REVIEW: Nr. 10 [2021]

Kamaihi. The best way to watch Alex van Warmerdam‘s latest Nr. 10 is to go in blind. He practically titled it “number 10” to help with that fact—it being his tenth directorial effort taking the spotlight from anything specific that happens within. It’s also the reason why the first half of the runtime unfolds conventionally. If all you’re watching is an actor (Tom Dewispelaere‘s Günter) as his world comes undone due to his director (Hans Kesting‘s Karl) discovering he’s having an affair with his wife (Anniek Pheifer‘s Isabel), you become…

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REVIEW: Vesper [2022]

You don’t know the cost of dreams. It’s the New Dark Ages and the world has devolved to mimic a YA novel’s class system with the poor left to fend for themselves in desolate wastelands while the rich remain protected in Citadels sprinkled throughout their expanse. Animals are dead. Plants are dead. Most humans are dead. To survive means scraping by with what few seeds you purchase from the cities, each lasting only one season. The cost is the blood of children and why those with power in the swamps…

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VENICE22 REVIEW: Aus meiner Haut [Skin Deep] [2023]

What is this place? What makes a person? Mind or body? Take that line of inquiry even further and ask what it is you love about your significant other. Is it how they look or who they are? The combination of answers to these questions are infinite because we as people are too. Maybe looks or humor or generosity got you through the door, but those things can’t stop you from leaving alone. At some point you must dig deeper to discover it’s the indefinable essence beneath their skin and…

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REVIEW: Nope [2022]

I guess some animals ain’t fit to be trained. The scene that encapsulates what Jordan Peele‘s Nope delivers comes somewhat early as OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em Haywood (Keke Palmer) visit the owner and operator of the theme park that serves as their neighbor out in Agua Dulce, California. The purpose of the visit is to sell Ricky ‘Jupe’ Park (Steven Yeun) another of their Hollywood trained horses now that their father’s (Keith David‘s Otis) death has left them with the debts an industry shift towards digital animal effects exacerbated.…

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FANTASIA22 REVIEW: The Artifice Girl [2023]

Forever and always with pride. Amidst all the high concept computer programming speak and moral/ethical implications surrounding the creation of artificial life, the smartest line of dialogue in Franklin Ritch‘s The Artifice Girl is when Gareth (Ritch) admits, “I honestly don’t know how I did it.” Not only does it absolve the filmmaker of having to make something up to justify the complex progression of his sci-fi premise, but it also speaks to the reality that technological innovation often occurs accidentally. We can’t therefore know what we don’t know or…

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FANTASIA22 REVIEW: Next Exit [2022]

I can start with one minute. While a viral video of a young boy playing cards with his dead father captured the nation so profoundly that suicides and murders have skyrocketed due to humanity no longer fearing death, allowing every single ghost to be seen by every single human on Earth would be quite the logistical issue for first-time feature film writer/director Mali Elfman. She first started crafting Next Exit ten years ago and thus has had plenty of time to tweak and hone her script in a way that…

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REVIEW: Jurassic World Dominion [2022]

This isn’t about us. Why create something new when you can ride the nostalgia train to the bank? That’s ultimately what the Jurassic World trilogy does. Did it correct some things as far as pushing the potential of Michael Crichton‘s original novel? Yes. With Fallen Kingdom, Steven Spielberg‘s heir apparent Colin Trevorrow finally brought the dinosaurs to shore and acknowledged the next step in the evolution of the genetic technology at the back of everything this franchise delivered since Jurassic Park. Fast-forward to Jurassic World Dominion, however, and you couldn’t…

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REVIEW: Battle at Big Rock [2019]

It’s one of them. If Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom had one purpose, it was for clone baby Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) to do what Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) couldn’t: let the dinosaurs go free. While the idea of using Lockwood resources to create an ark and save as many species as possible to exist in their own island sanctuary away from hubristic humans was a ruse to illegally sell them all off to the highest bidder, the mercenaries under Eli Mills’ (Rafe Spall) employ ended up playing Noah anyway.…

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REVIEW: Crimes of the Future [2022]

Body is reality. Much like how heartbreak proves necessary for love, pain is needed for life. To live anesthetized is to simply exist—unfeeling, unbothered, unmoved. It’s no wonder then that National Organ Registry investigator Wippet (Don McKellar) would chuckle when admitting how performance art has become the new rage. Everyone wants to be that thing that breaks through the monotony. They want to both push themselves to the point of artistic beauty through their numbed bodies and inspire audiences to do the same. Not everyone is equally successful, though. When…

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REVIEW: Neptune Frost [2022]

But my life was never quite mine. Of the many disciplines for which Saul Williams excels, poet seems his label of choice. He’s an actor, rapper, songwriter, and many more titles that fit under the umbrella of “artist”, but poet gets to the heart of his soul and his power. Its built-in esotericism should also set the stage for the fact his feature film directorial debut alongside co-director/cinematographer Anisia Uzeyman won’t necessarily be the easiest to access sight unseen. This Afrofuturist, anti-colonial, science fiction uprising is the latest chapter of…

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REVIEW: Men [2022]

It’s the tip of the blade. Harper (Jessie Buckley) arrives at the gorgeous country estate owned and rented out by a kindly yet awkward man (Rory Kinnear‘s Geoffrey) in a bid to escape the tragic turmoil surrounding her. Anyone who’s seen the trailer knows said turmoil stems from the death of her husband James (Paapa Essiedu), his face falling in front of the window that she gazed out from has permanently fixed to her brain. When someone asks whether she’s tormented by this event, she rejects the word. When they…

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