Review: “Strawberry Mansion”

“I just wanted someone to share my dreams with.” That statement carries a different weight in a future where our dreams aren’t really our own. It is said by Bella (Penny Fuller) to James Preble (Kentucker Audley), the auditor sent to the elderly woman’s home to assess her dreams for unpaid taxes. The year is […]

Review: ”Death on the Nile” (2022)

“Death on the Nile,” director Kenneth Branagh’s follow-up to his 2017 Agatha Christie adaptation “Murder on the Orient Express,” is a top contender for the title of most cursed film in recent memory. Production problems delayed its initial December 2019 release date to 2020, by which time the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, prompting […]

Review: ”Drive My Car”

By the time the title and opening credits of “Drive My Car” drop approximately 45 minutes into its three hour runtime, it already feels like we’ve experienced a complete mini movie. But the embarrassment of riches that director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film, based on the short story by Haruki Murakami, contains are yet to unveil themselves. […]

Review: “Red Rocket”

Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) has just returned to his small Gulf Coast Texas hometown, and before we are actually told anything about him, we can discern a lot just from his face and his surroundings as he sleeps on the bus, the NSYNC pop classic “Bye Bye Bye,” which ends up serving as a sort […]

Review: “Moonfall”

There’s a sense of old-fashioned, corny blockbuster fun inherent in most Hollywood disaster movies. Gather up a vast ensemble cast of B-list actors sprinkled with a couple A’s here and there for good measure and throw them in a ridiculous narrative that places them—and the world—in mortal danger, and it’s hard to go wrong, even […]

Streaming Movie Reviews

This January was a typically slow one for theatrical releases, but for those hunkering down at home, there’s no shortage of movies to check out on streaming services- and some of them are actually pretty good! I’m highlighting five recent releases you can watch at home now below, from George Clooney’s latest directorial effort to […]

Sundance Review: “Emily the Criminal”

Many millennials are in financial crisis. Overwhelming student loans, low-paying jobs and unpaid internships that don’t allow you to progress anywhere—it’s a crutch that affects the lifestyles of many, including Emily (Aubrey Plaza). At the start of director John Patton Ford’s thriller “Emily the Criminal,” we see Emily on a job interview, where a bit […]

Sundance Review: “After Yang”

“After Yang” doesn’t look or feel the way most science fiction films do when we think about the hallmarks of that genre. Its environments are warm and organic, not sleek and cold. Visible futuristic technology is replaced by natural touches like plants, and the film’s main character, Jake (Colin Farrell) runs a tea shop. And […]

Sundance Review: “Fresh”

Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is around halfway through her first date with Steve (Sebastian Stan) when she tells him that she hates “this”—“this” meaning dating. “FRESH” opens with a portrait of just how Noa’s love life is going, and it isn’t going well. She aimlessly swipes through dating apps, and a date she goes on with […]

Review: “Parallel Mothers”

In the maternity ward of a Madrid hospital, two women are about to give birth. Janis Martinez (Penélope Cruz) is an acclaimed photographer approaching 40. She had an affair with Arturo (Israel Elejalde), the archaeologist assisting her with the excavation of a mass grave in her home town, where her great-grandfather and many other residents […]