and you’ll get #1 – “the world or state of things as they actually exist” and #2 – “the state or quality of having existence or substance.” But what makes something real? What actually exists? What percentage of people have to agree something is reality for it to be so? …
The Atypical Family is a South Korean TV series that is streaming weekly on Netflix. It’s a fantasy romance and tells the story of Bok Gwi-ju (Jang Ki-yong) and his family. They used to have incredible superpowers; however, due to chronic diseases brought about by the modern world, they are starting …
There’s no doubt that Bridgerton is one of Netflix’s most successful shows and keeps on getting better with each season. The first two seasons captivated audiences with engaging storylines, richly developed characters, and sizzling physical chemistry. Both seasons garnered supremely positive audience and critical reactions and became two of the most-watched shows …
There’s nothing like a sudden death to bring a community together, and there’s nothing like a tragedy to make people realize what’s truly important. This Icelandic movie, When the Light Breaks (Ljósbrot), is about the worst 24 hours in the lives of a group of young friends because, in the course …
Ryusuke Hamaguchi has never made the same film twice and has always approached each project he takes on with a different lens and perspective on what he did previously. It’s highly apparent just by watching his Oscar-winning feature, Drive My Car, a nearly three-hour-long, slow, and meditative drama, and his latest project, Evil …
The sun-soaked seediness of LA is immediately apparent in Sugar, Mark Protosevich’s neo-noir crime drama. Sugar follows Colin Farrell’s eponymous private detective hired for one case, which quickly spirals into a wider network of rich girls gone wrong, drugs, questionable law enforcement, polaroids, self-destruction, and other such Hollywood crime and its visual signifiers. John Sugar: A Golden-Hearted Detective …
AppleTV+ seems to be carving out a nice niche for itself in prestige period miniseries that combine the holy trinity of the genre: star-studded casts, rich production design, and a topic of historical importance delivered with a glossy respect. Franklin, created by Kirk Ellis – perhaps previously best known for creating HBO’s magnificent miniseries John Adams – fits the …
How do you illustrate for the screen a life lived with physical limitations? You illustrate the life of the mind. In this biopic of writer Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke), the inventor of the ‘southern Gothic’ genre of literature, director Ethan Hawke (also the producer, co-writer, and Ms. Hawke’s father) chose to enact sequences from …
Author/Vietnamese-American Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer is a spy novel unlike any other. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book balances many different themes and ideas. Following an unnamed narrator, it tells a story that is equal parts political thriller, romance, and occasional comedy. That helped make the novel a resonatory and powerful piece of …
Directed by Hannah Marks (Don’t Make Me Go) and written by Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker (Love, Simon), Turtles All the Way Down is the adaptation of John Green’s novel of the same title. It tells the story of Aza Holmes (Isabela Merced), a teenager who strives to be a good daughter, …
Acclaimed Indian filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Devdas, Black) just ventured into the digital realm with Netflix’s Heeramandi, marking his inaugural digital endeavor. Released on May 1st, the eight-part period drama series is already a hit and has captivated audiences with its lavishness and visual splendor. We recently had the chance to participate in an …