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(01/25/22 5:01am)
“What’s your favorite scary movie?” asks the iconic question from the original "Scream" (1996), which is answered by itself; the satirical horror classic has become a staple in the genre, kickstarting the popularity of meta-horror comedy. "Scream" is not just a good movie but a bloody love letter to horror as a genre. No other horror satire had hit quite the same as the first "Scream" movie and, despite the newest installment's heavy-handed attempt, no other movie has since. "Scream" (2022), directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, is marketed as an ode to Wes Craven. While the majority of the film is genuinely fun and scary (really milking its R rating for all it’s worth), it is hard to talk about without first discussing the problem within the movie’s very core. As ironic as it sounds when talking about this movie in particular (especially within the larger franchise’s canon), this newest "Scream" remake is too focused on being its predecessor. It is obsessed with telling its audience over and over again, through visuals and dialogue and references and character names, that this movie is meta enough to contend with the original.
(01/21/22 7:01am)
Joel Coen’s "The Tragedy of Macbeth" (2021) — a modern cinemascape of the iconic Scottish Shakespearean tragedy — is told in vivid pools of light and sharp-edged voids of shadow. Every point within and throughout the film opposes all other points; it is so expansive and amorphous and yet full of clean cut lines and sharp pointed corners. “Macbeth,” which follows the titular newly appointed Thane of Cawdor as he loses himself to his hunger for power, has been released in theaters and is available to stream through Apple TV Plus. The iconic story has had countless adaptations across film and theater, and here Coen and his team blend those two mediums to create a unique and singular atmosphere which shrouds the story in visual markers that match the emotion and madness central to the story.
(12/03/21 5:03am)
Sean Baker, king of the beautifully mundane, returns to the silver screen following his hit "The Florida Project" (2017) with "Red Rocket" (2021), a raunchy, fun, balls-to-the-wall joyride on a one-speed bike. It tells the tale of porn star Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) as he returns to his old hometown and reunites with his ex and her mom following a stint of hard times (or, as Variety more aptly puts it, limp times.) As he tries to look for work, an effort thwarted by his narcissistic tendencies, he meets 17-year-old Raylee “Strawberry,” and he falls head-over-heels on a mission to use her as a way to get back to his life of acclaim. The film becomes an odd sort of character study which examines an unlikeable narcissist who, while obnoxious and off-putting, begs you (over and over) to love him.
(11/10/21 5:03am)
Content warning: This article mentions familial abuse.
(10/15/21 4:03am)
Content warning: This review contains spoilers and mentions death and grief.
(10/12/21 4:05am)
"Mayday" (2021), director Karen Cinnore’s dreamy new steampunked-up feminist escapist fantasy, follows main character Ana (Grace Van Patten) as she stumbles into a chaotic world of female rebellion and redemption. While the film creates an alternate land to which our protagonist can run (or swim), one that is clearly meant to empower and strengthen the protagonist, the film is somehow hollow at its core, as themes of power and control corrupt the freedom, connection, unity and escapism it is trying so hard to portray. While largely entertaining and emotive, the film undermines its message for the sake of plot and narrative foils, a move which greatly wounds the final production.
(04/14/21 6:05am)
"Shiva Baby" (2020), the feature directorial debut from 26-year-old Canadian Jewish filmmaker Emma Seligman, is a stressful and chaotic film that has finally been released to video on demand. The film follows Danielle (Rachel Sennott), a jaded college student on the cusp of graduation, as she navigates a shiva (a Jewish tradition that takes place after a burial for mourners to reminisce and eat good food) surrounded by her parents, her sugar daddy, her sugar daddy’s (surprise) wife and newborn baby, her ex-girlfriend and a whole host of inquisitive middle-aged acquaintances. It is a claustrophobic, high-octave panic attack of a movie that is as visceral as it is awkward.
(02/10/21 6:01am)
Every year, the Sundance Institute holds the Sundance Film Festival in Utah — every year, that is, until 2021. Amidst the host of annual in-person events that had to adapt to COVID-19 circumstances, Sundance screened almost completely virtually this year. While regular fest-goers and journalists were disappointed at the loss of the iconic destination and its atmosphere of shared excitement and cinematic joy, this switch to a virtual platform opened the festival up to a wider audience for the 2021 films. Movie lovers and those in the film and journalism industries alike were able to view the screenings this year.
(12/08/20 6:01am)
“Possessor” (2020), the new psychological horror film from legacy filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg, is an overwhelming maelstrom of color and sound that excites and intrigues as much as it horrifies. The film, which debuted in theaters in October, has recently, at long last for horror and film lovers, become available to rent and buy at home. Cronenberg, whose father has long reigned asthe bloody king of horror, shines as director with this likewise bloody, visceral, high-concept science fiction story.
(10/15/20 5:01am)
“The Haunting of Bly Manor” (2020), the second installment in director Mike Flanagan’s ever-growing anthology of adapted gothic literature, has, at long last, dropped on Netflix. The show is a ghostly re-telling of Henry James’snovella "The Turn of the Screw" (1898), here taking place in England in the 1980s. The show tells the story of a haunted governess, who cares for two tragically haunted kids within the haunted grounds of Bly Manor. With a tight cast of compelling characters, a gripping plot and a grand, labyrinthine mansion, the series is a lofty, ghastly tale of sadness and woe.
(09/30/20 5:02am)
With the temporary closure of in-person theaters, Netflix has released a slew of original content over the past few (endless) months: most recently, Antonio Campos’ thriller “The Devil All the Time" (2020). The film, which stars big-name actors Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska and Bill Skarsgård, travels throughout space and time as it tells an intertwining ballad of unholy human evils. With each story comes tales of woe, death, terror, religious ecstasy and, above all, sin. The stories are all connected, and throughout the film the overarching narrator, voiced by the source novel’s author Donald Ray Pollock, comments on each one, giving intimate insight into the connections and characters. While the film is effective at portraying sin, it falls flat in its attempts to delve into the psyche and meaning within each sinful act. Despite the aching depictions of hopelessness and melancholy, the heavy-handedness of the theme detracts from the film’s message and its attempts at philosophical introspection.
(10/08/19 5:17am)
(09/24/19 5:00am)