Film Reviews

[rating=9.00] Guillermo del Toro is a director who’s never lacked for vision. His is an artistry so distinct, so unique, so specific that it bleeds through in every frame of every film that’s ever bore his name. From Cronos, to Hellboy, to Pan’s Labyrinth to Pacific Rim, his films are so striking and so vivid […]

[rating=2.00] I sincerely hope that everyone involved in the making of Freeheld feels appropriately ashamed of themselves. They’ve taken a wonderful, inspiring, heart-wrenching, infuriating, and beautiful true story and given it a movie with all the emotional resonance and presence of a Lifetime Original. It’s not just bad, it’s offensively bad. It’s a pandering mess […]

[rating=7.00] How do I judge a movie that has the pedigree of Bridge of Spies? Bridge of Spies is a movie directed by one of the all-time great directors (Steven Spielberg), co-written by two of the all-time best screenwriters (Joel and Ethan Coen, working with Matt Charman) and starring one of the best actors of […]

[rating=4.00] It was one of those moments that stopped the world. Images of a smiling girl trickled through the newswires from Pakistan, her bright face heinously juxtaposed by the captions and voices of the reporters that told us Malala Yousafzai had been shot. Her story transcended boundaries of politics, race, and culture as citizens of […]

Here we are at the very end, after eight days and more than two dozen movies, and a host of other shenanigans, Fantastic Fest closed with a bang, presenting two of its more anticipated films as final screenings its last two nights. These nights brought about a lighthearted video game documentary, a descent into madness, […]

[rating=7.00] The war on drugs fueled violence just south of the border in Mexico offers a wealth of inspiration for anyone looking to craft a taut and nuanced portrayal of cinematic crime. The cartels who vie for power and control of the trafficking routes are notorious for the extremes they’ll go to exert their authority […]

[rating=8.00] By nature, man is a beast who constantly strives to push boundaries. Personal boundaries. Cultural boundaries. Societal. It doesn’t really matter to us. If there’s a line in the sand, we dare to cross it. If there’s a no to be given, some rebel will inevitably scream “YES” in defiance. It’s what makes us […]

[rating=9.00] The isolated man has been a theme of literature since, well, we’ve had literature. The need for connection is so innate that the exploration of its absence offers us a deep and resonating insight into the pathos of the human condition. From Robinson Crusoe to Castaway, the stories of man are littered with tales […]

Inching past the halfway point of Fantastic Fest’s eight-day movie marathon celebrating all things genre, it gives dedicated attendees such as myself a chance to catch up on films that were missed during the opening few days, mostly because I was in another theater, furiously scribbling notes while having my celluloid-loving mind blown. As we […]

Fantastic Fest is the kind of film festival that is unafraid of pushing the boundaries of style and taste. It’s the sort of place where you can expect sensibilities to be tested for the love of film. Fast approaching the festival’s halfway point, Sunday brought with it a bit of this mindset with the screening […]