Stylized, chaotic, and frayed with the energy of a creative type sheltered in isolation, Bo Burnham: Inside is both uncomfortable and mildly voyeuristic as well as deeply cathartic. After taking a break five years ago due to debilitating anxiety, comedian…
‘Ammonite’ review: A slow, dry romance in search of something new to say
Francis Lee’s Ammonite is a film full of contradictions, both within and without its underlying story. It’s a lesbian romance with a mostly female cast, yet it’s written and directed by a man (and yes, I have to acknowledge that…
76 Days Review: Devastating and Necessary | TIFF 2020
The start of 76 Days, the latest from documentary filmmaker Hao Wu along with Weixi Chen and their anonymous co-director, is something out of a horror movie. First it’s the haunting sobs of a medical worker, obscured completely by a…
Quentin Tarantino Comes Home in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
It’s been almost 30 years since Quentin Tarantino first hit the indie scene like a neutron bomb with his debut feature Reservoir Dogs (1992) and since then he’s made many names for himself. To some he’s a genius and enfant…
Phil Movie Review: An inoffensive but unfunny take on a heavy subject
One must tread carefully with suicide; it’s a subject that demands delicacy and nuance. When handled sloppily it can tear open old wounds from those who’ve lost loved ones that way. Or, even worse, it can inspire imitators, something Netflix…
Jordan Peele’s Us is a Well-Intentioned Misfire
[This review contains some spoilers] One can scarcely imagine the pressure on Jordan Peele when the time came to begin shooting his sophomore feature film Us following the enormous success of his debut feature. But the film is here now,…
The Juniper Tree (4K) Movie Review: A Starkly Dream, Revivified
Among the pantheon of toe-chopping, head-slicing stepmothers in the Brothers Grimm’s fairy-tale canon, few are as starkly cruel and vicious as the one in The Juniper Tree. Here, an abusive stepmother decapitates her stepson, frames her daughter for the crime,…