Director: Richard Shepard Stars: Logan Browning, Allison Williams, Steven Weber I've not been well this week, but with flashes of a renewed attention span, I have picked this title at random out of the trash bags of new content heaped onto Netflix on a weekly basis. The Perfection is a riotous misnomer for this scattershot … Continue reading Review: The Perfection
Director: Olivia Wilde Stars: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Billie Lourd Molly (Beanie Feldstein) is class president and has spent the entirety of her high school life devoted to academia. At the expense of popularity and at the expense of life experience. She has a bestie, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), who has walked much the same path. … Continue reading Review: Booksmart
Director: Claire Denis Stars: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Jessie Ross Robert Pattinson is the new Batman (*cough* best choice since Michael Keaton *cough*) and here he is in a new sci-fi film. Are his days in the wilds doing small pictures for indie darlings a thing of the past? Fuck no, they're not. High Life is … Continue reading Review: High Life
This will be an unashamedly personal post. I hope you forgive the indulgence. This week I saw Hirokazu Kore-Eda's After Life in the cinema. This was a semi-big deal for me. Ever since catching Kore-Eda's adorable 2015 feature Our Little Sister on streaming service MUBI some years ago, I have been catching up on the … Continue reading After Life: What Would You Choose?
Director: Chad Stahleski Stars: Keanu Reeves, Asia Kate Dillon, Ian McShane Last time we saw John Wick (Keanu Reeves) things weren't looking good for the ruthlessly efficient assassin. Having broken the sacred contract of sanctuary at The Continental Hotel in New York, Wick was deemed 'excommunicado' by its manager Winston (Ian McShane) who, out of … Continue reading Review: John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum
Directors: Alan Elliott, Sydney Pollack Stars: Aretha Franklin, Reverend James Cleveland, Clara Ward In Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining there is a scene in which Scatman Crothers' hotel employee Dick Halloran talks to young Danny Torrance about his incredible psychic gift. In order to put it into words that the boy can understand, he likens … Continue reading Review: Amazing Grace
Director: Wanuri Kahiu Stars: Samantha Mugatsia, Sheila Munyiva, Nice Ginthinji Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu's second feature film is, in many ways, a very traditional romance picture. So traditional that, for a majority of its running time, it bares close comparison to Romeo and Juliet. Two young lovers are irresistibly drawn to one another with that … Continue reading Review: Rafiki
Director: Benedikt Erlingsson Stars: Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Jóhann Sigurðarson, Juan Camillo Roman Estrada One of the more problematic questions that gets asked of career-driven and/or successful women in interviews is 'how do you balance your work life with your home life?'; the problem being that this question is almost never directed at a man. It's evergreen sexism. But … Continue reading Review: Woman At War
Director: Rob Letterman Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Ken Watanabe Let's start with an admission that should put a lot of this review in a certain shade: I've never gotten myself involved in Pokémon before at all. I've never watched the anime. I've not played the video games. I've not collected the cards. Elements of … Continue reading Review: Detective Pikachu
Director: Josephine Decker Stars: Helena Howard, Molly Parker, Miranda July Here's the first thing, and its an important one; this isn't so much an indie darling as it is an art house film posing as one. Madeline's Madeline has courted praise in highbrow quarters, and the aura that has been extended is of something perhaps far … Continue reading Review: Madeline’s Madeline
Director: Joe Berlinger Stars: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario You go through dating apps (don't judge me), and a surprising number of people will list "watching serial killer documentaries" among their hobbies. We're fascinated. We can't help ourselves and we're very open about it. What motivates these murderers? What creates or changes them? Where … Continue reading Review: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile
Director: Brady Corbet Stars: Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin At the age of thirteen, Celeste is injured in a high school shooting. A bullet pierces her neck and remains lodged against a vertebrae. Appearing at a vigil for the dead, she performs a song co-written with her sister Ellie (Stacy Martin). The song goes … Continue reading Review: Vox Lux
