Karl Delossantos

‘Nomadland’ finds people on the margins | movie review
Nomadland follows a widow as she tours the west living out of her van with just her fellow nomads for help, company, and strength

Quick cut: Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

It’s often drilled into us from a young age to seek stability. Find a steady job, settle down with someone, buy a house, save your money. So, why do we leave? Why do we stay? What motivates us to keep moving forward—or keep retracing our steps? For the subjects of Chloé Zhao’s new film Nomadland—which was the centerpiece selection at the 58th New York Film Festival—movement is life and staying still is something of a finality.

The film, which is adapted from the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, centers on Fern (two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand), a former resident of a Nevada company town called Empire where both she and her late husband worked at a gypsum plant for decades. Following his passing and the collapse of the town after the plant’s closure, Fern takes to the road living out of a van jumping from job to job and nomad settlement to nomad settlement. A “houseless” living as she says instead of homeless.

In each settlement, she often sees familiar faces of those she’s met before on the road including Dave (David Strathairn), another nomad whose devotion to the lifestyle may be wavering, and a few other characters played by real-life nomads. However, there’s rarely a moment to latch onto—but that doesn’t make them unimportant. McDormand, whose greatest talent is to emote without saying a word, plays across these people and hears their stories. They divulge their reasons for moving—losing a loved one, making the most of their life, making the most of their death—which Fern absorbs with a quiet intensity as she evaluates her own reasons for being.

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Nomadland is quiet by design. Fern doesn’t speak more than she has to, none of the characters do. It echoes their deep understanding of each other. They know little about each other, but what they do know is they’re all wanderers and that is enough for them to bond together. We explore the small wonders of living on the go—how you use the bathroom, find a place to park for the night, keep warm—but what is more important is the wonders of deciding to live as a nomad in the first place.

The moment that soars Nomadland to greatness and gives Zhao her greatest argument to be the first woman of color to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars belongs to a non-professional actor and real-life nomad named Swankie. Charlene Swankie, both the character and person, has a long history on the road. And in the film, she is one of the three mentors that helps Fern in her journey.

She recounts to her how she found herself on the road and what it means to her. The heartbreaking but hopeful monologue—I won’t spoil its contents—tells us everything we need to know about being a nomad. It’s what people have done for years to survive and for these people, it’s no different. It casts a melancholy tone over the film, one underlined by Ludovico Einaudi’s stunningly homegrown score and Joshua James Richards’s nostalgic cinematography. Zhao doesn’t chastise her characters for their choice, however, she doesn’t shy away from the trade-offs.

Nomadland was the centerpiece selection at the 58th New York Film Festival.

However, it isn’t just survival. There’s joy in the experience. There’s simple joys in every day of living an unattached life. Beneath the melancholy of it all there’s something so primally joyous about watching this group of largely elderly folk enjoy each other’s company around a campfire. It’s almost the antithesis of Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson. In that film, he finds the simple joys in routine and the places and people you see everyday. Nomadland flips it around and finds joy in the fleeting moments between destinations.

Underneath it all is the subtext of how the United States has largely failed the working class. The town where Fern lived with her husband, happily—as she works through in an Oscar-worthy monologue, was destroyed because of the 2008 financial crises. Her largely seasonal jobs are unstable and just enough to supplement the little income she receives from social security. Under those circumstances, being a nomad becomes a necessity.

However, as McDormand delivers in her signature deeply moving but opaque style of performing, it may have been a necessity, but it slowly morphed into a choice. Why participate in a system that isn’t stacked in your favor? In this foreign universe of nomads, we learn why each person moves or stays. More importantly, though, we learn that it’s never for the same reason—and none of those reasons are wrong.

Nomadland will be released on December 4, 2020.

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September 27, 2020
‘Fright Night’ (1985) is perfect 80s horror | What to stream
? This review originally appeared as part of our weekly streaming recommendations newsletter. Sign up here.

Happy Monday! I have a question for you: Do you remember the 21st night of September? Today’s movie is the 1985 vampire horror-comedy Fright Night—streaming on Prime Video. Like last week, I’m including a full review with an added “10-second cut” section for those of you that like shorter reviews. Here’s the trailer.

⏱ 10-second cut: Fright Night is just about as eighties as a horror movie could be, complete with a vampire disco hypnosis scene and macabre late-night creature feature host. However, in embracing the inherent cheese and the genre tropes that we’re familiar with, director Tom Holland makes a creature feature that has both fangs sunk deep into both golden ages of horror—the 30s/40s and the 70s/80s.

? Stream on Prime Video. Buy or rent on Apple TV, YouTube, or Prime Video.

Though I was born in the nineties, eighties horror will always have a special place in my heart—as it does with many horror fanatics. Until the sixties, which is when we started to make the gradual transition into modern horror, the template for the genre was largely based in the Universal Monsters franchise, which includes classics like Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, and, of course, Dracula. The fear was derived from the unknown of what’s out there, which is exactly why Fright Night worked well then and now.

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Fright Night feels so much in and of its time. For many movies, that’s a detriment. However, its keen sense of nostalgia for the long-gone days where men dressed in questionable monster suits were considered terrifying coupled with its unapologetic embracement of the tropes that defined eighties movies make watching it today a joy. By combining both elements, it becomes something completely new. At the time, it was modern. Watching it now, it’s a time capsule.

Following the classic “my neighbors might actually be monsters trope,” Fright Night follows 17-year-old Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale), an ardent horror fan and regular watcher of “Fright Night,” a horror TV series hosted by former “vampire hunter” Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall). When Charley discovers that his new neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire, he struggles to get anyone—his mother, the authorities, his friends—to believe him.

So, he enlists the help of Peter Vincent, who at first writes him off as an obsessed fan. Worried about his well-being, Charley’s girlfriend Amy (a pre-Married with Children Amanda Bearse), hires Vincent to prove to Charley that Jerry isn’t a vampire. After the brilliant and iconic mirror scene, the trio band together to stop him.

Fright Night benefits from being one of the purest versions of horror-comedy. Both genres are equally represented without manipulation. The tropes of both combine to present real laughs with the terror and real terror with the laughs. Instead of relegating a single character to be the comedic relief, like in many horror movies that toe the line with comedy, the laughs are placed more deeply in the screenplay. It’s all serious until you get a line like:

“He has a live-in male carpenter. With my luck, he’s probably gay.”
— Judy Brewster

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Conversely, unlike the horror-comedies that immediately try to cut through the tension of terror with a joke, Fright Night lets its scares marinate. And at some points, when there are laughs in the horror, they’re playing with each other rather than against. In one scene, Charley and Vincent are sneaking up a set of stairs while unbeknownst to them a corpse reanimates behind them. It’s ridiculous, especially when combined with the movie’s eighties cheese, but also as terrifying as any “look behind you” scene.

