The Vault offers plenty of slick, heisty fun, but is hampered a bit by some unfortunate, charisma-sucking casting choices. Best known as the writer and director…
Happily is heady, genuinely hilarious, and a work of impressive tonal balance from director BenDavid Grabinski. The law of diminishing returns dictates that, over time, optimal…
Exodus tantalizes with the possibility of incisive critique, but ultimately paints a fairly empty picture. Exodus, the debut feature by cinematographer-turned-director Logan Stone, is a peculiarly…
The Winter Lake angles for slow-burn thriller mode, but manages only to be slow as it brings little of substance to the table. Set in a…
Pixie delightfully channels Tarantino and Ritchie to playful, arch effect. After spending the last few years delivering stellar second-fiddle performances, Olivia Cooke steals the show in…
The Devil Below is unfortunately hamstrung by its shoestring budget and liberal cribbing of better horror properties. Being a horror fan is sometimes like taking a…
Shoplifters of the World is bad enough that all it really accomplishes is a reminder of how great The Smiths were. Set in 1987, Stephen Kijak’s…
A Ghost Waits is a slight but impressive calling card of a film boasting two genuinely notable performances. An oddball, micro-budget supernatural rom-com, Adam Stovall’s A…
Sator is a distinctive, genuinely novel and unsettling contribution to the horror genre. Made almost entirely by one person — writer/director/producer Jordan Graham also built his…
The Mimic is nothing more than an maddening ego flex that is far too confident in its own “brilliance.” The Mimic, from writer-director Thomas F. Mazziotti,…
Cowboys abandons nuance and meaningful exploration in favor of cheap sentimentalism and easy moralizing. Queer cinema has always (unfairly) had to walk a very fine line.…
Burn It All is a bona fide bit of exploitation trash, legitimately awful but enthralling in its sheer ineptitude. Contrary to popular belief, exploitation films are…
Body Brokers is littered with fascinating parts, but never manages to pull it all together into a cohesive vision. There are at least four different movies…
I Blame Society is a cutting antihero showcase for director-star Gillian Wallace Horvat. Wickedly funny and sharp enough to draw blood, I Blame Society is the…
Young Hearts is a sweet but ultimately very slight bit of decade-late lite-mumblecore cinema. Sarah and Zachary Ray Sherman‘s young love story Young Hearts (formerly titled Thunderbolt in Mine…
Sacrifice is overly familiar, Lovecraftian knockoff material that’s a slog to get through even at a short 88 minutes. The legacy of H.P. Lovecraft looms large…
The Sinners is bad enough one wishes it veered into absurdist fun. It doesn’t. As far as horror films go, there are a number of avenues…
Dara of Jasenovac borders of propaganda, more concerned with stoking ongoing political turmoil than honoring the tragedy at its core. Dara of Jasenovac, Serbia’s official submission…
Run Hide Fight can go fuck itself. Any film critic worth their salt can speak to the near-impossible task of reviewing films in a true vacuum,…
American Skin is a smug, self-congratulatory vanity project that is sledgehammer-subtle and utterly depthless. Actor Nate Parker took the 2016 Sundance Film Festival by storm with…