Review: “Snow White” (2025)

I’ve done this song and dance before. I could be lazy and simply refer you to my review of Disney’s 2023 live-action update of their 1989 animated classic The Little Mermaid in lieu of writing an entirely new piece on the studio’s remake of their original princess picture, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as […]

Review: “Black Bag”

It wasn’t until a little over three years ago that I saw Out of Sight for the first time, at a rep screening at a local cinema running a Steven Soderbergh series. I remember walking out of the theater into the chilly night air, dazzled by what I’d just seen. Soderbergh’s 1998 crime flick may […]

Review: “Mickey 17”

In Martin Ritt’s 1979 film Norma Rae, Sally Field’s titular character is spurred to unionize the cotton mill where she works after hearing a speech by Reuben Warshowsky (Ron Leibman), a union organizer from New York City who states that, “your average working man is not stupid. He just gets tired.” In Bong Joon-ho’s earnest […]

True/False 2025: “Seeds,” “Deaf President Now!,” “The Track”

Inspiring stories make great fodder for documentaries, and such is the case with the following three films that screened at the 2025 True/False Film Festival: Seeds, a gorgeous and moving portrait of Black farmers in the American South, and Deaf President Now!, a rousing tale of student protest told through a bounty of archival footage, […]

True/False 2025: “The Wolves Always Come at Night,” “The Silence of My Hands,” “Make It Look Real”

Image are an integral part of any movie, but particularly the following three films that screened at the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri this past week. The Wolves Always Come at Night blends documentary with fiction to craft a haunting and contemplative portrait of a Mongolian family’s past and present lives. The Silence of […]

True/False 2025: “Wishing on a Star”

It’s like something out of a fairytale: the tall tower of a rustic Italian castle framed against a sunny sky. Suddenly, a chair flies out of an open window, crashing to the ground below. Other objects follow: more chairs, and other bits of furniture and knickknacks. Accented by a breezy, horn-driven score, this opening sequence […]

True/False 2025: “Writing Hawa,” “Requiem for a Tribe,” “A Want in Her”

Among the many reasons why the True/False Film Festival, Columbia, Missouri’s annual celebration of the documentary form, is my favorite festival to attend is that it highlights fresh (and frequently side-lined) perspectives. The three films I’ve written about below— Writing Hawa, Requiem for a Tribe, and A Want in Her— all swirl around topics of […]

True/False 2025: “How Deep is Your Love”

It’s funny that so many people are fascinated— perhaps even obsessed— with the notion of looking to the stars to locate life beyond Earth, when 70 percent of our planet is covered with water, the majority of which remains untouched and unseen by humans. That may not be the case for long, however: the alien-like […]