And the screenplay intelligently structures the movie so that you’re always dialed into the story from multiple perspectives. You learn early on that Charley’s suspicions about Jerry are true while also exploring the lore behind Jerry and his minion Billy (Jonathan Stark). When Peter Vincent is added in you explore yet another layer of character. However, the movie never loses its charm or wit in its explorations. It is made to entertain—and that it does.

The famous—or notorious—disco hypnosis scene is a perfect example of everything Fright Night does well. It’s campy, funny, genuinely terrifying, and, most importantly, furthers the plot. Unlike its fanged subject, the movie doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s the perfect tone to kick off the spooky Halloween season. Happy Hauntings.

? Pair it with The Cabin in the Woods for a Halloween perfect double feature.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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September 21, 2020
‘Spiral’ is unapologetically gay horror | movie review
Spiral follows a gay couple that moves to the suburbs with their daughter in the 90s to find their neighborhood is more than meets the eye

Spiral is a mysterious act of dread and atmosphere that also taps into the inherent horror of being different in a world that isn’t ready to accept that.

▶︎ Streaming on Shudder

Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

“People don’t change… they just get better at hiding how they feel.” It only makes sense that horror, a genre about one of the most primal human emotions, is one of the best grounds to explore social issues—as recently as Get Out or as far back as Night of the Living Dead. For some of us, living day to day is a horror movie in itself. That feeling is what Spiral, a new horror streaming on Shudder, taps into.

Spiral follows Malik (Jeffrey Boyer-Chapman) and his boyfriend Aaron (Ari Cohen) as they move from the big city to a small suburban town to live out their dreams of a “normal” existence along with Aaron’s 16-year-old daughter Kayla (Jennifer Laporte). Though the initial reception is warm, especially from their new neighbors Tiffany (Chandra West) and Marshal (Lochlyn Munro), Malik feels the dread of being the one different person—in his case, a queer black man—in a town. However, his dread isn’t just because of a few homophobic micro-aggressions, something more is afoot.

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After more incidents begin to occur, including witnessing an odd ritual happening in the house across the street, Malik begins to dig into the town’s past with the help of a note slipped to him by an elderly neighbor who is found dead the next day. His research uncovers a pattern of death that makes him believe that his own family may be in danger, which is further evidenced by the lapses of time and fiendishly chilling hallucinations—or are they real?—he begins to experience.

Throughout the movie, we see flashes to Malik’s past where he was the witness to a hate crime. Those flashes pervade into his everyday life—a subtle hint at the PTSD caused by the trauma that queer people face. It’s in that juxtaposition between the overt homophobia and the microaggressions that Spiral thrives in its goal of creating real social horror. And though there are moments when Boyer-Chapman’s performance betrays the quality of the movie, it’s in those scenes that he taps into something deeply painful.

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There is so much to appreciate in Spiral, in particular the well-wrought dark atmosphere of dread that director Kurtis David Harder achieves through Bradley Stuckel‘s well-thought out cinematography and Avery Kentis’ ominous score. It’s slow-burn horror at its finest, which makes the cheaper jump scares frustratingly out of place. Still, the balance of mystery to horror to character-rooted social commentary is impressive in John Poliquin and Colin Minihan‘s screenplay.

Though I wish it explored its a lore a little more—or at least allowed us to experience the horrors it brings about—Spiral a quietly impressive low-budget foray into social horror. The scares are genuine—both in relation to its potential supernatural elements and the experience of being different in a world that craves “normalcy”. Late in the movie, one character says, “it’s human nature… fear. We just exploit it.” And that’s the real horror. That someone will use that fear against us—they already are.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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September 14, 2020
‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is a long lonely road | movie review
I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a twisting psychological thriller about a couple road-tripping during a snowstorm to meet their parents

I’m Thinking of Ending Things combines a darkly comedic tone with a bleak atmosphere to make for a haunting portrait of a relationship on the rocks.

▶ Streaming on Netflix

Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

Loneliness is a prison. The memories, regrets, and what-ifs of life become trapped on repeat in your head forming a blend of reality and fantasy in your psyche in an effort to fill the void of silence that it creates. In the time of the coronavirus pandemic that feeling may hit closer to home, which is why Charlie Kaufman’s newest film I’m Thinking of Ending Things—now streaming on Netflix—feels so effective.

Each of the film’s three acts takes place largely in isolated locations—a car on a snowy country road, a remote farmhouse, and an empty high school nestled far from the road in the woods—with only stream-of-consciousness-like conversations to disturb the peace. Those conversations happen between the movie’s four players. At the center is an unnamed young woman (Jessie Buckley) who is road tripping with her new boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemmons) to meet his family for the first time.

On the road there, the pair engage in conversations both mundane and philosophically complex. And like any road trip, there are moments of silence which is when the woman’s internal monologue admitting she’s thinking of ending things with Jake fills the space. There are moments where we’re led to believe that something more is afoot. However, more than anything it’s a stunning piece of atmosphere that is equal parts unsettling and irresistibly engrossing.

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Kaufman, who won an Oscar for writing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has only directed three movies—roughly one per decade. His two prior films, Synecdoche, New York and Anamolisa, both leveraged his surrealistic style to explore different crises of identity and the existential quandaries they create. To that end, I’m Thinking of Ending Things may be the most Kaufman-esque of the three. When the pair arrive at Jake’s parents’ farmhouse we become certain that this isn’t just a melancholic take on Meet the Parents.

Instead, we’re treated to an ever-twisting environment where things aren’t quite as they seem and, more interestingly, a step away from reality. That begins with Jake’s mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis) who are almost too eager to share the embarrassing specifics of Jake’s past… and present. From their demeanor, we’d assume they haven’t been out of the house and in contact with other humans in years. It’d account for the mother’s compulsive habit of doing something and then chastising herself for doing it wrong and the father’s inability to say something unproblematic.

Then, the film furthers the ante by playing with space and time. The young woman drifts from room to room finding different scenes of the three family members at different ages and stages of life. At times, she herself becomes a part of the scene. Still, Kaufman plays his cards close to his chest—that is until the final act where reality is bent even more.

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Jessie Buckley as Young Woman, David Thewlis as Father, Jesse Plemons as Jake, Toni Collette as Mother in I’m Thinking Of Ending Things. Cr. Mary Cybulski/NETFLIX © 2020

That’s in opposition to the Ian Reid novel it is based on. The book, which I admittedly found to be obtuse, both had too much foreshadowing of its final twist and too many red herrings that when its final reveal was made all I could think was, “what’s the point?” The film strips the book of all the elements intended to distract us and instead shrouds the mystery in opaqueness but doesn’t completely shut us out.

