If one were to pen a tale championing the proper way to end a relationship, and forge toward greener pastures, House of Gucci puts forth an exemplary illustration of what calamities to avoid. That is, were it not for the combination of a biopic-period piece serving as the conceit for achieving so. What else can […]

A copycat of Copycat. And Hitchcock.

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]