Review: “Beau Is Afraid”

At first blush, Beau Is Afraid— the third feature from writer/director Ari Aster—is radically different from his previous works. Hereditary and Midsommar can both be more neatly classified as horror, while his three hour epic Beau Is Afraid can perhaps most succinctly be boiled down to an absurdist interpretation of the hero’s journey. But there’s […]

Review: “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”

Fifty-three years ago, author Judy Blume published her now-iconic middle-grade novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, a book lauded and criticized in equal measure for its frank portrayal of girlhood. And for 50 years, Blume refused repeated attempts to purchase the films rights to the story of Margaret Simon, an 11-year-old girl who […]

Review: “Showing Up”

Lizzy (Michelle Williams) is an artist on the verge of a breakthrough—or a breakdown. Either path seems completely viable throughout Showing Up, writer and director Kelly Reichardt’s low-key yet incisive character study of a working modern artist. By day, Lizzy does administrative work for the Portland art school of which her mother Jean (Maryann Plunkett) […]

Review: “Renfield”

Dracula’s first introduction in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel predates the founding of Universal Studios (then Universal Pictures) by a mere 15 years, but Universal possibly wouldn’t still be around if it wasn’t for the vampire. Financially struggling at the start of the 1930s, Universal’s new head Carl Laemmle Jr. (recently bestowed that title by his […]

Review: “Air”

Michael Jordan is widely considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time. That statement alone immediately conjures pitches for many a film about his life and career. Jordan has even been one of the few players to cross over to the front of the camera, playing a fictional version of himself in the […]

Review: “Shazam: Fury of the Gods”

I’m in an optimistic mood, so let’s begin with something good: Shazam: Fury of the Gods improves on a major hang-up I had with its 2019 series-starter, Shazam! The film, a superhero origin story based on the DC comic, starred Asher Angel as Billy Batson, a troubled teen in the foster care system who is […]

Review: “Creed III”

Can the Creed series survive without Rocky? That question was batted around by some in the wake of the announcement that the character originated by Sylvester Stallone in the Oscar-winning 1976 franchise-starter Rocky, who he reprised in numerous sequels and in Creed and Creed II, the latter of which garnered him a Best Supporting Actor […]