All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

It (2017) Movie Review

The term beloved may be an understatement when it comes to Stephen King’s It. The iconic image of Pennywise is a staple of the horror genre, mostly due to Tim Curry’s performance of the character in the 1990 TV movie version of King’s tome of a novel.

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Andy Muschietti, director of the tepid Mama, returns to the horror genre with the 2017 adaptation of It. The film replaces Curry with Swedish actor Bill Skarsgard, whose delightful campy performance rivals Curry’s adequately.

Without needless comparison—such a rabbit hole would siphon any light out of a critical interpretation—Muschietti’s It is a genre film that largely works through convention while trying to Continue reading It (2017) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Oedipus Rex (1967) Movie Review

We first see Jocasta (Silvana Mangano) giving birth to Oedipus, from afar as if we are voyeur’s looking in on a sex act (a fitting introduction given the Freudian psychological product of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex). Next, we see her in a pleasing closeup. As her baby nurses from her, her smiling face recedes into a blank look that borders on concern, before her delight returns. Only, this delight seems lessened. Her face looks as though she has seen something, an omen of some kind.

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Of course, the dramatic irony inherent in this opening is intentional. Director Pier Paolo Pasolini imbues the tonal undercurrent of the film with Continue reading Oedipus Rex (1967) Movie Review →

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Valley of Shadows (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017)

Like Andrey Zvyaginstev’s Loveless, which also had a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen’s Valley of Shadows is a bleak-looking and picturesque look at a small boy lost in the woods. Both use imagery of isolated forests to setup its ominous, gloomy case. With Loveless, it is barren trees hanging dead over a creek.

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In the case of Valley of Shadows, it is a massive green forest flowing against the wind like waves waiting to crash down on the two kids who look on in curiosity over the Continue reading Valley of Shadows (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017) →

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Stronger (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017)

The Boston Marathon bombing occurred a mere four years ago, and we already have two major feature films that depict the attack. This makes sense, as the story has an inherent emotional core to it, a strength and determination of a city that is inspiring. But where Peter Berg’s Patriots Day takes this emotional core and uses it to an end that is more akin to a thriller than a historical drama, Stronger takes a more sensitive approach.

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David Gordon Green, a director who is adept at transitioning between comedic and dramatic projects, takes on in Stronger the story of Continue reading Stronger (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017) →

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Trouble Every Day (2001) Movie Review

This review of Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Trouble Every Day, the cannibal love story from Claire Denis, has perhaps the quietest opening to a film about cannibals ever. Core (Beatrice Dalle) is picked up on the side of the road by a truck driver, her grateful face soon fading into a fearful desire as she looks at him. We then cut to a man, Leo (Alex Descas), coming across the body of the driver in a field. He sees Core, crouched in fetal position in the underbrush with blood smeared across her mouth, and approaches her. They embrace silently.

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And this film belongs to the same movement as Irreversible and High Tension. Who knew?

Trouble Every Day is depicted as a story of Continue reading Trouble Every Day (2001) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Short Films

Great Choice (2017) Short Film Review (TIFF 2017)

The IMDb summary of Robin Comisar’s latest short film reads simply: “A woman gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial.” At the the recent Toronto International Film Festival screening of the short, aired prior to the world premiere of Brian Taylor’s Mom and Dad, Comisar commented that Red Lobster is not too happy about his film.

Intriguing enough. What is Great Choice all about?

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Well, to speak a word is to divulge a spoiler, so I will be brief. Comisar’s seven minute film is a VHS-homage commercial about a shrimp deal at Red Lobster. Then, it is a Continue reading Great Choice (2017) Short Film Review (TIFF 2017) →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Mom and Dad (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017)

Mom and Dad is the new exploitation horror-thriller from Brian Taylor, one half of the Crank directorial duo Neveldine & Taylor. Disturbing, crude, and humorous, this gory flick is vying to become a new staple of midnight movie rotations.

Mom and Dad takes place in a world in which a strange virus (seemingly transmitted through electronic devices) causes parents to brutally Continue reading Mom and Dad (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017) →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Accattone (1961) Movie Review

“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'”

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Accattone, the directorial debut of Pier Paolo Pasolini, has been called the last film of Continue reading Accattone (1961) Movie Review →

Lists

Top 9 Best & Worst Movies of Summer 2017

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 Worst:

Baywatch

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The tongue-in-cheek TV series adaptation Baywatch just doesn’t feel Continue reading Top 9 Best & Worst Movies of Summer 2017 →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Little Evil (2017) Movie Review

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.

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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 →

One man. Thousands of movies.