There is a way to read the film. Kaufman didn’t set out to trick or confuse the audience. He has a specific story to tell. One about relationships, identity, regret, longing, and even more. He gives you the tools to solve the mystery, like the moments the movie cuts away to a janitor (Guy Boyd) going about his daily routine, though it may take more than one attempt to understand it all.

That’s not to say it’s not completely satisfying on a first viewing. The darkly comedic tone and bleak atmosphere make for a haunting portrait of a relationship on the rocks. However, the layer just beneath the surface is as complex as the human mind when it’s put under stress. Few people have been able to communicate the non-linear way our minds work, but Kaufman has come damn close. And for that, it’s worth a watch. Then, it begs you for another. Or are you begging for another?

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Best Thrillers of the Decade (a running list)

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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September 13, 2020
‘Host’ is the first coronavirus-era horror | movie review
Host, billed as the first movie filmed and released during quarantine, follows a group of friends staging a Zoom seance with an uninvited guest

Quick cut: At just 57 minutes, Host is far from overly long. Although it certainly stretches its interesting premise to the max. Still, it achieves an anxiety-inducing atmosphere coupled with genuinely chilling horror setpieces that keeps you online.

Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

★★★

Movies respond to things going on around us—whether cultural, societal or political. It was only a matter of time before the coronavirus pandemic, one of the largest cultural, societal and political events, of our time was captured on film. And while the pandemic has certainly been horrifying, it’s surprising that the first take on our new era is a horror film.

As we dive further into a tech-first world, the horror genre has grappled with how to tap into our inherent fear of the technology around us. In that vein, Host, a new techno horror movie streaming on Shudder, is the first movie to take place during these uncertain but certainly terrifying coronavirus times—and it’s only fitting that the entire film takes place on a Zoom video call.

In a setup familiar to many of us, Host centers on a group of friends during their weekly Zoom calls to keep in touch—and stay sane—during the pandemic. Also like many of us, they’re short of things to do to fill their time, which is why for this week’s call Haley (Haley Bishop) hires a Seylan (Seylan Baxter), a medium, to hold a seance during their call. As expected, it doesn’t go well.

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In 2015, Unfriended, at least in my opinion, became the first horror movie to properly capture the digital era of social media and the culture around it. That film, like Host, took place completely on a video call. However, its subversion of the horror genre—using tropes and characters from a slasher—fuels its plot more than the more straightforward ghost story of Host. Even thought its lean and mean 57 minute running time makes for a tight, entertaining spooky romp, I almost want more time to spend with the characters to truly care about them.

As the night trudges on, weird things happen to each of the participants as Seylan guides them through the motions of contacting the astral plane. However, they realize too late that the spirit communicating them is not friendly and may even be demonic. One by one, each of the participants, including Emma (Emma Louise Webb), Radina (Radina Drandova), Caroline (Caroline Ward), and Teddy (Edward Linard), is tormented in increasingly creative ways.

Haley Bishop in Host. Courtesy of Shudder.

Director Rob Savage leverages the natural horror in the things we already find terrifying—empty frames on Zoom, an open door behind a participant, the isolation of quarantine—and then intensifies it the kind of scares we expect from a ghost horror—and some we don’t. It’s increase from zero to one hundred is almost unbearable as the quiet tension ratchets up to full-on (surprisingly violent) terror.

Except for the fact that it takes place over Zoom and during the coronavirus pandemic, Host isn’t exactly something we haven’t seen before. But its pure creativity around using the things familiar to us for its scares is enough to appreciate it.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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August 22, 2020
‘Project Power’ fizzles out early | Netflix review
Project Power takes place in a world where an illegal drug gives its user superpowers for five minutes—three strangers team up to stop it

Quick cut: Project Power loses steam almost as quickly as the drug at the center of it. Though it’s visually dazzling, its paint-by-the-numbers plot is exacerbated by hamfisted political commentary and uninspired characters—even Jamie Foxx can’t muster up enough star power to save the day.

Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

★★

Netflix’s strategy for its blockbusters has settled on reinvigorating genres lost to the poor economics of theatrical distribution. In particular, they’ve made strides to save the romantic comedy, broad comedy, and now, the modestly budgeted action. Last month, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Old Guard impressed me with its balance of story, character, and adept action that left me wanting more. The same can’t be said for Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost’s Project Power.

We’re immediately dropped into a near-future New Orleans with a cold open that teases a drug called “Power” that gives the user a unique superpower that only lasts for five minutes—still that’s more than enough time to cause much trouble. A mysterious distributor who we come to know as the drug’s creator Biggie (Rodrigo Santoro) gives a group of dealers access to the drug, including Newt (Colson Baker aka Machine Gun Kelly).

As the web of connections spirals out, we meet Robin (Dominique Fishback), Newt’s cousin, who helps him distribute the drug. One of her customers is Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an NOPD cop that gains the bulletproof skin when he takes the pill. After using the drug to thwart a bank robbery, Frank is put on leave, but not before his boss (Courtney B. Vance) gives him a tip about the drug’s origins.

That tip is Art (Jamie Foxx), an ex-soldier who faces off with Newt to find out exactly who Biggie is, which leads him to Robin. Once the trio finds themselves on the same side, they work together to find the drug’s origin. Or that’s what the movie is telling us at least.

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The story is muddled by a sloppy plot that is too disorganized and too simple to ever truly lose yourself in it. It feels as if there is so much to explore in the world it creates—different powers, the effect of the drug on the streets. However, instead of leaning into its fantasy elements, it finds itself lost in a completely formulaic police procedural that is so standard you can call each plot point before it happens.

Though I had a similar issue with Netflix’s The Old Guard, the movie was able to fill its plot void with characters that demanded attention and, more importantly, sympathy. Project Power instead boils its characters down to archetypes that feel stereotypical to the point of regression—the bereaved father doing anything to get his daughter back, a teen from a poor background dreaming of something more, the no-holds-barred cop who’ll do anything to get the job done.

PROJECT POWER (L to R) COLSON BAKER / MACHINE GUN KELLY as NEWT in PROJECT POWER Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2020

Each of those archetypes could be forgive if, perhaps, the movie found some thematic value to their circumstances. Being set in New Orleans opens up the opportunity for interesting discussions on race and poverty in relation to Hurricane Katrina’s continues effects. While the movie does make mention of it, it almost feels ham fisted in as if to achieve some quota for political commentary rather than actually engaging with it.

