See cinema differently
Director: Joe Wright Stars: Haley Bennett, Peter Dinklage, Kelvin Harrison, Jr. Perhaps as an act of - ahem - atonement for his wretched Winston Churchill pic Darkest Hour, Joe Wright retreats to his comfort zone of romance, corsets and, all right, warfare for his latest venture; a musical adaptation of Erica Schimidt's Broadway telling of …
Once the mildly campy opening narration is out of the way, Kim Henkel's much-maligned 1995 effort Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation opens on an extreme close-up of it's heroine, Jenny (Renée Zellweger), applying cherry red lipstick. The waxy cosmetic appears thick and lurid - suggestive of the sickly experience we're about to encounter - …
Continue reading "What About… Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation"
Director: David Blue Garcia Stars: Elsie Fisher, Nell Hudson, Sarah Yarkin I'm a frequent Texas Chainsaw Massacre apologist, especially when it comes to some of the much-maligned remakes and sequels. I'm ring-fencing Tobe Hooper's original here. It's a visceral classic that might just be the ultimate horror film. It's so inimitable, in fact, that those who've tried …
Director: Steven Soderbergh Stars: Zoë Kravitz, Byron Bowers, Devin Ratray Pandemic or not, the work of Steven Soderbergh continues apace, whether his efforts achieve high profile distribution or not. Few even know that he put out a slick little caper flick starring Benecio del Toro and Don Cheadle last year. Where other auteurs lament or …
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi Stars: Kotone Furukawa, Katsuki Mori, Aoba Kawai Hot on the (w)heels of Ryusuku Hamguchi's crossover international success Drive My Car, the rising star of Japanese cinema presents a more modest but no less rich triptych. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is an anthology piece, comprising of three tales of love, misunderstanding and happenstance, all …
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen While not quite revolutionary in it's amalgamation of animation and documentary (we live in a world in which 2008's Waltz with Bashir - among others - exist), nevertheless, Jonas Poher Rasmussen's empathetic shout from the fringes rings as a necessary and beautifully crafted experiment with the possibilities of the form. The …
The mid '90s were a strange place for celluloid feminism, especially if you dipped your toes in the still-murkier waters of B-movie horror and sci-fi. Misogyny was still the main order of the day. And though some titles faired better than others at making their strong women smart and capable (hello Rachel Talalay's exuberant Tank …
Director: Fran Kranz Stars: Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, Reed Birney How do we talk about things too awful to talk about? What are the steps? How do we get there? Fran Kranz - an actor best known to this writer for jokey/sociopathic roles in the Whedonverse - makes his debut as a writer/director in sharp …
Director: Jeff Tremaine Stars: Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius, Eric André I have a wonderful group of friends. And it is a group. Couples. A few single stragglers now, after all these years. When we're together it's just comfortable. It's easy. They're The Best People. And for one reason or another - mostly one reason - …
Director: Michael Showalter Stars: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Vincent D'Onofrio With an approach to subtlety that makes House of Gucci look positively mannered, Michael Showalter's brash biopic of TV evangelist Tammy Faye flings itself toward The Academy like a monkey on a tyre swing. Jessica Chastain is Showalter's howling primate gurning for pennies. As she swoops …
The Lost Highway Hotel 