The House with a Clock in Its Walls is too deeply weird to not at least admire the effort. Director Eli Roth is best known for his violent and gory action and horror movies like Cabin Fever, Death Wish, and the Hostel series. So it was surprising to see him tackle the a family-friendly PG movie based on the…
Heavy Trip is a joyous and affectionate love letter to the outcast that is almost impossible to resist. Heavy Trip—also known as A Band Called Impaled Rektum—is billed as a heavy metal comedy. And it completely is. Told with the same off-beat humor as Taika Waititi's best—Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok—Heavy Trip follows wannabe Finnish heavy metal band…
First Man is a de-glamourized version of Neil Armstrong's reluctant journey to becoming the first man on the moon. What's remarkable about Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) is how unremarkable he is. He's quiet. Almost shy. Sometimes he'll crack a joke or offer a closed mouth smile, but he internalizes most of his emotions. There are a…
Bohemian Rhapsody doesn't do much to break the mold of the typical biopic, but it boasts a breathtaking performance from Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t about the creation of Freddie Mercury. Yes, the movie starts with Mercury as a baggage handler before joining a band that would ultimately become Queen. However, the movie…
Bodied is a sharp and hilarious satire that tackles the complexities of woke culture by exploring the world of battle rap. bod·ied /ˈbädēd/ verb 1. to destroy or kill Used in a sentence: "The movie Bodied bodied toxic liberalism, performative progressiveness, and woke culture." Music video director Joseph Kahn’s third feature pulls no punches as…
The Cakemaker, Israel's 2019 Oscar entry, is a quiet and sweet drama with a great lead performance by Tim Kalkhof. The Cakemaker is about a relationship, but not a romantic one as the setup suggests. Instead, it’s a quiet and sensitively told story about grief and how different people process it. However, there’s so much more…
Paul Dano's directorial debut Wildlife is a quiet but powerful tale of self-destruction with a masterful performance by Carey Mulligan. Wildlife has all the workings of a classic kitchen sink drama. However, instead of the poor industrial towns of England, actor Paul Dano's directorial debut moves the setting to 1960s Montana and follows a working-class family as they…
Science Fair documents the profound and entertaining journey of nine students competing against 1,700 of the world's brightest young minds This is not your typical science fair. Directors Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster's film about the classic school tradition have young high school students with foam poster board talking about their projects. But instead of papier-mâché volcano's and…
Free Solo follows climber Alex Honnold as he prepares mentally and physically to climb a 3,000-foot rock wall... without a rope. Free Solo is about obsession. The subject at the center of the film, Alex Honnold, is obsessed with free soloing, a sport where a climber traverses a mountain without any ropes or harnesses. Just their…
The 1971 southern gothic tale The Beguiled has been reimagined with a sharp, witty tone that delivers some darkly funny laughs. Some of the greatest facets of a southern gothic tale — equivocal gender roles, a decaying setting, social alienation — all appear in both adaptations of Thomas P. Cullinan’s novel A Painted Devil, renamed The Beguiled.…