There is so much potential in the premise and world of Project Power. And even if just one of the elements I mentioned—plot, character, theme—were successful it’d be the brainless but fun-to-watch blockbuster that Netflix was clearly looking to create. Instead, it just feels brainless. No amount of super-powered drug could save it.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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August 21, 2020
‘Starred Up’ is emotional and brutal | movie review
Starred Up, David Mackenzie’s eighth film, is a brutal and emotional prison character study about a father and son

? This review originally appeared in my weekly movie newsletter. You can sign up for it here.

Happy Thursday! Hope this week is great. I’ll be taking next week off for some mental clarity, but you can always see every movie I’ve ever recommended here.

Today’s movie is David Mackenzie’s drama Starred Up (2013)—streaming on Netflix and Prime Video. Though it was his eighth film, Starred Up is what elevated Mackenzie’s name past his less than stellar reputation as an okay-to-bad indie filmmaker. His next film Hell or High Water would earn him a Best Picture nomination. However, it all started with this hard-hitting drama. Here’s the trailer.

⚠️ Note: This movie gets pretty graphic in all aspects. Viewer discretion advised.

Starred Up is about Eric (Jack O’Connell), a juvenile inmate with… ahem, anger issues who is prematurely transferred to an adult prison where his father (Ben Mendelsohn) is jailed. While his temper gets him into trouble with just about everyone in the prison leaving him unsure of who to trust—even his father. It is 106 minutes long.

What I love about Starred Up is it’s almost devoid of sentimentality. Any that there is doused in a heavy dose of realism. However, despite its sometimes brutal depiction of prison life, it grounds all of it well-formed and complex characters that for all their flaws have redeeming qualities that keep you interested in them.

The propulsive narrative keeps you on your toes unable to anticipate what will come next, especially with Eric’s temper. And while the sudden bursts of violence keep Starred Up engaging, the most compelling scenes are the quieter ones where people work through their own traumas and maybe, just maybe, become better than before.

Starred is available to buy or rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube.

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Pair it with ?

Uncut Gems: Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is a diamond dealer in New York who is always looking for the best way to make big money—that usually means making high-risk bets that don’t always pay off. Over the course of a few days, he must find a way to pay off his debts before it’s too late.

In movie news: ? How could I make a profit out of you? ?

Disney looked in its reflection and saw ???. Mulan, one of the most anticipated releases of 2020 that was pushed back due to the pandemic, will be released on the Disney+ streaming platform on September 4, 2020. But there’s a catch. Details below.
- Though Mulan will be available on the streaming platform subscribers will need to pay an additional $30 fee to watch it. Yes, so you have to pay for Disney+ and then still pay for the movie.
- The economics of premium video-on-demand releases is already shaky at best and with a heft $200 million price tag on the project, it’s clear Disney would have to do *something* to make their money back.
- Although it seems ridiculous, I’m 80% sure that this going to be successful and deal out another blow to the theatrical experience.
❓ So, will you pay up to watch Mulan on Disney+? Reply and let me know.

Have a great weekend. I’ll see you in a week.

You’re the best —
Karl (@karl_delo)

? P.S. You can see every movie I’ve ever recommended right here.

? I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes! You can find all my reviews here.

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More movies, less problems
Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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August 6, 2020
‘The Rental’ is worth a buy | movie review
The Rental follows two couples who get more than they bargain for when they Airbnb a beautiful oceanside house for the weekend

Quick cut: Dave Franco’s directorial debut isn’t a groundbreaking slow-burn thriller, but it is a competently made, supremely acted, and satisfyingly effective one.

Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

★★★

Unlike many other feature debuts, especially those from actors turned directors, Dave Franco’s The Rental is surprisingly restrained. So often do directors feel as if they need to prove themselves with over-the-top stylistic decisions that often ring false. Instead, Franco pares down the slow-burn thriller—that starts off as a just as compelling relationship drama—to its raw elements and delivers a satisfyingly devilish good time.

Set in the idyllic northwest, The Rental, written by Franco and indie darling Joe Swanberg, quickly gives us deep insights to our main quartet. Brothers Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Josh (Jeremy Allen-White) are the classic polar opposite siblings. Charlie is a successful entrepreneur who is business partners with Josh’s girlfriend Mina (standout Sheila Vand). Both Josh and Charlie’s wife Michelle (Alison Brie) are acutely aware of Charlie and Mina’s chemistry, but largely ignore it. More on that later.

After arriving at their cliffside Airbnb, there is an orgy of signs that basically say “you are going to die.” A beautiful remote home with way too many windows, a mysterious locked door in the crawlspace, and, of course, a creepy host (Toby Huss) whose racist undertones (overtones?) give cause for concern.

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However, the vacationing couples have things in mind other than the odd occurrences. Charlie and Mina are celebrating some success with their startup and Michelle, who brings a bag of molly, is more focused on getting turnt than the obvious signs of flirtation in front of her.

Surprisingly, a large chunk of the movie is dedicated to fleshing out the characters and backstory. I’d even go as far as to say that the movie is really a relationship drama disguised as a thriller. The real tension at the start is whether or not Charlie and Mina’s chemistry goes further than at work and if Michelle and Josh are willing to notice it. Franco and Swanberg even dedicate more than one scene to the subject, which is why one drug-induced hot tub make-out session later is when the movie truly hits the fan.

Dan Stevens, Sheila Vand, and Jeremy Allen White in Dave Franco’s The Rental. Courtesy of IFC Films.

Even when the movie takes its turn to become a genre flick—I’d even go as far to say a full-blown horror—it maintains its anchoring in character. We don’t truly know what kind of movie The Rental is going to be until we’re already careening down a cliffside towards a horrific climax that is well worth the wait. Like Karyn Kusama’s brilliant The Invitation, Franco isn’t afraid to let us question what is truly going on for a beat too long. It adds to the suspense—and the fun.

For fear of saying to much, I’ll end with this: The Rental doesn’t break new ground. However, the well-trodden ground its playing in can still be fresh and effective. With stunning Hitchcockian cinematography by Christian Sprenger and an eerie atmospheric by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, Franco’s directorial debut shows mighty promise with hidden horrors that feel like a hammer to the head.

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July 20, 2020
‘The Old Guard’ has new tricks | Netflix review
The Old Guard follows a group of immortal mercenaries as they find themselves as the targets of a nefarious plot

Quick cut: Director Gina Prince-Bythewood uses her keen sense for character to make The Old Guard a one of a kind groundbreaking Hollywood blockbuster that feels like a new, exciting direction for the action genre.

