A copycat of Copycat. And Hitchcock.
The Woman in The Window
August 1, 2021 by
Film Title
The Woman In The WindowSynopsis
An agoraphobic New York woman spies on her neighbors
Director
Joe WrightCast
Amy Adams
Gary Oldman
Fred Hechinger
Julianne Moore
Anthony Mackie
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Psycho
March 17, 2021 by
Film Title
PsychoSynopsis
Never be taking a shower during a knife fight
Director
Alfred HitchcockCast
Anthony Perkins
Janet Leigh
John Gavin
Vera Miles
Martin Balsam
An early—perhaps, only—highlight in Resident Evil: Code Veronica features a palace sitting below a private residence atop a hill on a southern ocean island facility overrun by the bioengineered monstrosities it helped create. That gothic castle looms in the background, and as you, the player, forge an eventual path toward the perched building, the eerie […]
Goodfellas
February 14, 2021 by
Film Title
GoodfellasSynopsis
The Godfather of all gangster movies
Director
Martin ScorseseCast
Ray Liotta
Joe Pesci
Robert De Niro
Lorraine Bracco
Paul Sorvino
Frank Vincent
Frank Sivero
I recently watched Goodfellas for the third…and final time, not because I intend to retire to eremitism, join a cult or end my life soon, but—to see how it held up. Seeing it first in 2004 while a twenty-year-old, English-as-a-second language twit enamored with mob flicks centered around New Yawk, big-city, third-world, streetwise culture; and, […]
Tenet (2020)
January 2, 2021 by
Film Title
TenetSynopsis
The word “tenet” must save the world
Director
Christopher NolanCast
Robert Pattinson
John David Washington
Kenneth Branagh
Elizabeth Debicki
As has become customary of late, the sound mixing in Nolan’s much anticipated, much delayed film was a topic of contention, and though intentional, it seriously interfered with desired immersion. Decrypting whose desire it was optimized for—the audience’s or Nolan’s—just may yield the most succinct review possible. I could go one further and declare it […]
Raising Arizona
September 18, 2020 by
Film Title
Raising ArizonaSynopsis
An ex-con and an ex-cop decide to end their childlessness and kidnap a quintuplet that will never be missed. Hilarity ensues.
Director
Joel & Ethan CoenCast
Nicholas Cage
Holly Hunter
Trey Wilson
John Goodman
Francis McDormand
Randall 'Tex' Cobb
Sam McMurray
In just a third of their output, the tapestry of locales and personas from vast walks of life in the Coen brothers’ cinematic universe reads more like an illustrated road atlas of the US than disparate stories. After just six films—Blood Simple, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, and […]
Velvet Buzzsaw
June 10, 2020 by
Film Title
Velvet BuzzsawSynopsis
A satire set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles, where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce.
Director
Dan GilroyCast
Jake Gyllenhaal
Rene Russo
Zawe Ashton
John Malkovich
Tom Sturridge
Natalia Dyer
When not engaged in auto-fellatio, one can imagine high brow, hoity-toity circles—art, fashion, and I shudder to think cinema is a third possibility—to instead partake in a close alternative; self-fucking. Sure, many a casting couch allegation attests to the coercive Weinstein Way, but I speak of complementary players being in bed with one another for […]
Coming to Trump’s America
May 12, 2020 by
Within three weeks of our arrival to the US, Robert Kraft was busted having a masseuse play tug with his shaft, R. Kelly was made to face the music for real this time, and New Zealand had its infamous mosque shooting.
The Neon Demon
August 4, 2018 by
Film Title
The Neon DemonSynopsis
Jess is an aspiring actress who makes her move on Los Angeles
Director
Nicholas Winding RefnCast
Elle Fanning
Carl Glusman
Jena Malone
Bella Heathcote
Abbey Lee
Desmond Harrington
Coming from the position of not knowing his earlier output, this take might be limited but better to have tried and failed, right? Nicolas Winding Refn occupies a unique place among active filmmakers, but also a precarious one. Revered without being critic-proof, his films decidedly garner polarizing sentiment. As a whole his later filmography forms […]
The Witch (2015)
August 15, 2016 by
Film Title
The WitchSynopsis
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
Director
Robert EggersCast
Anya Taylor-Joy
Ralph Eneson
Kate Dickle
Harvey Scrimshaw
Julian Richings
Sarah Stephens
Sitting through The Witch, and long after it finished, I grappled with my reaction hoping to articulate it into a verdict, weeding out customary knee-jerk biases only for resignation to eventually set in. A second viewing was in order. Although it was one more borne out of pure enjoyment, rather than a needy reassurance, for […]
Under the Skin (2013)
June 24, 2016 by
Film Title
Under the Skin (2013)Synopsis
Mysterious woman seduces lonely men.
Director
Johnathan GlazerCast
Scarlett Johannsson
Paul Brannigan
Lots of other dudes
While accurate, to dismiss Jonathan Glazer’s unorthodox alien sci-fi as enigmatic is a simplistic exercise in reductionism, but it is also the easiest to do. Though tangential, comparisons to 2001: A Space Odyssey were inevitable, they would prove only insofar as creative intent. What Kubrick sought to ask would ultimately eclipse what his epic attempted […]
