Directorial choices can undoubtedly hamper a film, and no motion picture released this year proves this inextricable fact more than Paul Greengrass’ The Uprising. The film is allegedly a prequel to the legend of Robin Hood, but not really. The marketing desperately tried to convey that this was a thrilling reinterpretation of the archetypal story, but Greengrass’ style proves unsuitable for
Read MoreWithin the first second of Josef Kubota Wladyka’s Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, the American filmmaker of Polish and Japanese descent immediately grabs our attention with large (and maximalist) title cards that announce a boisterous theatrical event. Divided into six chapters (plus an epilogue), Wladyka follows a Japanese dancer named Haru (Rinko Kikuchi), who competes in ballroom competitions with her boyfriend Luis (Alejandro Edda). A story
Read MoreIf you weren’t satiated with Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (a masterpiece), Aardman has got the big-screen cure for you with Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. This lighthearted, enjoyable family fare is highly stimulating for young viewers and smart enough for grown-ups. It’s the kind of sophisticated entertainment only a stop-motion-driven animated studio can pull off
Read MoreAfter Marvel Studios fumbled the production of Bassam Tariq’s vision for Blade with Mahershala Ali, the director and actor both left the long-gestating MCU project to do Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. The action movie then used Ali’s training for Eric Brooks to instead put him in a tormented character study about a single Muslim father trying to do right
Read MoreThe metaphor is heard loud and clear in Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, this year’s Palme d’Or-winning picture, as the evangelical, conservative Gheorghiu family moves into a highly progressive (and liberal) neighborhood in Norway. If you didn’t click it because you didn’t meet Mungiu’s latest at its terms, it’s an apt parallel for the return of conservatism, which has become more prominent around
Read MoreThere isn’t a better way to open the 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival than with a special screening of Na Hong-jin’s Hope. This is the South Korean genre artist’s first feature in ten years, following the masterful The Wailing in 2016. It’s been a while, which made the prospect of a Cannes premiere all the more special for
Read MoreAfter an incredible feature directorial debut with The Inspection, Elegance Bratton returns with a more politically charged drama by recounting the unlikely alliance between the FBI and the mob in By Any Means. While this partnership has never been officially confirmed by the bureau, historical records indicate that the agency hired notorious mob enforcer Gregory Scarpa Sr. (Mark Wahlberg) to perform
Read MoreWhat you need to know about Macon Blair’s Idiots is simple: this movie is very dumb. The film follows two idiots, Mark (Dave Franco) and Davis (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), as they are tasked with a very simple assignment: transport a troubled teenager to a rehabilitation facility. The two individuals recently lost their respective jobs and have now found a gig that
Read MoreA scholar of the Cannon Group, French genre auteur Jean-François Richet is no stranger to big, goofy actioners. His last movie, Plane, was mocked for its title but lauded as an effective and downright nasty vehicle that would’ve made a killing if it had been released in the 1980s and starred Chuck Norris instead of Gerard Butler. Richet has now reached
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