One-hit-wonder Clint has fallen on hard times in National Anthem, a new full-length experimental feature from local filmmaker Will Goss. Through a blend of animation and live action, the movie follows Clint as he receives an email from another planet, Rena Lara, that asks him to come visit and write its national anthem. Goss, who […]
One-hit-wonder Clint has fallen on hard times in National Anthem, a new full-length experimental feature from local filmmaker Will Goss. Through a blend of animation and live action, the movie follows Clint as he receives an email from another planet, Rena Lara, that asks him to come visit and write its national anthem. Goss, who […]
Netflix has elaborately revived Erich Maria Remarque’s classic World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Edward Berger. Remarque’s novel’s descriptions of trench warfare and mechanized bloodshed have lost none of their punch (likewise, Lewis Milestone’s 1930 film version), but in Berger’s take, many elements don’t fully coalesce into the potent […]
If you say “Fletch” to people 40 and up, Chevy Chase immediately comes to mind. Chase’s portrayal of Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher, a former investigative-reporter-turned-detective in the ’80s comedies Fletch and Fletch Lives, linked him forever with the title character. But Jon Hamm has wanted to revive the wisecracking investigator for years, and his long-gestating pet […]
David Bowie was so ahead of his time that, even six years after his death, his music seems advanced. Brett Morgen’s concert film/documentary Moonage Daydream is a cause for celebration for the Thin White Duke’s millions of fans with its combination of musical footage, interviews with Bowie, other archival clips, and animation. Morgen has said […]
Having masterminded the Mad Max franchise, Australian director George Miller could have spent his entire career making billions filming high-octane chases around a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Instead, he consistently chooses unusual, disparate projects, ranging from The Witches of Eastwick to the animated Happy Feet. His latest, Three Thousand Years of Longing, again proves he’s anything but […]
Judging by its trailer, Dean Fleischer-Camp’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On might come off as utterly silly—and in parts, it very enjoyably is. But, ironically, its hero, a charmingly ridiculous one-eyed shell with feet, ranks among the single most human movie characters of 2022. This substantial little tale of survival, loyalty, and courage is […]
For fans of writer/director David Cronenberg’s films, his newest, Crimes of the Future, is cause for celebration. It’s 100 percent unadulterated Cronenberg, and marks a return to the sub-genre he essentially invented: body horror—unsettling excursions into human biology in revolt against itself. And for those unversed in Cronenberg, this will be a thought-provoking, observant, shocking, […]
Director Juan Jose Campanella’s “Night Sky” grounds its fantastic premise heavily in the everyday. This is a venerable dramatic tradition, and an intelligent approach, especially when science fiction has become synonymous with space operas and action. Unfortunately, when the miraculous and the mundane collide in “Night Sky,” the mundane wins. The series opens in […]
Director Alex Garland’s tersely titled new horror film, Men, is the kind of movie we need more of: unpredictable, relatively inexpensive, and risky. Garland (Ex Machina) builds a genuine sense of mystery, then pulls off a rare move when he allows the audience to parse the story on its own. Some may argue that his […]
Set in ninth- and 10th-century Europe, Robert Eggers’ brutal revenge saga The Northman is a lavish, sweeping film, but its unrelenting gore will undoubtedly repel many viewers. Loosely based on the Scandinavian legend that inspired Hamlet, with elements of Macbeth thrown in, The Northman’s antihero, young prince Amleth, vows revenge after seeing his father, King […]