The Blackcoat's Daughter, Oz Perkins' debut film, is a tense and twisting psychological thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end. Director Oz Perkins, son of actor Anthony Perkins (yes, Norman Bates), seems to have really been inspired by his father’s most famous role. What makes Psycho such an enduring horror classic is the pervasive slow…
mother! is a cinematic experience like no other and features Jennifer Lawrence's best role to date and a story that's as crazy as they can get. There's a point about halfway through Darren Aronofsky's mother! where you're still in the dark on what the film is about, a bit confused, and ultimately weirded out by the film. But…
Subverting genre tropes, Stronger is a humanist story about triumph over adversity with stellar performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Tatiana Maslany. Jeff Bauman's story feels like one that Hollywood would consume into its "based on a true story" formula and spit out an emotionally manipulative story of triumph over adversity. Stronger is not one of those movies. That's because…
Wind River finds screenwriter Taylor Sheridan taking the director's chair with thrilling results and stellar performances from Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner. Wind River opens with a terrifying shot of a woman running barefoot through the snowy and isolated landscape of Wyoming. She falls to her knees. We never see who or what is chasing her.…
Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 is a visually stunning and emotionally rich sequel that stands equally with the 1982 original Blade Runner 2049 is an all-out assault on your senses. Famed cinematographer Roger Deakins does some of his best work to date in the film — a statement that could be applied to each one of his films.…
The Florida Project is a warm, sun-drenched look at the magic and darkness of childhood in America's poverty stricken areas At the end of The Florida Project, Sean Baker's follow-up to his acclaimed 2015 film Tangerine, I just sat in the dark theater watching the silent end credits roll by. So did most of the people in the theater. It's…
Wonder will win over audience's affection with its charming take on R.J. Palacio's novel of the same name. Wonder is an inspirational poster of a movie, which I say in the least cynical way possible. Like director Stephen Chomsky's last movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wonder knows how to emotionally invest its audience in its characters and story. You…
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a bleak black comedy that boasts some of the best performances and writing of any movie this year. "Raped while dying." "Still no arrests?" "How come, Chief Willoughby?" That is what is written on the titular billboards in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. And while it seems like a simple targeted…
Call Me By Your Name is a sensitive and beautiful portrait of a first love set against the summery backdrop of Italy's countryside. Drenched in the warm tones of summer and set against the backdrop of 1983 "somewhere in Northern Italy" as an opening title card says, Call Me By Your Name tells the story of Elio…
Coco is a beautifully designed and emotionally resonant Pixar film that is a step in the right direction for diversity at the studio Death, murder, loss, and grief are just some of the topics and themes that Pixar’s 19th feature Coco tackles, which is surprising considering it’s a kids movie featuring talking skeletons and an incompetent dog. However,…
