Horror films are saturated with death. Their symbolism covers consumer capitalism, teenage sexuality, and pervading globalization. Death forms the endgame for these common genre fears, yet few films actually position death as the dominant fear. […]
Editor’s note: Review contains major spoilers. Tread lightly. Alex Garland’s Ex Machina initially paints coder Caleb (Domhall Gleeson) as the film’s protagonist. He wins the opportunity to research with his employer, the self-isolated scientist Nathan (Oscar […]
True Story follows journalist Mike Finkel (Jonah Hill), fired from The New York Times after falsifying one of his reports. He finds redemption with Christian Longo (James Franco), accused of murdering his wife and three […]
During Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Birdman (or the Unexpected Virture of Ignorance), Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) confronts actor Mike Shriner (Edward Norton) following a disastrous performance of “What We Talk About When We Talk About […]
From November to January, audiences become saturated with a slew of films destined for the red carpet. Formulaic trailers of complicated protagonists framed by big name directors have spawned endless online parodies. While those films […]
Everyone has that one film that can quote entirety. For some, that film is The Princess Bride. For others, that film is Pulp Fiction. For me, that title belongs to Gore Verbinski’s 2002 film The […]
A little over a week ago, I had the pleasure of attending the 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival. Hidden in the antique stores, microbreweries, and cramped street parking of the city’s East Side, over 100 films were shown […]
The purpose of Sam Miller’s No Good Deed is consumption. The home invasion thriller where an exhausted mother Terri (Taraji P. Henson) battles escaped convict Colin Evans (Idris Elba) stretches into 90 minutes of unearned retribution. […]
By MEAGHAN CLOHESSY The failure of John Erik Dowdle’s horror flick As Above, So Below can be told through trailers. The first trailer, shown in theaters, depicts a psychological thriller, each character facing nightmarish vestiges […]
By MEAGHAN CLOHESSY It is nearly impossible to review Anton Corbijin’s A Most Wanted Man without the reminder of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death. The final two-hour performance (not counting his supporting role in the upcoming […]
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