Chloé Zhao makes Nomadland‘s melancholic but hopeful story of nomads traversing the American West a stunningly complex character study of life on the margins of society.

★★★★

The Old Guard feels familiar. It follows the typical Hollywood action blockbuster formula, has the archetypes we’ve come to expect and even has a premise that isn’t completely unique. However, director Gina Prince-Bythewood—she’s best known for Love & Basketball—finds moments to give The Old Guard a completely singular flair that feels as invigorating as it is groundbreaking.

The idea of an action movie led by a group of immortals out of their time is not new. In The Old Guard, we follow Andy (Charlize Theron), a centuries-old warrior who uses her endless amount of time to help people. However, it’s the team around her—also consisting of immortals she’s found—that gives the movie its much-needed lift. There’s alcoholic Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), new recruit Nile (If Beale Street Could Talk‘s Kiki Layne), and, most importantly, gay couple Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli).

Each character, some centuries years old and aware of the labors and joys of their immortality and some newly struggling with it, is finely carved out to have a past that informs their present motivations. They’re the definitions of lived-in.

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In particular, it’s Nicky and Joe’s story that feels most impactful. Despite the uniqueness as a gay couple in a major action blockbuster, Prince-Bythewood treats them with normalcy, which adds to their impact. Though it isn’t specifically hinted at in the script, their centuries-long love story has importance in their part of the narrative. Their love today adds to the stakes and our attachment to the characters. It’s through their adversity that we also find their moral drive.

The movie begins with “the old guard,” Andy, Booker, Joe and Nicky, receiving a rescue assignment from James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor). That assignment turns out to be a setup to prove the group’s immortality so that pharmacy giant CEO Steven Merrick (Harry Melling) could target the group to study. However, after being killed in a gruesome ambush, the guard resurrects and proceeds to destroy the assailants with ease. Their time-forged skill, especially Andy’s with an ancient axe, is apparent.

THE OLD GUARD (L to R) MARWAN KENZARI as JOE and LUCA MARINELLI as NICKY in THE OLD GUARD. Cr. AIMEE SPINKS/NETFLIX © 2020

Discovering that Copley has crossed them, the guard sets off to find Nile, the first addition to the guard in centuries, and stop Merrick. And while the premise seems like it begs for endless action, The Old Guard instead is more interested in character moments. Moments that eventually make those action scenes more impactful.

That’s not to say that the action isn’t polished, enthralling, and punishing. Though Prince-Blyethwood hasn’t tackled an action movie, it’s clear she has a handle of capturing and communicating combat. If anything, her penchant for strong character work makes her more successful in creating action scenes that are narratively and emotionally important.

It’s difficult in a high-concept fantasy like this to feel like you have the agency to pause and explore the adversity that Nicky and Joe faced or the losses that Booker and Andy had to endure. However, it’s that attachment to the characters that makes the physical pain they go through on their mission hard to stomach. The added rule that any of the immortals can find that they will not resurrect again heightens the stakes.

The Old Guard *is* a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, even if it was released directly on Netflix without a theatrical release. However, it’s a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster that’s unafraid to play within the formula given to it. Yes, one of its largest assets is putting a gay couple unabashedly at the center—and without feeling self-congratulatory—however, it does so with every character. It unabashedly explores their inner workings, which just makes their physical feats of action even more delicious to watch. To say I’m obsessed may be an understatement.

The Old Guard is now streaming on Netflix.

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July 12, 2020
‘Halloween Kills’ moves to 2021

Halloween Kills, the follow up to the 2018 reboot of the long-running franchise, has a new release date due to the coronavirus pandemic

After the return of John Carpenter’s Halloween franchise made a killing at the box office two years ago, a follow-up was inevitable. However, fans of the long-running Michael Myers franchise will have to wait a little longer.

Though it was originally slated for an October 2020 release, Carpenter himself announced that the film would instead be released on October 15, 2021.

My take: I didn’t love the 2018 reboot—you can read my review here—but this franchise will always hold a special place in my heart. Expect to see me in the theater in 2021.

Halloween Kills is written by Scott Teems & Danny McBride & David Gordon Green based on characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. The film is directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block. The executive producers are John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and Ryan Freimann.

July 8, 2020
HBO Max: 10 Great Movies Now Streaming (July 2020)
Here is a running list of some of the best movies streaming on HBO Max this month!

From HBO originals to the DCEU to the Studio Ghibli back catalogue, HBO Max is a film geek’s haven. Here are some of the best movies streaming this month.

Ad Astra (2019)

Here’s what it’s about: Astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) goes on a cross-solar system mission in search of his missing father (Tommy Lee Jones) to prevent the destruction of the planet.

Why you should watch it: Although its premise sounds like an action-packed sci-fi epic, Ad Astra is more of an internal journey. Director James Gray uses space travel—and all its dangers and unknowns—as a kind of therapy for Pitt’s character. As he explores space, he also explores his own morality and inner traumas.

Alien (1979)

What it’s about: Commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. However, after an encounter with a mysterious alien egg, they find themselves fighting for survival aboard their ship.

Why you should watch it: A masterclass in horror and suspense, Alien remains one of the best science fiction and horror movies ever made. In addition to its lived-in vision of space travel, director Ridley Scott created a cast of iconic characters led by Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley. She is still one of cinema’s great heroes.

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Blood Simple (1984)

Here’s what it’s about: Marty (Dan Hedaya) suspects his wife Abby (Frances McDormand) and his employee Ray (John Getz) are having an affair arranges to have them killed. However, after a series of misunderstandings chaos ensues.

Why you should watch it: The directorial debut of lauded director duo The Coen Brothers, Blood Simple is simply one of the best first features ever made. A western neo-noir filled with suspense and the Coens’ famous dark humor, its tight plotting and rhythmic pacing make it an entertaining breeze of a watch.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Here’s what it’s about: Based on a true story. Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) is just 19, but has already been a Pan-Am pilot, doctor, and attorney. He’s also the world’s greatest con man. But FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) is on his trail.

Why you should watch it: The directorial debut of lauded director duo The Coen Brothers, Blood Simple is simply one of the best first features ever made. A western neo-noir filled with suspense and the Coens’ famous dark humor, its tight plotting and rhythmic pacing make it an entertaining breeze of a watch.

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Here’s what it’s about: On her 13th birthday, young witch Kiki ventures out to find a town to complete her training. However, when she settles on a town, she learns that fitting in isn’t as easy as it seems.

Why you should watch it: Kiki’s Delivery Service is quintessential Hayao Miyazaki. He hides complex coming-of-age themes in a fantastical, entertaining, and heartwarming narrative that uses its lack of stakes and adversity as a point of strength and hope.

