Charlie Kaufman has conjured up quite a few bizarre cinematic visions over the years (most notably, 1999’s Being John Malkovich, which ironically stands as the most accessible work I’ve seen from him), but if I’m Thinking of Ending Things isn’t his strangest film yet, it is certainly his most oblique. Released on Netflix while the […]
As the only non-religious member of my otherwise Christian (and, in my dad’s case, Jewish) family, reviewing—or even watching—faith-based movies has proven to be a bit of a challenge. I’ve never shied away from expressing my honest opinions about pieces of media I see, but, in the case of films like these, this has occasionally […]
On August 11, 2017, a pair of moviemakers known as the Safdie Brothers posted an essay on A24’s website about the release of their film Good Time. Despite saying many insightful things about their love for cinema (particularly how films made an impact on them when they were younger), what really stuck with me the […]
Before watching Feels Good Man (which, for those of you wondering how I was able to see it before its official release date of September 4th, I caught a backdoor screening of on August 29), the year’s best documentary thus far, I had next to no idea what Pepe the Frog was. All I knew […]
During these past few months, if you had asked me what movie I was the most excited to see, I probably would have chosen this one. Maybe this was because it was a popular source of discussion over the Internet, or because somebody as well-known as Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049) directed it, or simply […]
From what I know, there were very few movies my parents saw together that they turned off less than midway through. The 2006 dark road dramedy Little Miss Sunshine, however, was one of them, mainly because, in their own words, the whole thing was so “depressing” (particularly since “everybody was always arguing”) that they couldn’t […]
The first—and, with any luck, the last—remake of the ’80s slasher classic Child’s Play has left me somewhat split. On one hand, I want to praise it for at least trying to do something a little different in an era where so many remakes/reboots blandly copy what was laid out before them, but on the […]
The title for At Close Range may be a pretty big misnomer (despite my immediate assumptions, it is not a corny action movie or spy flick—though that didn’t stop me from going in expecting one of those things anyway), but ironically enough, it may actually be the most fitting one for a film of this […]
Confession time: despite fully understanding the appeal they may have upon some people (particularly among a few members of my family), I simply can’t bring myself to watch most romantic comedies. Not that all films in the “rom-com” genre are inherently bad, but most of the ones I’ve seen are generally so listless, unfunny, and […]
It may be tough to get exactly right, but great writers really tend to make great writing look easy. Take a look at Kurt Vonnegut (one of my all-time favorite authors), for instance: his unmistakable blend of still-timely satire, pitch-black comedy, and humorously tragic stories cannot be replicated by anybody else, yet in his best […]
