Hats off to Ryan Murphy: The man is consistently contradictory. Just a few weeks after his new show Ratched hit Netflix, his adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical The Prom arrives to the platform gussied up in a technicolor version of the same worshipful high school nostalgia as Glee, and riddled with the same condescension toward “average” people that defined Nip/Tuck and The Politician. Continue reading “Review: ‘The Prom’ is a Superficial But Fun Way to End 2020”
One of modern cinema’s most celebrated directors has made a triumphant return with a story 80 years in the making. David Fincher’s newest feature, Mank, hit Netflix in the early hours of December 4th, bringing Christmas early for many Fincher fanatics (such as myself). It had been six years since the release of 2014’s acclaimed Gone Girl and the extended gap (in terms of how frequently Fincher has historically released his films) left much riding on these 132 minutes. Continue reading “Review: ‘Mank’ Offers an Escape to the Glitz of 1930’s Hollywood”
No three things go better together than Christmas, chaos, and love. That is, if the romcom genre has anything to say about the season. Happiest Season certainly has all three of these things in spades. When Abby (Kristen Stewart) goes to meet her girlfriend Harper’s (Mackenzie Davis) parents over Christmas, her plan to propose goes awry when Harper reveals that she hasn’t come out to her family yet. Continue reading “Review: ‘Happiest Season’ Is Flawed, But Still Fun”
New York City, 1976. There’s a party going on in one of the more spacious apartments in Manhattan. Inside, people are drinking, smoking, and having sex, things you’d expect at a party. Outside, on the fire escape, a college professor engages in a discussion with a colleague about the current political state of affairs. Continue reading “Review: ‘Uncle Frank’ is a Feel Good Story That Fails to Make Broader Commentary”
Holidate establishes some all-important vocabulary right off the bat: A “holidate” is someone to spend any given holiday with, explicitly for the purpose of not being alone and preventing your family members from trying to set you up with someone else. To be clear, it’s not a friends-with-benefits situation. If anything, it’s closer to a rental family, except it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement rather than something paid for. But while having a “holidate” is a fun idea, John Whitesell’s Holidate isn’t the kind of movie to bring home for the holidays. Continue reading “Review: ‘Holidate’ Sets the Tone for Netflix’s Holiday Season”
In this Chinese legend-inspired children’s movie, renowned animator Glen Keane directs Over the Moon, a story about a young girl who travels to the moon to meet a moon goddess. Continue reading “Review: ‘Over the Moon’ is Otherworldly in Visual Effects But Offers Nothing Groundbreaking”
A few years ago, the idea of a Borat sequel releasing days before a major election seemed unthinkable. The first film set itself up for a sequel with that ending, but it’s been years. 2020, however, has hardly been the realm of the expected, and of course we had Sacha Baron Cohen come back as the titular Kazakh “reporter.” Continue reading “Review: ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ Invites the World to a New America”
This Halloween season, the market for spooky escapism is bigger than ever. Cadaver is not escapism, but rather about escapism. In this Norwegian direct-to-Netflix horror/thriller, former actress Leonora (Gitte Witt) and her family embark on a night out at a mysterious hotel/theater. Lured by the promise of a free meal and show in the middle of a war-induced famine, Leo and her family become immersed in the strange world of the hotel. As the night continues, and audience members begin to disappear, Leo finds herself in a fight for her life, where nothing is as it first appears. Continue reading “Review: ‘Cadaver’ Bites Off More Than It Can Chew”
Just in time for Halloween, Netflix has released Rebecca, the third adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s beloved 1938 novel about the sinister ongoings at an English country estate. The 1940 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture and starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, is often considered to be the best version of the story. Ben Wheatley’s rote adaptation of Rebecca only goes to proves the superiority and timelessness of Hitchcock’s. Continue reading “Review: ‘Rebecca’ Adaptation Pales in Comparison to Hitchcock’s Original”
Radha Blank writes, directs, and stars as herself in her first film, The 40-Year-Old Version. She plays a struggling playwright aiming to reinvent herself as a rapper at 40. The film draws from Blank’s own experiences; Her apartment is used in the film along with her late mother’s artwork and her father’s jazz. Even her stage name in the film, RadhaMUSprime, is the same label under which Blank created her own mixtape.