Movie Reviews

The Sisterhood of Night Review

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I can’t imagine what it would be like growing up in a world drenched with social media and constant, instant connectivity. Kids’ lives and their self-images are radically different today than they were when I was a pup. This generation and the effects social media have on them have been explored in films before, but director Caryn Waechter and screenwriter Marilyn Fu’s The Sisterhood of the Night takes this ostensibly familiar material and delivers it through their own artistic and poignant filter. It’s a film made by women about young girls and it is that female-centered viewpoint that really propels The Sisterhood of Night above what would otherwise be an after-school special.

Read the full review at the Riverfront Times.

Run All Night Review

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Filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra has directed Liam Neeson twice before during the actor’s post-Taken career. First in the second-rate Unknown and then in the second-rate Non-Stop, which at least had a condensed setting at 30,000 feet to keep things interesting. After those two substandard thrillers, Neeson came back strong in the bleak urban noir A Walk Among the Tombstones, before collecting another paycheck for Taken 3. For his third film with Neeson, Run All Night, Collet-Serra comes very close to making a cohesive, gritty crime drama, but fumbles by making some wildly bad choices.

Read of the rest of my review over at Collider.

REVIEW: Digging Up the Marrow

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Since coming on the scene with Hatchet in 2006, filmmaker Adam Green has developed a devoted following among horror fans. Through his films and the horror sitcom Holliston that he front runs, it’s easy to tell Green is a hardcore horror fan himself, with a deep knowledge and passion for the genre. This clearly shines through in his new film Digging Up the Marrow, his first feature in five years. The premise and set-up for the film are awesome, but amidst all the kick ass monsters and mayhem, what Digging Up the Marrow ultimately boils down to is Adam Green: The Movie.

read the full review at Bloody Disgusting

FOXCATCHER Review

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Arrogance: the essential toxin that drives the wealthy. For John du Pont, heir to his fabled family’s chemical fortune, it was a healthy dose of that poison chased with wild delusions that led him to murder Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz in 1996. Actually, he was way more bonkers than that, but Bennett Miller’s new film, Foxcatcher, avoids exploiting the tabloid sexiness of du Pont’s story in favor of a more subtle type of crazy – the ominous type that stays under your skin long after the theater lights go up.

Read the rest over at THE ORLANDO WEEKLY.

My 2014 Florida Film Critics Circle Nominees

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The ballots for the Florida Film Critics Circle were due today. Here are my on point nominees. You know I’m right…

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FORCE MAJEURE Review

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At some point in every relationship there comes a test of sorts that reveals the true crux of its foundations. Like farting in front of your spouse for the first time or running away during an avalanche. In director Ruben Ostlund’s brilliant Force Majeure, it’s the latter event that fractures a seemingly happy marriage. This wickedly sharp-eyed Swedish export explores the trappings of marital complacency and the deceptive appearance of security. While Gone Girl took on similar themes earlier this year in an extreme, tabloid manner, Force Majeure’s sensibilities are more in the line with a slowly burning melodrama (think Michael Haneke, if that helps).

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BIRDMAN Review

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Christ, where do we even start? Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is an unclassifiable visual feast that flirts with realism and fantasy. It’s a technical wet dream that unravels in real time, in a simulated one take. On the surface it’s about an aging actor struggling to stay relevant and reclaim his declining celebrity, while its undercurrents explore the madness of the industry.

The film and his role are entirely built around Keaton, whose has-been status as OG Batman makes him the perfect fit for ex-superhero actor Riggan Thomson’s tightie whities.

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Recent Reviews From Beyond

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I haven’t updated in a while. Get off my back, I’m busy. Since I last dropped in, I attended the mighty Mile High Horror Film Festival in Denver, where I saw some rad films and got to rap with some greats. The crew at Mile High was beyond hospitable and I can’t tell ya how wicked it felt to wake up and see mountains outside my window. It went down at the Littleton Alamo Drafthouse, meaning the viewing/dining experience was top notch. I ate chicken sandwiches ALL DAY. I can’t wait for next year’s fest.

On the fiction front, I sold a short story to Thuglit, which will be in their winter issue come February or so. Been a fan of their rag for a while so I’m through the moon with adrenaline about that score.

In the meantime, here’s a rundown of my recent reviews, interviews, and editorials.

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Life of Crime (2014)

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I remember seeing the trailer for Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime about four or five months ago and being pretty excited about it. It’s based on one of my favorites in Elmore Leonard’s canon, “The Switch,” which is a prequel to “Rum Punch” (adapted by Tarantino as Jackie Brown). Life of Crime is also significant because it was the last time Dutch was closely involved with an adaptation of his work. He gets an executive producer credit on the film and although he passed away before its release, I have a solid feeling Dutch would’ve been happy as hell with Schechter’s confident, genuinely Leonardesque comic caper.

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GONE GIRL Review

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David Fincher’s Gone Girl, based on Gillian Flynn’s polarizing bestselling novel, is a marital horror show that’s going to keep spouses up at night wondering what the person sleeping next to them keeps secret. The story itself is pure pulp – a twisting, lurid crime tale with elements similar to (the better of) Lifetime’s original movies. But in the hands of an immaculate craftsman like Fincher, Gone Girl is a sleek work of art that deftly juggles black comedy and drama as it assaults the inner workings of a relationship. He picked the paperback out of the gutter and polished it off, leaving all of the story’s vitriol and venom intact…

READ THE REST OF MY GONE GIRL REVIEW AT THE ORLANDO WEEKLY!!!