|
C
|
The Curse of Willow Song
(2020)
|
Josh Bell
|
Tian gives Willow an appealingly gritty determination, but it's not enough to hold the movie together.
Posted Sep 19, 2023
|
|
C-
|
Dark Asset
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
The minimal action is unremarkable, Mann and Mattson have no chemistry, and Robert Patrick looks justifiably embarrassed to be there.
Posted Sep 19, 2023
|
|
D
|
Condition of Return
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
The acting is atrocious, the theology is incoherent, and the harsh lighting makes it all look like a cheap soap opera.
Posted Sep 19, 2023
|
|
B
|
Barber
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
Director and co-writer Fintan Connolly takes a subdued, matter-of-fact approach to both the criminal investigation and the queer content.
Posted Sep 19, 2023
|
|
C+
|
Io sto bene
(2020)
|
Josh Bell
|
The title translates to "I Am Fine," and that generic expression of adequacy captures the movie's inoffensive blandness.
Posted Sep 19, 2023
|
|
B
|
Radical Wolfe
(2023)
|
Craig D. Lindsey
|
Radical is standard-issue, but still satisfying. Producer/director Richard Dewey rounds up the usual selection of archival footage -- interviews, news profiles, photographs -- to weave together Wolfe’s life and times.
Posted Sep 14, 2023
|
|
|
The Last Waltz
(1978)
|
Sean Burns
|
May we all someday find somebody who looks at us the way Martin Scorsese photographs Robbie Robertson.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
|
|
C
|
The Latent Image
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
Birrell overloads the movie with cheap, irritating dream/hallucination fake-outs, which serve only as repetitive padding.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
|
|
C+
|
Ariel: Back to Buenos Aires
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
Writer-director Alison Murray inelegantly mashes together two tonally divergent stories.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
|
|
B-
|
American: An Odyssey to 1947
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
As a documentary about the early career and political activism of Orson Welles, director Danny Wu's film is straightforward and informative, if a bit dry.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
|
|
C
|
8 Found Dead
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
The would-be victims are largely annoying, and the movie just marks time until returning to their inevitable killings.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
|
|
D+
|
King of Killers
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
The poorly paced movie plays like the haphazard prologue to a series that hasn't been properly planned out.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
|
|
B
|
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
(2023)
|
Craig D. Lindsey
|
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah will take you back to those bad ol’ days when anxiety fueled your adolescent brain, keeping you obsessed with being cool and popular instead of focusing on the things – and the people – that kept you fun and happy.
Posted Aug 24, 2023
|
|
B+
|
The Dive
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
Director and co-writer Maximilian Erlenwein provides just enough personal details on the sisters to give a sense of their relationship, without distracting from the suspense and danger.
Posted Aug 22, 2023
|
|
B
|
Brightwood
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
With just two actors, a nature trail, and a "No Swimming" sign, writer-director Dane Elcar creates an immersive, ingenious sci-fi world.
Posted Aug 22, 2023
|
|
C
|
Bootyology
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
There's barely enough material here for a five-minute sketch, let alone an entire feature film.
Posted Aug 22, 2023
|
|
C-
|
Puppy Love
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
The plot meanders through various unfunny set pieces, with minimal obstacles to the inevitable coupling.
Posted Aug 22, 2023
|
|
B
|
Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
It's eerily mesmerizing even without a full understanding of the context.
Posted Aug 22, 2023
|
|
|
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
(1959)
|
Sean Burns
|
Spans decades while remaining stubbornly in the present tense, the way our own memories ebb and flow according to what we’re feeling in the moment.
Posted Aug 20, 2023
|
|
D+
|
Heart of Stone
(2023)
|
Kimber Myers
|
Heart of Stone joins the streamer’s seemingly endless stable of star-driven action films, but it does little to differentiate itself... There’s no big action sequence, or even a single moment that merits any sort of feeling other than déjà vu.
Posted Aug 12, 2023
|
|
B+
|
Passages
(2023)
|
Kimber Myers
|
Passages features all the intimate humanity of Sachs’s last decade of work, but he adds a wonderfully bitter edge and a sharp humor in its depiction of a love triangle...
Posted Aug 12, 2023
|
|
C-
|
Match Me If You Can
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
The characters are insufferable, the set-up is nonsensical, and, worst of all for a rom-com, the leads have no chemistry.
Posted Aug 08, 2023
|
|
C
|
Trader
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
Stilted and ungainly, like a misguided adaptation of a nonexistent stage production.
Posted Aug 08, 2023
|
|
B
|
Wolfkin
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
An engrossing, often haunting movie that breathes new life into a common horror subgenre.
Posted Aug 08, 2023
|
|
C
|
Summoning The Spirit
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
Fails as both existential folk horror and campy cryptid romp.
Posted Aug 08, 2023
|
|
B-
|
The Passenger
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
There may not be a point to the destructive journey, but there's a bit of stylish catharsis, at least.
Posted Aug 08, 2023
|
|
|
Eraserhead
(1977)
|
Sean Burns
|
Basically, if you’ve ever had a panic attack worrying that you might have knocked up your girlfriend, this is the movie playing in your head.
