Every time I sit down to watch a movie, I do so with hope for two things. The first is that the film will make me feel. The second is that it will entertain me. By those two metrics alone, Avatar: Fire and Ash is a resplendent success that wildly exceeded my expectations.
Now, I fully recognize that just as all art is subjective, so is feeling. While a film about a family of giant blue people might move me,…
Am I the only one that feels privileged to see something bursting with this much unapologetic sci-fi creativity on a big screen?
Predator: Badlands is a gorgeous, breakneck (quite literally) exercise in genre filmmaking. The creature designs, faithfulness to world-building and immersion, and clever action choreography make it a genuine joy to behold in a theatrical format. It's a pretty remarkable feat to center a feature like this on a non-human character. It's another to do so in such a…
There is something very specifically nostalgic about studio comedies from the 2000s. With Netflix and fellow streamers producing most of the modern spin-offs of such features, these ridiculously silly, oft offensive farces feel like raunchy relics from a bygone era.
Despite having an affinity for these films when they were at their peak popularity, I never watched Strange Wilderness. This is doubly surprising considering how much I love Steve Zahn being Steve Zahn in things.
Having seen it, it's easy…
It's been a minute since I watched something properly spooky. Leave it to the force behind the superlative Oddity to pull that off. Just like that film, Hokum trades in moody, unsettling atmosphere laced with trauma and nightmare fuel with a touch of dark humor sprinkled in. Also like that film, I was left wanting more from the mythological web it spins. Unlike that film, this isn't as original or haunting. It does, however, undoubtedly justify itself and has me intrigued to see what twisted vision he'll share next.
Notes:
- Adam Scott ably plays one of the most unlikable protagonists of all-time.
You've heard of Midsommar...
Now get ready for Sommar of Mid
"You've given me the courage to live."
To me, the most remarkable thing about The Secret World of Arrietty is how delicately it conveys how daunting the world can seem when you begin to take your first steps into adulthood. In it's gorgeously-realized way, Arrietty offers the best kind of kindhearted cinematic reassurance to this overwhelming feeling: one that softly soothes and encourages as well as it resonates. As with Studio Ghibli's best, it achieves its moving catharsis in ways…
