“Nature has a way of showing you who you really are.” It’s a simple truth, if a little on the nose for a survival horror film that pits people against nature with bloody consequences, but it’s still true. It’s also a fair way to describe director Adam MacDonald’s latest film, …
“The most detestable habit in all modern cinema is the homage. I don’t want to see another goddamn homage in anybody’s movie. There are enough of them when you’re unconscious.” – Orson Welles, 1982 Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus is a competently made movie. It has some of the most stunning cinematography …
The term “Netflix flick” doesn’t usually carry a positive connotation – quite the opposite. It’s typically used to describe yet another generic film lacking creativity or innovation, without even memorable moments through impressive action set pieces, hilarious jokes, or, at the very least, outstanding performances. That said, the streaming service …
The performances in He Ain’t Heavy are so emotional that it takes a while to notice the movie is essentially a three-hander, between Jade (Leila George), her little brother Max (Sam Corlett), and their mother Bev (Greta Scacchi, Ms. George’s real-life mother). They live in Perth in western Australia and …
Strange Darling is a strange film indeed. I was advised by a colleague of mine to go into my viewing as blind as possible. That’s something I’m rarely able to accomplish with the nature of my job demanding a strong knowledge of upcoming releases and my curious nature leading me …
Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece Alien was a tremendous achievement; A low-fi monolith of science-fiction horror that changed the landscape of film as we know it. From Ridley Scott’s lean and elegant direction to HR Giger’s phallic and genitalia-inspired character and set design, one which now feels fused into the very …
It’s a shame when one of your most anticipated films of the year winds up also being one of the biggest disappointments. Unfortunately, that was my experience with Alien: Romulus, the highly anticipated return to the horrors of space from Fede Álvarez. Álvarez has made a name for himself within …
In 2020, director Lee Isaac Chung made Minari, the story of an immigrant family in Arkansas with dialogue almost entirely in Korean. An extremely insulting debate sprang up about whether the movie was American, only possible because the immigrants weren’t white and not speaking English. Mr. Chung has now responded …
Not since 1999’s The Blair Witch Project has a horror campaign been quite as effective as the one Neon have instigated for Oswald Perkins’ horror Longlegs. The campaign that tore the internet apart at the turn of the millennium was based on the idea that the titular Blair Witch was …
Ripley is the latest adaptation of Talented Mr. Ripley, this time starring Andrew Scott in the lead role; as Tom Ripley, a man who is introduced to Dickie Greenleaf’s leisurely lifestyle and quickly gets under his skin and eventually kills him – taking over his identity in a bid to become Greenleaf. It’s a queer …
Someday, a movie in which a man defeats an attacking spaceship with a single punch will get a negative review, but today is not that day. Kalki 2898 AD is not only the most expensive Indian movie ever made, but also the first in a planned series of movies – …
Four episodes into The Acolyte and it has attracted the worst kinds of hate for all the wrong reasons. Stupid nitpicking comments about fire in space, an ongoing series that hasn’t revealed its mystery, and now we have a flying Sith lord that people are mad about – if anything, it shows …
The Acolyte episode three, Destiny, takes things back to the past and the childhood of Mae and Osha and looks at how the tragic incident that consumed their family and separated them, driving them apart – how it happened. It’s brutal; Mae’s rage and anger at Osha betraying their trust to …
If there is a more reliable setup for a thriller these days than “young woman trapped in a place with a man,” I don’t know what it is. It’s incredibly versatile, whether you start out with the man being sweet and progressing to darker places, or have him be malevolent …
Limited series are becoming a new favorite medium for streaming. They last between six and eight hours and feel like an extended film. Such length allows the story to carry a deep emotional complexity. This complexity has attracted prominent actors to this limited series format. Netflix has championed this medium …
The Acolyte is the latest Star Wars show to arrive on the back of something of a mixed reception for the franchise of late, with underwhelming ventures for Ahsoka and the latest season of The Mandalorian, but with stellar outings for Andor. Thankfully, The Acolyte is more in the Andor …
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, …
Screenwriter Peter Harness enters the world of space in the Apple TV+ original series Constellation. The eight-episode series stars Noomi Rapace in the lead role of Jo, an astronaut who returns to Earth after a failed space mission. James D’Arcy, Jonathan Banks, and twins Rosie and Davina Coleman also star alongside Rapace. Constellation follows the story of the International Space Station’s troubles after an …
Director James Cullen Bressack’s new film, Darkness of Man, is now out on digital. It’s an action thriller that stars Jean-Claude Van Damme along with Kristanna Loken, Emerson Min, and Sticky Fingaz. Darkness of Man is the story of a a washed-up former Interpol operative named Russell Hatch (played by …
Kristanna Lokken is no stranger to the silver screen, having made a name for herself opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger as the villainess T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Darkness of Man, the latest film from James Cullen Bressack, has the talented actress playing a role opposite another action star …