Indie Reviews
Montreal Nouveau 2021 Review: AFTER BLUE, Succumb to the Desiring Nightmare
Paradis Sale, the original french title of Bertrand Mandico's sophomore feature, translates as 'Dirty Paradise'. And this place isn't exactly a paradise, nor is it dirty. But it is most definitely strange and surreal, filled with intoxication and eroticism, and...
Screamfest 2021 Review: THE RETALIATORS, The Thin Line Between Revenge And Survival
It's Christmas time and pastor Bishop (no, really) is preparing to spend the holidays with his two daughters, Sarah and Rebecca. A devout man, he holds steadfast to the principles of his faith. But even the most faithful followers are...
Nightstream 2021 Review: KING CAR, A Car For The People
A mechanical messiah promises to bring power to the people of Brazil after new legislation threatens the livelihoods of the proletariat in Renata Pinheiro's painfully topical King Car (Carro Rei). Uno (Luciano Pedro, Jr.) has always had a way with...
Montreal Nouveau 2021 Review: ZERIA, A Fractured Story of a Dying World
What are the stories that will be left for humanity, if (or really, when) there is a shift in how we live? Or where we are? What are the ideas, histories, feelings, we need to impart to the next generations,...
Blu-ray Review: Criterion's Roll-out of MAN PUSH CART
Filmmaker Ramin Bahrani debuts with an NYC immigrant story, beautifully told.
Montreal Nouveau 2021 Review: THE POWER OF THE DOG, Hidden Objects Betray Love & Weakness
In a landscape of rolling hills, few trees, and a beauty that comes harsh and stark, it can be a constant burden to hide: hide secrets, hide identity, hide desire, in a world that refuses to allow for sensitivity and...
Review: MASS, Devastating, Searing and Timely
Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, and Reed Birney star in a school-shooting drama, directed by Fran Kranz.
Beyond Fest 2021 Review: NEW YORK NINJA, An Insane Abandoned Action Romp Resurrected!
It was probably the moment in New York Ninja in which the titular vigilante digs a bullet out of his chest with a custom engraved "N Y Ninja" throwing star that truly made me think, "Yeah, this is the good...
New York 2021 Review: NEPTUNE FROST, Afrofuturist's Vision of Our Connected World
Cheryl Isheja, Bertrand Ninteretse, and Eliane Umuhire star in a spiritual, joyful lo-fi cousin of 'The Matrix' and 'Bacurau,' directed by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams.The film's message might be the same here, but with more music and dancing. And it still manages to look like a badass cyberpunk film.
Blu-ray Review: With Bittersweet Timing, Criterion Unveils MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: ESSENTIAL FILMS
The five-disc set holds six feature films and abundant additional material to honour the late director, a voracious and pluralistic cinematic voice.
Woodstock 2021 Review: 18 ½, a Guy, a Girl and the Watergate Scandal
Dan Mirvish’s latest indie venture, 18 ½ is a rare find in the current landscape of filmmaking, an original story that draws you in from the opening frame. Set amidst the Watergate Scandal during Richard Nixon’s presidency, it is NOT...
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: BARBARIANS, Hell Really Is Other People
Not to be confused with Barbarians (the Netflix series), Barbarians at the Gate (Wall Street robber barons), or even Waiting for the Barbarians (the already forgotten adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee’s novel), the latest film with the word...
Review: MAYDAY, Stinging and Enthralling Emotive Power
Grace Van Patten, Mia Goth, Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Théodore Pellerin and Juliette Lewis star in a film written and directed by Karen Cinorre.
Genre Seeds: JEREMY, Love Comes to Town
Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor star in an enduringly sweet teen romance, shot doc-style on the mean streets of Manhattan.
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: IKE BOYS, Kindhearted Tribute to Sentai's Life Lessons
The story goes that back in the late 60s a dynamic anime director in Japan made a very ambitious movie that bombed at the box office. Shelved in the company archives the film escaped a warehouse fire and became the...
Blu-ray Review: LOVE & BASKETBALL Still A Gem, 20 Years Later
Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps star in director Gina Prince-Blythewood's debut feature, which joins the Criterion Collection.
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: EYES OF FIRE, 1700s Style EVIL DEAD
Eyes of Fire is an interesting film. A low-budget horror venture from the mind of Avery Crounse, it is a curious amalgam of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sam Raimi. The storyline is a familiar one. Set in the 1700s, Reverend Will...
Fantastic Fest 2021 Review: V/H/S 94, Typically Uneven Horror Anthology
After three entries in three years, the V/H/S horror anthology/portmanteau series, a showcase for established and up-and-coming horror filmmakers to show horror-friendly audiences what terrifying delights they could deliver in short bursts, slipped into an extended period of quietude. That...
FIN Atlantic 2021 Review: TITANE, Extreme Body Pleasure and Pain
Carrie Fisher once described her body as a bag to carry her brain around. There's a book about women's health entitled 'Our Bodies, Ourselves'. We often talk about of our bodies as being separate from us, and yet they are...
Review: DREAMING GRAND AVENUE, Comfortably Mixing Dreams and Reality
Jackson Rathbone and Andrea Londo star in an affecting fantasy-drama, directed and written by Hugh Schulze, and now on DVD.
