“How do you want your funeral?”
“With my friends laughing, and if anybody cries, he pays for the drinks.”
“And on your stone?”
“‘Try it yourself'”
Accattone, the directorial debut of Pier Paolo Pasolini, has been called the last film of Continue reading Accattone (1961) Movie Review
With a whimper, we leave Summer 2017 behind. After a dismal August at the box office, we are prepared to move into the Fall movie season.
This said, let’s dwell on the recent past for a bit longer and take a look at the best and worst films of the Summer, ordered chronologically by release date.
The tongue-in-cheek TV series adaptation Baywatch just doesn’t feel Continue reading Top 9 Best & Worst Movies of Summer 2017
Eli Craig is no stranger to horror movie conventions. As director and co-writer, he skewered them in the cult hit Tucker and Dale vs Evil. The film took the Friday the 13th vein of slasher movies and turned it squarely on its head, to a riotous (if not one-note) comedic result.
With his sophomore feature film effort, Little Evil, Craig takes on the demon child subgenre, using the framework of The Omen to craft his horror comedy.
The short-form review of Little Evil is that it does not Continue reading Little Evil (2017) Movie Review
In Death Note, the Netflix original film based on the anime and manga of the same name, Light Turner (Nat Wolff) stumbles upon a book that carries with it enormous power. Write someone’s name in the Death Note while picturing their face, and they will die.
Light and new love interest Mia (Margaret Qualley) use the book to Continue reading Death Note (2017) Movie Review
This review of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s Inside is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.
Inside begins, as its title suggests, in utero, with the image of a fetus that is about to be ruptured by an unseen car wreck. Four months later, the survivors Sarah (Alysson Paradis) and her unborn child are ready for the impending birth. It is Christmas Eve, and the newly widowed Sarah is despondent about the prospect of her first baby.
An understandable apathy, to be certain. The cruelty of having one of the Continue reading Inside (2007) Movie Review
Patricia Dombrowski (Danielle Macdonald) is a 23 year old woman who lives with her mother (Bridget Everett) and grandmother (Cathy Moriarty) in suburban New Jersey. She works as a bartender, but that is not enough to make ends meet with her grandmother’s medical bills and her mother out of work. She has dreams of leaving this rundown life behind her and moving to New York to pursue her rap career.
Her boyfriend Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay) pushes her to this end, goading her into Continue reading Patti Cakes (2017) Movie Review
Good Time opens on a brutal scene in which the mentally handicapped Nick (Benny Safdie, who also co-directs) free associates with a psychiatrist. It is a scene told entirely in tight closeups. Nick stares on at the therapist, at first emptily as he struggles to answer the questions in abstract ways. Then, his still blank face breaks into tears. It is a truly engaging scene that effectively draws you into the film.
In this scene, it is not immediately clear where Nick is or why he is there. All we have is the claustrophobic moment of Continue reading Good Time (2017) Movie Review
Birth of the Dragon is a biopic of legendary martial arts and action film star Bruce Lee (portrayed here by Philip Ng). It tells the story of his rise to prominence in the Western world, and the confrontation between him and martial arts master Wong Jack Man (Xia Yu).
Except, Birth of the Dragon really wants to focus on Continue reading Birth of the Dragon (2017) Movie Review
For the sake of maintaining the integrity of the Brigsby Bear story (penned by Kevin Costello and star Kyle Mooney) it is difficult to go into a review without a spoiler alert. This is namely because there is a story twist inherent in the premise of the film.
Given that marketing of the movie has not been too widespread, I think it is best to throw out a spoiler warning just to be safe, even though this review will only get into a basic summary of the film’s premise.
James Pope (Mooney) is obsessed with Continue reading Brigsby Bear (2017) Movie Review
Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is a bodyguard. Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) is a hitman. The bodyguard must bodyguard the hitman. Hilarity ensues.
Except, not too much hilarity. Some hilarity. Well, maybe hilarity isn’t the word. There are some chuckles.
But mostly the film is heavy on the Continue reading The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) Movie Review
CineFiles Movie Reviews 