Anthology films are always tough nuts to crack for critics. Do you view the film as a whole, examining how all the individual parts complement each other? Or do you focus on the aforementioned individual parts one at a time?…
Ally’s Movie Review: Coming Home
The first act of Zhang Yimou’s new film, Coming Home, is excellent. Set in the backdrop of Mao-communist China, there is an authentic and urgent tone to the narrative, as we meet Feng (Gong Li) and her daughter Dandan (Zhang…
Ally’s Movie Review: A Brilliant Young Mind
Morgan Matthews’ film wants to be three things at once. A coming of age story about a young introverted genius, a familial drama about a mother and son after the father is killed in a violent car accident, and a…
Movie Review: ‘Pawn Sacrifice’
Pawn Sacrifice, the latest biopic centered on a brilliant but unstable individual, captures an interesting period in American history. During the Cold War, central character Bobby Fischer was just as much a pawn as any of his eight chess pieces.…
Movie Review: ‘The Diabolical’
You certainly can’t fault Alistair Legrand’s The Diabolical for a lack of ambition. Instead of trying to be one genre picture it attempts to be three: a haunted house thriller, a sci-fi mystery, and finally a slasher. Or, to be…
Movie Review: ‘Pay the Ghost’
It might be strange to say, but I’m actually disappointed that this movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it could be. When Nicolas Cage isn’t giving a good performance a la “Leaving Las Vegas,” he’s giving a hilariously bad…
Ally’s Movie Review: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is not a great film, but it had every potential to utilize its arsenal and failed in one key aspect. While the first film of The Maze Runner series was a fantastically singular introduction into this world,…