Articles tagged: movie review


Leisure

The Outfit (2022) is as sharp and stylish as expected

Graham Moore’s directorial debut The Outfit (2022) whisks the audience along in a series of complications and dangles the hope of a conclusion with restored justice.

Leisure

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 explores the tricky relationship between love and grief

Based on Volume 0 of Gege Akutami’s beloved manga and anime series, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (2021) is a dark fantasy film that expertly navigates the tricky web of pain and guilt that sits under the shadow of unreconciled grief.

Leisure

Fresh: A new horror classic

If there’s one thing guaranteed besides its future establishment as a horror classic, it’s that Fresh will at least make you feel a little better about the realities of your own dating life. 

Halftime

The misunderstood masterpiece of The Emoji Movie

What makes great cinema? Must it move the masses? Need it withstand the test of time? To these questions and more, I proclaim yes. In a cultural milieu so saturated... Read more

Leisure

Spider-Man: No Way Home is fan service executed brilliantly

With a groundbreaking debut of $600.8 million at the global box office, Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters on December 17, quickly taking the world by... Read more

Movies

Dune, despite countless strengths, might alienate newcomers to the franchise

As I prefer to do with most movies, I went into Dune (2021) with a blank slate. I didn’t know anything about the book or David Lynch’s 1984 attempt. In... Read more

Movies

Halloween Kills is Bloody, Angry, and to the Point 

Content warning: violence In a sea of lifeless reboots, Halloween (2018), directed by David Gordon Green, set itself apart by being a surprisingly tasteful revival of the 1978 Carpenter classic.... Read more

Movies

Julia Ducournau’s bold body horror Titane crosses the finish line with the strength of its performances

Content warning: gore, body horror There are two sides to Titane, Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or-winning body horror film. One is a family drama about assimilation, about the struggles to fit... Read more

Movies

The Eyes of Tammy Faye engages with reality, but not cruelty

Content warning: sexual assault  There is a lot to unpack about the life of much-lampooned televangelist Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker). There’s the Christian worship broadcasting empire both built and... Read more

Movies

Venom: Let There Be Couples’ Counseling

Have you ever wondered what an abusive relationship with a pile of alien goop would look like? Would you like to see said abusive couple make pancakes to Ella Fitzgerald... Read more

Movies

“Does anybody have a map?” Dear Evan Hansen struggles to bring stage to screen

Content warning: Dear Evan Hansen discusses suicide Well, like it or not it is here: the long-awaited film adaptation of the smash-hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. Theater fans may... Read more

Movies

Malignant‘s brashness and audacity make it a twist-filled delight

As the lights came up at the end of Malignant (2021), James Wan’s demented new horror extravaganza, my friends and I took the opportunity during the credits to howl with... Read more

Digital Issue

Beyond Awards Season: Underrated media from 2020

Most people measure a year with a calendar, but for movie and music buffs, a year is defined by its films and albums. With the COVID-19 pandemic creating a ripple... Read more

Movies

Nomadland‘s story of wanderers hits close to home

A story of perpetual travelers and their time on the road seems like it should hold few lessons in a year most spent confined to their homes. Yet Chloé Zhao’s... Read more

Movies

Promising Young Woman tackles complicated topics while maintaining a sense of humor

Content warning: This film discusses issues surrounding sexual assault  The opening shot sequence to Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut Promising Young Woman (2020) says it all. As the names of cast... Read more

Movies

Chemical Hearts trivializes mental illness with its doomed love story

Chemical Hearts (2020) may be a romance, but it was never supposed to be a love story. Based on Kyrstal Sutherland’s novel Our Chemical Hearts, the film follows the doomed... Read more

Movies

Irresistible offers political commentary for 2019, in 2020

As the 2020 election draws closer, ads humanizing wealthy politicians start to fill television screens once more. Inboxes are cluttered with donation requests, and campaign speeches hitting just the right... Read more

Halftime Leisure

The Kissing Booth sequel, much like high school relationships, fails to deliver on its promise

I hate everyone in this movie.  This was, admittedly, a problem for me in the first movie—Noah (Jacob Elordi) is exactly the kind of boy I want us to stop... Read more

Movies

The Burnt Orange Heresy Is A Beautiful Film That Spirals Out Of Control

“You ever wonder, when something is just starting, how it’s going to end?” remarks tourist Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki) to art critic James Figueras (Claes Bang) after having sex in... Read more

Halftime

The Laundromat is a Bad Copy of The Big Short

When The Big Short  was released in 2015, it should not have worked nearly as well as it did. It was trying to explain a complex issue within the constraints... Read more