Tag: Social Commentary
Mickey 17 is Thematically Ambitious to a Fault, but Still Entertains
Writer/director Bong Joon Ho vaulted into the mainstream consciousness with the success of 2019’s Parasite, winner of four Academy awards including Best Picture, the first international feature to do so. With that momentum in mind, his return to…
Read More »The Monkey’s Overreliance Humor Undercuts It’s Potential
Fresh off of last year’s sleeper horror hit <i>Longlegs</i>, writer/director Osgood Perkins’s quickly returns to the big screen with an adaptation of a short story from legendary author Stephen King. In <i>The Monkey</i>, twin brothers Hal and Bill,…
Read More »Pamela Anderson Shines in The Last Showgirl (Middleburg Film Festival)
The passage of time, particularly for women, has been a theme in 2024’s film slate and the movies that explore this have been buoyed by notable performances from star actress past who have moved onto their latter life…
Read More »Nickel Boys is Impeccably Crafted and Emotional
Nickel Boys tells the story of Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), a young man in Florida who dreams of going to technical school while being raised by his grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis). His dreams are shattered after accepting a…
Read More »The Substance Uses the Grotesque to Question Our Vanity
Human beings have long pondered their vitality and how to deal with aging. This goes doubly so for women due to the pressures they face to remain physically attractive for as long as possible, with their worth often…
Read More »Nicole Kidman Shines in Babygirl’s Tale of Power and Vulnerability
The erotic thriller has been a critically endangered species in modern cinema, with the once prolific genre almost completely disappearing from movie theaters. Writer/director Halina Reijn is looking to change this with her latest effort. Babygirl introduces us…
Read More »Wicked Mostly Hits Its Marks
Following decades of popularity after its Broadway debut, the stage play Wicked, based on a 1995 novel, is finally making its way to the big screen courtesy of Crazy Rich Asians director John M. Chu. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo)…
Read More »The Order is Topical but a Bit By The Numbers (Middleburg Film Festival)
Real life events are used to power a new crime thriller hitting cineplexes. Based on the 1989 book entitled The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, The Order places us alongside FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) who after…
Read More »Nightbitch is an Entertaining, Revelatory Exploration of the Pressures of Motherhood (Middleburg Film Festival)
Following lots of hype surrounding Rachel Yoder’s 2021 novel coming to the big screen and the potential of a performance from Amy Adams finally garnering her an Oscar, the trailer for Marielle Heller’s new film Nightbitch deflated a…
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Magazine Dreams: A Fitting Portrait of Male Fragility and Redemption (Sundance Film Festival)
Jonathan Majors was on the cusp of stardom and seemed headed for his first Oscar nomination before an incident in the streets of New York City made his persona non grata in mainstream film circles, cost him his Marvel Cinematic…
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