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The Nice Guys (2016)

Here’s what it’s about: A down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles. Along the way, he crosses paths with muscle-for-hire Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe). Together, they uncover a deeper conspiracy that takes them through the LA criminal underbelly.

Why you should watch it: Director and writer Shane Black has a very specific sense of humor. It’s sharp, a little bit dark, a little bit silly, but it always catches you off guard. The banter between Gosling’s March and Crowe’s Healy is already reason enough to watch it. It’s the classic odd couple dynamic that’s amplified by both actors’ performances. Gosling, in particular, is a riot as a bumbling alcoholic that can never seem to catch a break. Plus, no other actor can scream or fall as hilariously as Gosling.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

What it’s about: Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and his best friend Cosmo (Donald O’Connor) are struggling through the transition from silent films to talkies in Hollywood. Especially since his on-screen co-star Lina (Jean Hagen) has a shrill voice. With the help of Kathy (Debbie Reynolds), they make movie magic.

Why you should watch it: Watching Singin’ in the Rain is like the feeling of a warm embrace of a memory—even if you never watched it before. Filled with bright and brassy musical numbers, hilariously memorable characters, and a Hollywood ending like no other, it’s easily one of the most delightful movies ever made.

Unfriended (2015)

Here’s what it’s about: Six friends gather for a video call on the anniversary of a classmate’s suicide. When they receive a message from her from the grave, a sinister game begins.

Why you should watch it: Unfriended is a movie I believe we’ll look back on and see an underrated horror classic. Taking the classic slasher format and giving it a modern update by making the setting a skype conversation on a laptop screen, it gives us the spooks and scares we crave by turning our mundane everyday lives into a horror movie. [Full review]

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July 8, 2020
‘Da 5 Bloods’ is Spike Lee’s best-acted joint yet | review
Da 5 Bloods follows a squad of Vietnam veterans who return to the country to find a buried treasure and their fallen comrade

Quick cut: On its surface, Da 5 Bloods is an exhilirating adventure filled with twists, turns, and Spike Lee’s iconic style. However, it’s also a depth-filled character study that his heartbreakingly prescient about our present moment.

★★★★★

Though Spike Lee has a penchant for cinematic flourishes—direct-to-camera monologues, splicing in archival footage and photographs, and, of course, his famous double dolly shot—he’s not one to let style overcome the substance of a piece. Such is the case of his latest film Da 5 Bloods, which was released on Netflix this month. And as with his Oscar-winning previous effort BlacKkKlansman, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The five “bloods” that the title refers to are Vietnam veterans Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clark Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), and their fallen comrade Norman Earl “Stormin’ Norman” Holloway (Chadwick Boseman). During their stint in Vietnam, the squad was tasked with delivering a locker of gold bars to the Lahu people as a show of gratitude for their help fighting the Viet Cong. However, instead of delivering the bars as promised, the group conspires under Norm’s command to take the gold for themselves by burying it and retrieving it later.

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In the present day, we learn that Norm was killed during the mission and a napalm strike of the area left them unable to locate the buried treasure. Now, with a lifetime behind them, the four surviving Bloods reunite to find the gold together. However, time—and society—has changed each of them. Not only that, their time in Vietnam still weighs heavily on their shoulders, especially Paul.

Lee’s greatest talent as a filmmaker is finding a way to remit thematic heftiness and deep character explorations while delivering a genuinely entertaining story with striking characters. Da 5 Bloods may be his greatest success in that aspect. As the squad, joined by Paul’s son David (Jonathan Majors), traverses the jungles of Vietnam and relive their past with the help of their local guide Vinh (Johnny Trí Nguyễn) and Otis’ old Vietnamese girlfriend Tiên (Lê Y Lan), insecurities from the past and present begin to haunt them.

In particular, Paul, who has become a devout Trump supporter—he unashamedly wears a “Make America Great Again” hat throughout the film—has become disillusioned. For him, Vietnam is still the enemy and the cause for all the pain in his life—including his PTSD and loss of his wife during childbirth. The squad’s return isn’t triumphant for him like it is for the other men.Da 5 Bloods, though packaged as a story of adventure—an actual treasure hunt—and one of friendship and nostalgia, is incredibly profound and prescient about the state of this country. Norman, portrayed as a Christ-like figure—Otis even says, “he was our Malcolm and our Martin”—delivers the film’s message.

DA 5 BLOODS (L to R) NORM LEWIS as EDDIE, CLARKE PETERS as OTIS, ISIAH WHITLOCK JR. as MELVIN and DELROY LINDO as PAUL in DA 5 BLOODS Cr. DAVID LEE/NETFLIX © 2020

The treatment of Black people in Vietnam is nothing more than an amplification of the treatment of Black people in America. They’re underpaid, undervalued, and expected to subservient to their White commanders and the will of the country. The film even opens with a clip from Muhammad Ali: “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother … some poor hungry people living in the mud. Shoot them for what? They never called me a n—–. They never lynched me. They didn’t put no dogs on me.”

Lindo’s performance as Paul—easily one of the best in a Spike Lee film since Denzel Washington’s Malcolm X—is heartbreaking to watch as it shows what could happen when an oppressed person is so traumatized that their only salvation is the thing oppressing them. The other Bloods find joy in the adventure, Paul only finds pain.

Da 5 Bloods is Lee’s most ambitious and impressive film to date. The sweeping cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel effortlessly switches between the vast Vietnam landscape of the present day and past to contribute to the narrative. As does Terence Blanchard’s score, which is as epic as a war film requires, but still find nuances to help the characters along. Still, it’s Lee’s steady directing at the helm that makes Da 5 Bloods breezily enjoyable while finding moments to poke at your emotional vulnerabilities.

On its surface, Da 5 Bloods is a war epic about four Vietnam veterans hunting for treasure and finding their fallen comrade to bring him home. They do find that fallen comrade’s remains and Lindo’s monologue—laced with relief and regret—tells you everything you need to know about the film. Under the exciting veneer of this adventure, there’s pain at the hands of society and self. And that pain is still here today. Black Lives Mattered then and they matter now.

Da 5 Bloods is now streaming on Netflix.

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June 23, 2020
10 Great LGBTQ Films with Happy Endings (and where to stream them)

LGBTQ films have finally started to break into the mainstream and spread the message of love, acceptance, and understanding

As a closeted gay kid growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey, one of the greatest things I could turn to for comfort and understanding is LGBTQ films. There I could see people experiencing what I was experiencing and, in some, I would find hope that one day I would be able to be who I was unabashadly.