Posted Aug 04, 2023
|
|
B+
|
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
(2023)
|
Craig D. Lindsey
|
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a crafty, comical story about teenagers going through the usual teen stuff -- trying to fit in, discovering who you are, etc.
Posted Aug 03, 2023
|
|
A-
|
Oppenheimer
(2023)
|
Kimber Myers
|
This is a complex look at a complicated man, but Oppenheimer unequivocally establishes that this is a story worth telling -- and that Nolan was the perfect filmmaker to do it.
Posted Aug 03, 2023
|
|
|
It Always Rains on Sunday
(1947)
|
Sean Burns
|
Disguised as a film noir, it’s actually a precursor to the early 1960s British kitchen sink dramas. I'm guessing this was an important film for a young Mike Leigh.
Posted Jul 28, 2023
|
|
|
Slap Shot
(1977)
|
Sean Burns
|
Newman’s breeziest, most waggishly charming role.
Posted Jul 23, 2023
|
|
B
|
Barbie
(2023)
|
Craig D. Lindsey
|
Barbie is 114 minutes of clever, colorful chaos that’s also a sweet, self-referential salute to womanhood -- and the toy that was always there for young girls when they were figuring all that out.
Posted Jul 21, 2023
|
|
C
|
Ouija Shark 2
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
Hardcore bad-movie fans may be amused, but everyone else will just be bored.
Posted Jul 18, 2023
|
|
B+
|
August at Twenty-Two
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
Edwards and director Sophia Castuera smartly combine modern casual sexual fluidity with classic rom-com elements.
Posted Jul 18, 2023
|
|
C+
|
Mother, May I?
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
Once the initial unsettling surprise of Anya's change in behavior wears off, the movie doesn't have much else to offer.
Posted Jul 18, 2023
|
|
C-
|
The Flood
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
The suspense is minimal, and the action is underwhelming, especially in the direct interactions between humans and alligators.
Posted Jul 18, 2023
|
|
|
Gray Matter
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
Gray Matter isn't exactly subtle, but it's no worse than plenty of other low-budget streaming-exclusive sci-fi movies.
Posted Jul 13, 2023
|
|
B
|
Joy Ride
(2023)
|
Craig D. Lindsey
|
As predictably farcical (and ultimately heartwarming) as it is, this is basically 92 minutes (THANK YOU FOR THAT!) of Asian-American ladies, both behind and in front of the camera, giving you some lascivious laughs.
Posted Jul 12, 2023
|
|
B
|
Biosphere
(2022)
|
Kimber Myers
|
Eslyn and Duplass have made a movie that uses its limited setting and minimal number of characters well, surprising the audience with what they do with so little.
Posted Jul 08, 2023
|
|
|
Night Moves
(1975)
|
Sean Burns
|
Sharp's dialogue is the gold standard of exhausted, Watergate-era fatalism. Few films embody a gloriously bummed-out era of American cinema better.
Posted Jul 08, 2023
|
|
C
|
Tiger Within
(2020)
|
Josh Bell
|
Even an acting legend like Asner can only do so much with material this cheesy and heavy-handed.
Posted Jul 06, 2023
|
|
C
|
Bad Girl Boogey
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
The result is an effective calling card if not exactly a good movie.
Posted Jul 06, 2023
|
|
C-
|
South Of Sanity
(2022)
|
Josh Bell
|
Characters come and go haphazardly, plot points are raised and abruptly dropped, and the movie ends on a seemingly random note after dragging on for two hours.
Posted Jul 06, 2023
|
|
B
|
Lola
(2019)
|
Josh Bell
|
The story beats are familiar, but they're handled with grace.
Posted Jul 06, 2023
|
|
D
|
Transmorphers: Mech Beasts
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
The characters' struggle against the robots is nothing compared to top-billed star Tom Arnold's struggle against all the dialogue's techno-babble.
Posted Jul 06, 2023
|
|
B
|
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
(2023)
|
Kimber Myers
|
James Mangold can’t match the Steven Spielberg series’ best ... but this is still a satisfying delight, the type of popcorn movie that earlier offerings at once exemplified and transcended by being some of the greatest studio pictures of all time.
Posted Jul 03, 2023
|
|
B
|
No Hard Feelings
(2023)
|
Kimber Myers
|
Yet for all its juvenile-yet-adults-only antics, No Hard Feelings lives up to its title, offering a surprisingly sentimental take on the unlikely relationship at its core.
Posted Jun 27, 2023
|
|
C-
|
Flamin' Hot
(2023)
|
Kimber Myers
|
[Flamin' Hot] is not a slog, but it’s surprisingly bland for a movie about a snack that is supposed to be painfully spicy.
Posted Jun 27, 2023
|
|
B
|
Sin La Habana
(2021)
|
Josh Bell
|
Writer-director Kaveh Nabatian explores multiple facets of the immigrant experience in this layered, contemplative Canadian drama.
Posted Jun 20, 2023
|
|
B-
|
The Country Club
(2023)
|
Josh Bell
|
The Roberts have enough appealing low-key charm that they should trust themselves to carry their own movie.
Posted Jun 20, 2023
|
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