Review: “The President’s Cake”

The opening title card of The President’s Cake presents a paradox so absurd, it can only be real: following the start of the Gulf War in 1990, UN-imposed sanctions on Iraq greatly restrict the country’s resources, causing even the most common household staples to become not only expensive, but scarce, for average citizens. And yet […]

Review: “Send Help”

About a third of the way into Sam Raimi’s Send Help, Rachel McAdams’ purportedly meek office drone Linda Liddle stabs the wild boar she’s been tracking to provide food for herself and Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), the obnoxious colleague she’s stranded on a remote island somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand with, in the face, […]

Review: “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple”

It’s difficult to watch, and even enjoy, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple without feeling increasingly aware of its, shall we say, apparent lack of need to exist. A direct sequel to last year’s 28 Years Later that forms a bridge to a pending trilogy capper, director Nia DaCosta’s horror thriller pulls together characters from […]

Review: “Dead Man’s Wire”

Dead Man’s Wire is as lean and taut as they come, launching into action with little preamble. And yet, the film opens not with Tony Kiritsis (a live-wire Bill Skarsgård) entering the downtown office of his mortgage broker Richard Hall (Darce Montgomery), who he will very soon be taking hostage, believing that Hall and his […]

Review: “OBEX”

Cocooned from the shrill clicking of the 17-year cicada brood outside by the static buzz of his television sets— three, to be exact, stacked one on top of the other and nestled against a vast wall of VHS tapes— Conor (Albert Birney) lives a life of pleasant seclusion, drawing comfort from the company of his […]

Best Movies of 2025

Was 2025 a good year for movies? I find myself asking that question at the end of every year, although I don’t know why, because every year, regardless of its unique ups and downs, ultimately contains multiple gems that are worth getting excited about. My favorites mostly came in a rush at the tail-end of […]

Review: “Marty Supreme”

Marty Mauser isn’t a human being— he’s the vessel for a potent cocktail of relentless ambition and pure ego. Coasting by on the sheer force of his charisma, his arrogance ballooned so big it doesn’t allow space for anyone to refuse him, the competitive table tennis star doesn’t have an actual paying job, doesn’t worry […]

Holiday Classics: “Alias Boston Blackie” (1942)

Alias Boston Blackie doesn’t really employ the good cheer of its holiday backdrop for any thematic heft throughout its brisk 67 minute runtime. But the visual and audial reminders that this crime caper is set over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are so constant, it looks and feels more like a Christmas movie than many […]

Holiday Classics: “Babes in Toyland” (1934)

The ownership and copyright history of the 1934 adaptation of Babes in Toyland is almost unfathomably complicated to reiterate here. Producer Hal Roach sold the film to the Victor Herbert estate (Hebert composed the 1903 operetta upon which the film was based) in 1944. The movie’s copyright was reassigned, and a color remake planned that […]

Review: “Avatar: Fire and Ash”

Almost every entry in director James Cameron’s filmography marks a massive technological leap forward for cinema. Terminator 2: Judgement Day contains the first entirely computer-generated character. Titanic— the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release— merges old school epic storytelling and practical effects with computerized visuals to great impact. Avatar broke […]