Review: “Catching Bullets”

In 2019, St. Louis, Missouri experienced the highest per capital murder rate of any city in the United States, a sobering statistic whose resolution was made all the more pressing by the fact that 13 of those deaths recorded over that summer were children. Within the first three hours of 2020, the city had already […]

Review: “Together”

Almost everything about Together— the debut feature from writer and director Michael Shanks— is precise. The formal rigor of its lore-heavy script. The perfectly matched leads in Dave Franco and Allison Brie, long-term partners in real life playing long-term partners on screen. The exquisitely-rendered visual effects, which are just squirm-inducing enough to make the audience […]

Review: “Dead Lover”

Dead Lover isn’t shy about its status as a Frankenstein riff. In fact, it opens with a quote from Mary Shelley’s novel: “There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.” In the story, this line is delivered by the doctor Victor Frankenstein, as he ponders what force may be compelling […]

Review: “Videoheaven”

One of my most vivid childhood memories occurred in a video store: at the ripe age of eight, I fell to my knees in despair in the check-out line at my local Blockbuster in Ocala, Florida upon hearing that all the store’s copies of Return of the Jedi were checked out. Already dancing on pins […]

Review: “Superman” (2025)

Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman still inspires a sense of awe with each subsequent rewatch, nearly 50 years after its initial release. I can’t quite say why this hold true for me too, seeing as how I wasn’t even alive when it premiered. Maybe it’s Christopher Reeve’s impressive performance, and how he subtly alters his physicality […]

Review: “F1”

The racing sequences in F1 are slick and propulsive. That’s evident from the jump, when former F1 star and current fallen-from-grace-racer-for-hire Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) hops into his car at the 24 Hours of Daytona. The quick cuts and the cinematography (with several cameras positioned inside each car granting a first-hand perspective of the race), […]

Review: “28 Years Later”

Hope. That’s the element of Danny Boyle’s 2002 apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later that surprised me the most. Of course, a lot of my reaction can likely be credited to the fact that, despite its generally enthusiastic reception, it passed me by until I finally sought it out a couple months ago, and that […]

Review: “Sally”

Many things can be attributed to Sally Ride. She was the first American woman in space. She was also the youngest at the time of her initial flight in 1983. Before that, she served as the ground-based CapCom for the second and third space shuttle flights, and helped develop the shuttle’s robotic arm; after that, […]

Review: “Materialists”

It’s a scene straight out of every frothy romantic comedy you’ve seen before: attractive and successful New York City matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) glides into a party thrown for her by her work colleagues. It’s a swanky get-together, replete with balloons and cake and bubbly, celebrating the impending ninth marriage of a couple Lucy introduced. […]

Tribeca 2025: “Cuerpo Celeste”

Summer is a dream rendered in warm and hazy tones by writer and director Narya Ilic Garcia in her sophomore feature Cuerpo Celeste. It’s Chile circa 1990, and Celeste (Helen Mrugalski) is 15 years old. In a collage of scenes that deftly convey the slippery nature of that lazy, in-between time, Celeste spends the holidays […]