Posted in April 2016

Interview: Karyn Kusama, “The Invitation”

Interview: Karyn Kusama, “The Invitation”

I trust in my critical faculties to interpret the films that I watch, and for good reason, because my critical faculties are pretty fucking awesome, but there is something to be said for having my eyes opened by the perspectives of other people. In the case of The Invitation, which I clearly dug, “other people” means … Continue reading

Review: Hardcore Henry, 2016, dir. Ilya Naishuller

Review: Hardcore Henry, 2016, dir. Ilya Naishuller

I have never gotten motion sick from watching a movie. Ever. My stomach stayed strong through the shaky-cam antics of Cloverfield, and I didn’t flinch watching either of the first two V/H/S films in the theater. (V/H/S Viral upset my digestion, but only because it’s kind of a terrible movie.) I can endure buckets of gore without batting … Continue reading

Review: The Invitation, 2016, dir. Karyn Kusama

Review: The Invitation, 2016, dir. Karyn Kusama

I’m a big fan of movies that function on the principle of “the less you know, the better,” but let me tell you: They are a bitch to write about. How much is too much? Where’s the line between giving away precious details and playing too coy for your audience’s own good? The answers to these … Continue reading

Review: Baskin, 2016, dir. Can Evrenol

Review: Baskin, 2016, dir. Can Evrenol

Horror fans, of late, have been spoiled by a wealth of sophisticated, smartly made films that explore deep-rooted emotional themes and human issues, ranging from parental fears to teenage anxieties. (See: The Babadook, It Follows, The Witch, We Are What We Are, Spring, Let the Right One In.) These are all, for the most part, great movies, and those that aren’t great are … Continue reading

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, March 2016

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, March 2016

It’s that time again: Criterion time. March’s release slate for the boutique home video label saw quite a few essentials, a’la John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate and Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (which I once wrote about in the greener days of my life as a film critic), as well as a couple of films that have not … Continue reading