So many movies about marginalized groups, whether BIPOC or queer, focus on the struggle. Few, however, show the beauty and joy that could happen outside of that struggle. Here are a few LGBTQ films with happy endings to give you comfort, hope, and joy.

The Birdcage (1996)

Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in The Birdcage. Courtesy of United Artists.

Here’s what it’s about: Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) owns the drag cabaret The Birdcage with his life partner Albert (Nathan Lane), who’s also the star performer. When their son Val (Dan Futterman) announces he’s getting married, they’re forced to put up a false straight front to host his fiance’s ultraconservative parents (Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest).

Why you should watch it: Since Nichols and May started their careers as an improv comedy duo, The Birdcage was almost the perfect story for them to adapt. The premise itself is like an improv prompt. However, like their best work, they guide the story and the actors to the edge of ridiculousness, but never let it go over — even Nathan Lane whose performance is as bombastic as ever leans on the side of high camp rather than slapstick.

And while the story is ripe for stereotypes and cliches, they never let it get there. Instead, they take their time and pace themselves allowing for us to explore, get to know and, most importantly, fall in love with every single character. It’s perhaps one of the best comedic ensembles of all time with every actor getting their moment to steal a scene whether it’s Hank Azaria’s high-camp Guatemalan housekeeper repeatedly falling over because he’s not used to wearing shoes or Christine Baranski playing Val’s biological mother prancing around her office or Williams directing Albert’s cabaret performance.

▶︎ Buy or rent on Amazon

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The Half of It (2020)

Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, and Collin Chou in The Half of It. Courtesy of Netflix.

Here’s what it’s about: Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) is a straight-A student who helps her father with the bills by writing papers for other students, which is why she’s approached by sweet, but hopeless jock Paul (Daniel Diemer) for help writing love letters to the school’s misunderstood it-girl Aster (Alexxis Leimer). While Alice and Paul’s friendship develops, so do Alice’s feelings for Aster.

Why you should watch it: On the surface, The Half of It is a serviceable high school dramedy. However, at its core, it’s a sensitive character study of identity and how the town we grew up in shapes it, for better and worse. And though it only skims the surface of sexuality, it’s distinctly queer. The gaze is queer. The themes are queer. This is a movie that only a person that has experienced it could accomplish. And although it has all this complexity, it still has the moments of joy and levity we crave in a coming-of-age. However, those moments happen where — and between characters — we least expect them. This is a love story. But not between who you think.

There’s a chance The Half of It fades into the background of the multitudes of Netflix romantic comedies that are shuffled away in the mysterious algorithm. But I hope that the right audience sees it. It feels like a cliche now, but if I had seen this movie when I was a kid, I feel like the world would have been different for me. I’d see it differently. I’d understand myself and how to love differently. I’d understand that confusion is just a part of understanding. And that running after a train may look ridiculous, but that’s love. Read my full review here.

▶︎ Streaming on Netflix

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The Handmaiden (2016)

Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee in The Handmaiden. Courtesy of Amazon Studios.

What it’s about: A grifter (Kim Tae-ri) teams up with a con-man (Ha Jung-woo) to swindle an heiress (Kim Min-hee) out of her fortune. However, when real feeling begin to develop, the con gets out of hand.

▶︎ Streaming on Prime Video

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Moonlight (2016)

What it’s about: Barry Jenkins’ Best Picture winning masterpiece ? tells the story of a young black boy named Chiron as he grows up and struggles with his identity. The movie is split into three distinct acts following him as a child (Alex Hibbert), teen (Ashton Sanders), and adult (Trevante Rhodes).

Why you should watch it: Moonlight is arguably the most important Best Picture winner of the decade — and perhaps of all time. And not just because of the infamous mix up. It’s almost unfathomable that the Academy, which overlooked Brokeback Mountain to award Crash, would give its top prize to an independent film about a poor queer black boy dealing with his sexuality. However, I think it won, in part, because it’s a perfect film.

Without many words or huge plot moments, Director Barry Jenkins able to tell us a complex story about a kid going through the process of discovering, struggling, and ultimately accepting who you are. He explores it with a singular style that plays with the cinematic form in a way that we haven’t seen in decades. Everything from the cinematography, sound design, and score are there to serve the story — there’s not a single scene that doesn’t serve a purpose. And as painful as the journey is, it all feels satisfying at the end. Like an exhale that we didn’t know we needed. Moonlight is streaming on Netflix.

? Buy or rent: Prime Video | iTunes | YouTube

Pariah (2011)

? Buy or Rent: Prime Video | Apple TV | YouTube

Pride (2014)

What it’s about: It’s 1984. In England, Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike. Meanwhile, a group of queer activists decides to raise money to support the families of the striking miners—in an act of solidarity. However, the Union is too embarrassed to receive their support, setting off a journey of acceptance, love, and protest.

Why you should watch it: “It’s a show of solidarity. Who hates the miners? Thatcher. Who else? The police, the public, and the tabloid press. That sound familiar?” But also, sound familiar? You can replace a couple of words in that quote and talk about exactly what’s happening today. And while Pride’s message that our similarities are greater than our differences is profound and well delivered, it’s also entertaining.

Pride is careful not to tread into the territory of a contrived or corny feel-good historical dramedy and instead use its well-drawn characters to tell its endearing story—with all the heartbreaking moments intact. Its cast of British screen legends—Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott—and newcomers (at the time)—George Mackay, Ben Schnetzer, Joe Gilgun, Faye Marsay—give Pride its heart and spirit while also delivering genuine laughs. Pride is streaming on Prime Video.

? Buy or Rent: Prime Video | iTunes | YouTube

Tangerine (2015)

Here’s what it’s about: It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor.

Why you should watch it: Tangerine, with its frenetic editing, vivid iPhone cinematography, and rich sound design, throws you into the dreamy L.A. underbelly unlike any other film. However, within that dreamscape are characters so daringly planted in reality. Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor imbue their characters with both bite and heart, which makes them incredible subjects for this story looking to inspire empathy for an entire community.

Pride Month began as a protest against the police brutality of largely black and brown transwomen in 1969, which is why it’s more important than ever to explore both the joys and struggles of that community. Tangerine does so in an entertaining and heartwarming way that leaves you pining for more. Tangerine is streaming on Hulu.

? Buy or Rent: Prime Video | Apple TV | YouTube

Weekend (2011)

What it’s about: After meeting at a club, Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) have what they think is a one-night stand. However, it turns into a weekend-long conversation about identity, love, and acceptance.

