From Sam Levinson (Another Happy Day, Assassination Nation) comes a cogent two-hander about Malcolm (John David Washington), a black filmmaker who — if what the white critics said after the premier of his first feature is true — stands on the cusp of greatness, and Marie (Zendaya), a girlfriend eager …
Pregnant Madison (Annabelle Wallis) returns from work to find the abusive slacker she married essentially lying in wait before the TV. The blow to the head she receives is enough to awaken Gabriel (Ray Chase), the monster inside her, a conjoined demon out for revenge against the doctors whose titular …
After ten short documentaries predicated on indigenous languages and Native American heritage, Portland-based filmmaker Sky Hopinka’s feature debut left me flummoxed. It’s hard to recall the last time a film made such a disconnect. Hopinka’s camera follows friends Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier as they rove through the backwoods of …
They cast wasn’t kidding when they sang S.O.S., because if ever there was a case of same old shit, it’s this. Like being forcibly breastfed impalpable cheer for two hours, Mamma Mia! was a colorful travelogue bestrewn with sweeping shots of movie stars vacationing on Universal’s dime and doing calisthenics …
They cast wasn’t kidding when they sang S.O.S., because if ever there was a case of same old shit, it’s this. Like being forcibly breastfed impalpable cheer for two hours, Mamma Mia! was a colorful travelogue bestrewn with sweeping shots of movie stars vacationing on Universal’s dime and doing calisthenics …
What is a cynic other than a failed romantic? Director Hannes Holm adapts Fredrik Backman’s popular German novel about a know-it-all curmudgeon (Rolf Lassgård) who, after being let go from 43 years on the job, turns his attention to the project of making the lives of his fellow condo association …
Three intersecting plot threads barely hang together in this soldier’s story of a Marine who brings the war in Afghanistan home with him. The basic training and combat footage are strictly standard issue, ditto the reverse-angle grilling military counselor Gary Oldman gives returning vet, Shia LaBeouf. (Lucky Oldman never leaves …
What has the title of a ’50s Republic oater yet plays like a film noir reboot of It Happened One Night? This year’s contribution from SDAFF regular Dave Boyle! Known for his string of inspired romantic comedies (Surrogate Valentine, Daylight Savings), writer-director Dave Boyle now finds himself making a successful …
How is it possible for Al Pacino to turn in one of the best and worst performances of the year essentially playing the same character? The truth is in the storytelling. For 97 minutes director and generous renegade David Gordon Green delights in following Manglehorn (Al Pacino), a small-town locksmith …
Fellow day-laborers view new hire Júlio (Bembol Roco) as a professional drifter who lighted on their unscrupulously-managed construction site long enough to spend a few months mixing cement before passing through. In point of fact, it’s romance (and a proximity to the offices of Chua Tek), not randomness that brought …
Fellow day-laborers view new hire Júlio (Bembol Roco) as a professional drifter who lighted on their unscrupulously-managed construction site just long enough to spend a few months mixing cement before passing through. In point of fact, it’s romance (and proximity to the offices of Chua Tek), not randomness that brought …
Director Zack Snyder sucker-punches Richard Lester’s Superman II, to date Hollywood’s final say on how to film a comic book. Credit the man of steal and screenwriters David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan with adding a couple of new wrinkles to the designedly faded red cape of Krypton’s favorite son. …
In the 1968 animated short The Critic, befuddled audience member Mel Brooks offers the abstract filmmaker a bit of off-camera advice: “Do something constructive. Make a shoe.” Better yet, make a documentary about a shoemaker. Dubbed “the Emperor of Shoes,” highest-priced cobbler Manolo Blahnik is the subject of this lighthearted …