It’s rare to find a remake of an international film that’s better than its original text, but this is what Olivia Wilde does with The Invite. The film adapts Cesc Gay’s The People Upstairs for an American audience, which was also remade in Italy, Switzerland, France, and South Korea. Wilde, along with screenwriters Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, elevates the original film’s
Read MoreThe Death of Robin Hood is a difficult pill to swallow. For most of us, the idea of Robin Hood evokes spectacle and adventure. He is the archery equivalent of King Arthur, supplying action, adventure, and a sense of nobleism. With a filmmaker like Michael Sarnoski, the director of Pig, one of the most sincere films about empathy, one might expect
Read MoreThe path from documentarian to fiction filmmaker isn’t as smooth as one thinks (see, as a recent example, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s Nyad), but Daniel Roher makes it look easy with the incredibly controlled Tuner. From winning an Academy Award in 2023 for his portrait of the late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny to making a documentary that attempts to
Read MoreCarolina Caroline is a good example of the type of film that knows the influences it’s built on and uses them to full advantage. Crime thrillers, both old and new, in one way or another, have deep roots in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, which revolutionized how we view the intertwining of sharply impactful thrills and biting commentary in American cinema. In
Read MoreJohn Carney can’t necessarily be described as “one-trick pony,” even if he makes virtually the same film over and over again. The Irish filmmaker has carved a niche in music-driven dramedies ever since 2007’s Once. That niche became mainstream following his best film, Sing Street, which is widely regarded as one of 2016’s best. If you think he’s run out of
Read MoreColleen Hoover has been on an upward trajectory in the realm of cinema. With It Ends With Us, Regretting You, and now Reminders of Him, the author turned screenwriter has shown a strong presence in theaters for three years straight. Reminders of Him is the first film adaptation to feature Hoover as a writer adapting her own work, and the film benefits from it,
Read MoreMother Mary is the latest of director David Lowery’s line of metaphorical surrealist experimentation within his filmography. Lowery’s previous films, such as The Green Knight and A Ghost Story, tapped into a far more fantasy-oriented surrealism than what’s explored within Mother Mary, but it makes for his most fascinating delve into this euphoric filmmaking style yet. Mother Mary plays with the
Read MoreIt is extremely difficult to talk about Kristoffer Borgli’s latest movie, The Drama, without mentioning the big twist that looms large regarding Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and Emma’s (Zendaya) union. What starts as a carefree, dynamic romantic comedy morphs into something else entirely… fifteen minutes after an opening montage that distills a picture-perfect marriage proposal between Charlie and Emma. The former is
Read MoreIn February 2025, Amazon gained full creative control of the James Bond franchise. Although audiences are still eagerly awaiting what Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve will do with the property in the eagerly awaited next film involving the character, actor Riz Ahmed‘s new Prime Video series Bait takes a different angle. It’s a sort of meta-commentary on the cultural weight of the role of James Bond. Bait sees Ahmed playing a British Pakistani actor
Read More
