The Business of Film and Entertainment
Written by: Victoria Alexander
Jordan Peele does the miraculous: his follow up to GET OUT does not cheat his fans. And if you can dope out the twist, it’s terrific. The two people I saw US with couldn’t understand the twisty ending. I tried … Continue reading
Written by: Victoria Alexander
Gaspar Noé is intoxicating and CLIMAX is brilliant. A dazzling evocative, creative sensation. It will influence filmmakers and heralds a new, totally visceral experience. CLIMAX cannot be missed, but be warned, it’s not a Hollywood movie. I brought a copy … Continue reading
Written by: Victoria Alexander
An anthem for gorgeous, independent women memorialized by the magnificent Julianne Moore. When we first meet Sebastián Lelio’s fabulous Gloria Bell (Julianne Moore), she is at a small nightclub bar. The club is a well-guarded secret in L.A. – it’s a … Continue reading
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Fast Color (Julia Hart, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. Though it suffers from some confused world-building, Julia Hart’s Fast Color remains, throughout, an engaging meditation on identity and empowerment. The film follows a trio of women – three generations of a single … Continue reading
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Teen Spirit (Max Minghella, 2018) 2 out of 4 stars. Actor Max Minghella’s directorial debut, Teen Spirit, deserves high marks for style, with its vibrant visuals and evocative editing. Unfortunately, the story the film tells is not up to the … Continue reading
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Transit (Christian Petzold, 2018) 3½ out of 4 stars. A profoundly unsettling film, director Christian Petzold’s Transit plunges us into the heart of World War II, as refugees from behind German lines struggle to find a way out of the danger … Continue reading
Written by: Rob Goald, Senior Editor
The Cheerful Subversive’s Guide to INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING By Dan Mirvish Routledge/Taylor & Francis A Focal Press Book New York 2017 Learning how to produce ultra-low-budget feature films is a demanding and complicated task. Even earning a bachelor’s degree in Film, … Continue reading
Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed
In Lower Manhattan, bordered on the west by the Hudson River, the east by Broadway, the north by Canal Street, and on the south by the World Trade Center site, lies the neighborhood known as Tribeca (formerly spelled “TriBeCa,” each … Continue reading
Written by: Stan Popovich
Many celebrities deal with the pressures of Hollywood on a regular basis. Here are some suggestions on how to manage the stresses and anxieties of dealing with peer pressure when working in Hollywood. 1. Know Where You Stand. Ask yourself … Continue reading
Penguins (Alastair Fothergill/Jeff Wilson, 2019) 1 out of 4 stars. Disneynature, a production arm within the larger Disney Studios, produces nature documentaries with an eye – according to its mission statement – to bringing the “world’s top nature filmmakers together to … Continue reading
Little (Tina Gordon Chism, 2019) 2 out of 4 stars. Would that Little made a bigger splash. Instead, it sets its sights so low that when the comedy succeeds, it is almost in spite of the premise, rather than because of … Continue reading
The Best of Enemies (Robin Bissell, 2019) 2 out of 4 stars. In today’s heated and hate-injected racial climate, one can’t deny the timeliness of the release of Robin Bissell’s The Best of Enemies, set in 1971 Durham, North Carolina. … Continue reading
Pet Sematary (Kevin Kölsch/Dennis Widmyer, 2019) 1½ out of 4 stars. I have neither read Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary, nor seen, in full, its first, 1989 movie adaptation. Since the latter is currently available to watch for free … Continue reading
Shazam! (David F. Sandberg, 2019) 2½ out of 4 stars. A very silly combination of the 1988 movie Big and the broad strokes of the modern superhero mythos, Shazam! barely holds up to even the most basic narrative scrutiny, yet manages … Continue reading
Stockholm (Robert Budreau, 2018) 2½ out of 4 stars. Based on the failed real-life 1973 bank robbery that led to the coining of the term “stockholm syndrome,” writer/director Robert Budreau’s Stockholm explores the strange psychological phenomenon of captives bonding with their captors. … Continue reading
Working Woman (“Isha Ovedet”) (Michal Aviad, 2018) 3 out of 4 stars. Israeli director Michal Aviad’s Working Woman explores the trials and tribulations of a married mother of three as she re-enters the workforce, hoping to earn much-needed money following her … Continue reading
The Public (Emilio Estevez, 2018) 3 out of 4 stars. Given Emilio Estevez’s role in the 1985 touchstone film The Breakfast Club, it is perhaps appropriate that he sets The Public in a library. In that earlier movie, if you recall, … Continue reading
Storm Boy (Shawn Seet, 2019) 3 out of 4 stars. Based on the eponymous 1964 children’s book by Australian writer Colin Thiele (adapted once before, in 1976), Storm Boy starts off as one kind of story before quickly morphing into something … Continue reading
