Posted in June 2015

Review: Big Game, 2015, dir. Jalmari Helander

Review: Big Game, 2015, dir. Jalmari Helander

“Big Game’s stelliform cast isn’t the only proof Finnish director Jalmari Helander has gone Hollywood. The scene that best evinces his Tinseltown transition plays out in the film’s first few minutes, in which one of the supporting players from Helander’s international breakout movie, the wonderful Yuletide-horror gem Rare Exports, gets mercilessly exploded in a wanton … Continue reading

Review: Ted 2, 2015, dir. Seth MacFarlane

Review: Ted 2, 2015, dir. Seth MacFarlane

“Asking whether we really needed a sequel to 2012’s Ted is almost unfair to Ted 2. Sequels, follow-ups, and part twos (and threes and fours) make up an ever-increasing percentage of our moviegoing diet these days. Questioning their necessity has nearly become reflexive. Treat it like a Mad Lib if you like. (Did we really … Continue reading

INSIDE OUT & Pixar’s Philosophy of Melancholy

INSIDE OUT & Pixar’s Philosophy of Melancholy

“Pixar’s Inside Out feels like a miracle for two reasons: deprivation and reclamation. Last year marked the first since 2005 that the studio failed to bless pop culture with new material. Leading up to that gap in their slate, though, Pixar’s status as an animation giant started a perilous downward spiral thanks to a surge … Continue reading

Review: CREEP, 2015, dir. Patrick Brice

Review: CREEP, 2015, dir. Patrick Brice

“Trust is a valuable commodity online. Though the connective power of the Internet has made our world smaller, believing in what you can’t see is risky business. That gal, or guy, you meet in World of Warcraft could actually be a guy, or gal, who regularly falls asleep covered in Cheetos debris. The sweet Groupon … Continue reading

Interview: Patrick Brice, CREEP/THE OVERNIGHT

Interview: Patrick Brice, CREEP/THE OVERNIGHT

“Patrick Brice wants to make you squirm. Two features into his career as a filmmaker, Brice has made a found footage performance piece-cum-Craigslist nightmare (Creep), and a raunchy adult sex comedy bolstered by a healthy dollop of dangling male prostheses (The Overnight). Put bluntly, he’s out to test the limitations of his audience. But that’s … Continue reading

Review: Inside Out, 2015, dir. Peter Docter

Review: Inside Out, 2015, dir. Peter Docter

The speed and immediacy of access we all enjoy courtesy of the Internet tends to breed knee-jerk thoughtlessness. As a result, we live in a non-complex world where a single strike against an established entity in the entertainment industry – a movie, a television show, a celebrity – is enough to declare it substantially bankrupt. Years … Continue reading

Review: The Overnight, 2015, dir. Patrick Brice

Review: The Overnight, 2015, dir. Patrick Brice

“Making new friends isn’t easy when you’re grown-up and married. It’s that kind of anxiety first felt by the leads in Patrick Brice’s sophomore feature, The Overnight, a dizzying, debauched, excruciatingly funny film about knitting new connections through discomfort. Brice has made the trend-forward sprawl of suburban Los Angeles his backdrop, and his story begins … Continue reading

10 Movies You Need To See Twice To Understand

10 Movies You Need To See Twice To Understand

“Ever walked away from a film feeling completely discombobulated by your viewing experience? We all enjoy linear movies, but every now and again we’re taken off guard by a completely ambiguous, inscrutable flick that leaves us scratching our heads. A little obscurity once in a while is a good thing, of course – dense, cerebral … Continue reading

10 Movie Monsters That Will Give You Nightmares

10 Movie Monsters That Will Give You Nightmares

“Who doesn’t like a good movie monster? Whether it’s Count Orlok from Nosferatu or the Rhedosaurus from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, cinema has a monster flick out there to suit your tastes. Maybe you’re a fan of Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion skeletons, or perhaps the granddaddy of all kaiju, Godzilla. But there are movie monsters, … Continue reading