Tag: New Release
‘DogMan’ Film Review: A Preposterous and Unimaginative Waste
Luc Besson has always been a frustrating filmmaker. His early French films, 1985’s Subway, !988’s The Big Blue, and 1990’s La Femme Nikita showed a director who could combine interesting stories with inventive craftsmanship. Those works combined deep characterizations and
‘The Listener’ Film Review: A Riveting Tessa Thompson Chats With a Fractured Society
In 1988, Oliver Stone released his undervalued adaptation of Eric Bogosian’s one man show, Talk Radio. Both the play and Stone’s film were commentaries on the broken America of the time, each one using the voices of varied phone callers
‘Exhuma’ Film Review: A Studied and Intelligent Korean Horror Tale
Writer-director Jang Jae-hyun obtained a funeral director’s license to ensure his latest work, Exhuma, properly portrayed the intricacies of the burial process, while concurrently ensuring an accurate portrayal of shamanism in Korean culture. With his 2015 feature length debut The
‘Late Night With the Devil’ Film Review: A Retro Horror Thrill Ride
If one is going to make a retro-styled motion picture about the devil manifesting itself on a late-night talk show, the filmmakers had better lean into it and make good on such a premise. With the devilishly entertaining new release,
“Road House’ Film Review: An 80s Classic is Defamed
Immediately setting a bland and unoriginal tone in only its first five minutes, the new Amazon release, Road House, is an insipid remake of Rowdy Harrington’s 1989 cult classic. Former good director Doug Liman seems to have set out to
‘Palm Royale’ Series Review: Good Cast Drowns in Gaudy Excess
The new Apple TV + series, Palm Royale, has a visual style so sunny and candy-colored gaudy that it makes the recent Barbie movie look like David Lynch’s Eraserhead. The show captures the garish clothes, jewelry, and furniture of 1969
‘Manhunt’ Miniseries Review: A Dark History Well Told
The dramatically intriguing new Apple TV+ miniseries Manhunt, is a smart and well done parallel of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and murderer John Wilkes Booth in the aftermath of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Stanton is steadfast in his desire
‘Wicked Little Letters’ Film Review: A Wicked Little British Tale
Thea Sharrock’s Wicked Little Letters is an occasionally uneven yet engrossing picture anchored by a marvelous cast. Written by Jonny Sweet, this is a piece that gives vulgar fire to a style of film that is known for being gentle
‘Monster’ Film Review: A Profound Work From a Modern Master
Society has long had a complicated relationship with the truth. In these times of undisguised deception, the world (especially America) now lives in a time where what actually happens means less than how it is presented. The way we think,
‘Born to Fly’ Film Review: Thrilling Fun Above the China Skies
While there are similarities, comparing director Xiaoshi Liu’s Born to Fly (Chang Kong zhi wang) to Tony Scott’s 1986 box office hit Top Gun is unfair. Scott’s film featured cartoonishly phony characters tripping over insipid dialogue while the filmmaker tried