The 2018 BAMcinemaFest, the 10th edition of the annual festival, kicked off Wednesday and runs until Sunday, July 1st. It has, over the last decade, established itself as one of the best, most daringly curated selections of American independent filmmaking that moviegoers could ask for, undoubtedly the borough’s perennial apogee for new cinema. This year’s slate is, unsurprisingly, replete with excellent films from exciting filmmakers, both neophytes and veterans, culling highlights from less consistent smorgasbords like Sundance (Madeline’s Madeline, Sorry to Bother You, Leave No Trace) and South…
The first and certainly most beloved of the Jurassic Park films sums up the entire franchise with a single line, when Sam Neill’s Grant first sees a dinosaur and exclaims, “It’s a dinosaur!” Even when directed by a genuine master like Steven Spielberg (and especially when they’re not), these films always have a pretty low bar to clear. One can pine all they want for the sense of awe and wonder in the face of nature that was maybe evoked by…
No other company right now is playing the is-it-or-isn’t-is-a-horror-film game quite like A24. Blumhouse has their straightforward genre thrills down pat, with the occasional Purge film to expand their scope and dabble in some totally unsubtle social messaging. But A24, whether working in horror with sci-fi elements or horror as historical drama or horror with apocalyptic, mankind-is-the-real-enemy overtones has collected a roster of polished, deliberately scary arthouse films…
In the 14 years since The Incredibles, the superpowered Parr family hasn’t aged a day. This sequel picks up right where the first film left off — except director Brad Bird has gotten older, and he sure feels a lot of ways about a lot of stuff. Bird is weirdly concerned with shifting gender roles, even though Elastigirl was basically the heroine of the first movie; he thinks an untrustworthy media is poisoning the judgment of the clueless masses…