Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
“All art is dangerous.” One of the very first scenes in Velvet Buzzsaw – a cinematic approach to Juvelian satire with playfully inventive savagery and a generous splash of acerbic […]
Category Archives: Thriller
Beauty and the Dogs (2018)
“Why are you playing with my nerves?” A French/Tunisian film full of social justice politics in a patriarchal world, Beauty and the Dogs hits hard because it’s so harrowing and so […]
Serenity (2019)
“He’s dead in the water.” Some films are incomprehensible because their great scope out distances the reach of their aim. Others are ambiguous for posterity’s sake, told in vague tongues […]
The Mule (2018)
“I’ve never been a plan B kind of guy.” The Mule owns a peculiar, engrossing true story buried somewhere in its great wealth of cinematic nothingness. Somewhere inside there’s an honest depiction […]
Widows (2018)
“I don’t own anything.” Widows cleverly uses the spirit of the legendary Nina Simone, imparting her collected calm and jazzy timbre from “Wild is the Wind” into a picture that pairs […]
Robin Hood (2018)
“It takes a thief to catch a thief.” Robin Hood begins by suggesting we forget everything we assume to know about the legendary figure, only to then rehash and re-frame […]
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018)
“I realized too late that I committed an abomination.” From the opening title sequence that oozes with James Bond’s spy sensibilities, it’s quite clear The Girl in the Spider’s Web wants to […]
Madeline’s Madeline (2018)
“What are we making?” Experimental, emotionally overwhelming, and appropriately dressed in shades of ambiguity, Madeline’s Madeline is an obscure and enigmatic film that’s comfortable in the many skins it so easily […]
Hunter Killer (2018)
“We don’t really know what’s going on up top.” Hunter Killer is like a thinly sketched, unthreatening version of the three-headed Greek monster Cerberus. It’s a beast that barks plenty […]
Halloween (2018)
“He’s waited for me. I waited for him.” Released almost exactly 40 years after John Carpenter’s iconic original – and after ditching all of the loose consequences and false avenues […]