Why you should watch it: Weekend is a meditation on moments. There are no grand romantic gestures or ridiculous ultimatums. Though, the central conflict of the movie is an impending departure. Its greatest virtue is its realism. So rarely in relationships nowadays we say what we feel. So two men with a mutual attraction that want it to become more won’t explicitly address that feeling.

Instead, Haigh hides that development in the small moments — a touch, a look of familiarity or understanding. As the two men see each other more, each sexual encounter become more explicit — their first hookup isn’t shown on screen. It’s Haigh’s way of showing their growing intimacy and perhaps love. Weekend is streaming on the Criterion Channel.

▶︎ Streaming on the Criterion Channel. Buy or rent on Amazon.

God’s Own Country (2017)

Alec Secăreanu and Josh O’Connor in God’s Own Country. Courtesy of Orion Pictures.

What it’s about: Johnny (Josh O’Connor) bides his time working on his family’s farm and binge drinking—which often leads to casual sex with random men. However, he begins to think about his future when handsome Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe (Alec Secăreanu) begins to work on the farm.

Why you should watch it: God’s Own Country in a lot of ways feels akin to Brokeback Mountain—two men spending time doing manual labor involving sheep in a remote picturesque landscape. However, where the two differ is Brokeback is coded as a tragedy from the start—as it’s as much about the external factors keeping the men apart as it is the internal factors.

God’s Own Country is about the internal factors. It’s not just about the emotional repression that plagues queer people, but also the obligation we often feel towards our families. In the end, it’s a journey of self-discovery—and unlike Brokeback one that ends before it’s too late.

▶︎ Streaming on Hulu

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June 1, 2020
‘The Lovebirds’ shine, the movie not so much | Netflix review
The Lovebirds follows a failing couple who find themselves on the run after witnessing a murder that ropes them into a criminal enterprise

Quick cut: When The Lovebirds gives Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani room to exercise their mastery in comedic timing and delivery it is enormously enjoyable, but the simplistic plot and uninspired writing leaves this crime comedy grounded.

★★★

There’s something about putting a couple at the center of a crime comedy that just works. Whether it’s an actual couple—like in Game Night or Date Night—or a mismatched buddy cop pairing—The Nice Guys or The Other Guys (at least they’re consistent). And perhaps the real reason they work is that the actors in the lead roles have the chemistry and comedic chops to make even the weakest material work. Such is the case with Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani in Netflix’s The Lovebirds, which reunites Nanjiani with his The Big Sick director Michael Showalter.

Rae and Nanjiani play Leilani and Jibran who at the start of the movie are madly in love. Skip four years and they find themselves arguing in their New Orleans apartment about whether or not they’d do well in The Amazing Race. However, like many seemingly silly arguments that long term couples have there is a lot of subtext in their words. Leilani finds Jibran too serious and unwilling to break out of his comfort zone, he finds her too self-involved and obsessed with image—we’ve seen this play out before.

Just as they call it quits while in the car to a friend’s dinner party, they run into a cyclist. And when I say run in, I mean they straight up hit him with their car. However, he doesn’t stick around clearly running from someone. That someone is only known as Mustache (Paul Spark) who commandeers the couple’s car—with them still in it—and chases down the suspect. And when I say chases down, I mean finds him, runs him over, reverses, and runs him over again.

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The couple is shocked and not completely sure what to do, but when a hipster couple hilariously mistakes them for the murderers they make a run for it. Convinced that the only way to prove their innocence is to find the real murderer, Jibran and Leilani set out on a cross-city manhunt looking for any clues. Along the way, they have run-ins with a torturous southern belle (Anna Camp), a frat boy possibly involved in the criminal enterprise that hired Mustache, and a secret sex society pulled straight out of Eyes Wide Shut.

The plot is essentially null and void with no moment that is particularly interesting or memorable. Instead, it’s solely meant to give Rae and Nanjiani moments to exercise their mastery in comedic timing and delivery. When confronted by Anna Camp’s woefully underused southern belle torturer, their bickering about whether or not to take bacon grease to the face or a horse kick to the chest is truly hilarious. In another scene, their interrogation of a frat boy—who Leilani calls “date rape”—shows off the leads’ chemistry. However, the high is often short-lived and stunted by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall‘s witless script.

There are moments when the movie tries to give some depth to the couple as they work through their differences in the midst of this crisis. And while it’s appreciated, it makes the already thin plot even more of a drag. Rae and Nanjiani do their best to lift the material from its subpar footing but are only marginally successful. Is The Lovebirds a complete disaster? No. It’s an entertaining 90 minutes. But after that everything about the movie simply flies away from your mind. Just watch the brilliant Game Night instead.

The Lovebirds is now streaming on Netflix.

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More movies, less problems
Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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May 24, 2020
‘Tingle Monsters’ is the first ASMR horror | short film review
Tingle Monsters takes place in real-time as an ASMR vlogger doing a live stream receives an unexpected surprise

★★★★

In the past few years, there’s been a rise of movies taking place fully on a computer screen with the audience as the hapless voyeurs—Searching and the continually underrated Unfriended come to mind. However, what’s most fascinating about Tingle Monsters, a new short film from director Alexandra Serio—she also stars, is how much it feels like an actual ASMR video. Though the two films I mentioned require some suspension of disbelief, Tingle Monsters is as straightforward as they come.

The movie is made to look like an actual livestream of an ASMR vlogger. ASMR or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is the experience of euphoria characterized by positive feelings and a tingling of the skin most commonly triggered by auditory or visual stimuli. ASMR vloggers use this stimuli to help relax their viewers or ease anxiety—though some may find it anxiety-inducing.

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ASMR has taken YouTube by storm with new channels popping up everyday garnering millions of views. However, it’s also created its own culture bubble anchored by the often hyper-sexualization of women in the internet world. As we watch the vlogger Dee (Serio) begin her live stream, comments in the live chat ranging from support to sexual harassment to threats pop up, causing her to turn off the chat. When the actual horror of the piece begins, after a glorious slow build that made me want to look away but also transfixed me on the screen, the comments begin to range from genuine worry—mirroring the real attachment some people have to their internet personalities to cynical dismissiveness of the situation.

The story shows incredible restraint, ratcheting the tension up to an almost uncomfortable degree before finally giving us release. As the helpless viewers, the loss of control is as horrifying as the actual event. If anything, that’s what great horror is supposed to do—take away our control. As internet and YouTube culture becomes more engrained in our society, it’s only natural that our storytelling begins to encompass it. Tingle Monsters is prescient in that trend and a devilishly fun short to boot.

Tingle Monsters is available to watch for free here.

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More movies, less problems
Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

💌 Sign up for our weekly email newsletter with movie recommendations available to stream.

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May 24, 2020