#StreamingScene

#StreamingScene by Daniel Gorman Film

Earthquake Bird | Wash Westmoreland

November 22, 2019

For some inexplicable reason, Netflix seems to have set its sights on reviving the early-to- mid 90’s boom of erotic thrillers, old-fashioned melodramas mixed with vague neo-noir trappings and done up with a patina of sex and slick, gauzy cinematography (think anything with Rebecca De Mornay or Sean Young from the era). Earthquake Bird fits the bill, and also boasts the dubious distinction of being about 5 years too late to jump on the Gillian Flynn-adjacent Gone Girl and Making a Murderer bandwagons. Earthquake Bird is…

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#StreamingScene by Matthew Lucas Film

Lady and the Tramp | Charlie Bean

At this point, the Disney live action remake is a fact of life, a part of the current moviegoing landscape as ubiquitous as superheroes and unwanted remakes. So far, their quality has ranged from solid (Cinderella) to unnecessary (The Lion King) to dreadful (Aladdin).…

November 19, 2019
#StreamingScene by Matt Lynch Film

The Report | Scott Z. Burns

Playing out with an advocacy doc’s briskness and efficiency of exposition rather than a suspenseful chronicle of investigative journalism, Scott Z. Burns’ The Report is closer to something like Spotlight than the more formally aggressive and elegant All the President’s Men or Zodiac. And…

November 14, 2019
#StreamingScene by Daniel Gorman Film

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie | Vince Gilligan

It’s incredibly difficult for a television show to stick the landing. Long running programs tend to become different things for different viewers, particularly shows that have fully lodged themselves into pop culture. For every controversial ending (I’m thinking Seinfeld, Lost, and especially The Sopranos) there are…

October 14, 2019
#StreamingScene by Daniel Gorman Film

In the Shadow of the Moon | Jim Mickle

It is endlessly frustrating to see Netflix continue to gobble up talented, idiosyncratic directors and spew out garbled, muddled nonsense. As critic Katie Rife recently wrote over at The AV Club, “the streaming service seems to have a knack for commissioning original films from…

October 3, 2019
#StreamingScene by Daniel Gorman Film

Ana, Mon Amour | Calin Peter Netzer

With Ana, Mon Amour, director Calin Peter Netzer is desperately trying to align himself with the great figures of doomed romantic cinema, from Rivette and Cassavettes to Bergman and Pialat. That’s certainly a bold aspiration, although given that rarified air it is perhaps unsurprising that…

September 16, 2019
#StreamingScene by Chris Mello Film

Hail Satan? | Penny Lane

The Satanists in Hail Satan? don’t actually worship the devil, but it’d be a lot cooler if they did. Instead of ritualistic blood sacrifices and black magick, the Satanic Temple has set its sights on doing political and social good. When a statue of the Ten…

September 3, 2019
#StreamingScene by Lawrence Garcia Film

Yara | Abbas Fahdel

Set in the remote valley of Qadishi, in Northern Lebanon, Abbas Fahdel’s Yara is a limited, if verdant vision of quotidian life. Centered on an orphaned teen girl (Michelle Wehbe) — the title character — who lives with her grandmother, the film observes a…

August 28, 2019
In Review | Online film and music criticism
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