Sundance Journal: ‘Raw’
Trailers and ads have made ‘Raw’ look like a pure gross-out fest that relies on shock value for shares, entertainment or memorability, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth with this French/Belgian film.
Trailers and ads have made ‘Raw’ look like a pure gross-out fest that relies on shock value for shares, entertainment or memorability, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth with this French/Belgian film.
I’m quite cynical about Hollywood insider films (including Oscar front-runner ‘La La Land’). The joke used to be that if you wanted to make a film that was certain to get accolades, it had to be about the Holocau...
One of the many perks to attending a big film festival is the chance to see foreign films that offer insight to an aspect of the world that you may never otherwise know exists. By introducing us to the surprisingly lax prison syst...
Some years, two movies about the same subject inexplicably compete for viewers’ attention. You know, like ‘Volcano’ vs. ‘Dante’s Peak’ or ‘Armageddon’ vs. ‘Deep Impact’. ...
Werner Herzog is a brilliant filmmaker when his unique imagination matches up with the right material. Given that the guy tends to make movies even faster and in greater numbers than Woody Allen, that means that his talents syncin...
Ana Lily Amirpour had a striking directorial debut with the black-and-white Iranian vampire Western ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night‘. Clearly a filmmaker of great talent and imagination, she’s returned this yea...
In many ways ‘Voyage of Time’ is the movie that Terrence Malick has been building toward over the last decade of his career. It’s purely a collection of extraordinary nature imagery chronicling the history of the...
When you see a pregnant woman, the first thoughts that come to mind are typically friendly and lovely. That’s exactly what writer/director/star Alice Lowe is hoping for in ‘Prevenge’. It’s not the message o...
Last TIFF, Osgood Perkins made his directorial debut with the chilly and arty horror yarn ‘February‘ (subsequently retitled ‘The Blackcoat’s Daughter’). The film wasn’t perfect, but it showed th...
Even as a crusty cynic, it was remarkably difficult to shake off the charms of ‘La La Land’. A mixture of homage to the oldest and corniest of Hollywood musicals as well as a modern parable about the perils of chasing ...
When some movies end, the only rational response is to wonder what the hell you just watched. ‘Dog Eat Dog’ is one of those movies. This bizarre romp from Paul Schrader is a dumpster fire of bad taste and competing ton...
Sometimes a movie that’s actually kind of good is even more irritating to watch than a total failure. ‘Catfight’ is a little indie with some great ideas, a hell of a cast, and even a number of fantastic sequences...