Tagged with 2015 Films

Review: The Assassin, 2015, dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien

Review: The Assassin, 2015, dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien

“Hou Hsiao-Hsien made a wuxia film. That career choice makes logical sense in a vacuum: Hou is positively obsessed with history, and history, more so than fantasy, is wuxia’s bread and butter. But there’s little in Hou’s body of work aside from his preoccupation with the past to suggest an interest in swordplay. He’s made … Continue reading

Review: Crimson Peak, 2015, dir. Guillermo del Toro

Review: Crimson Peak, 2015, dir. Guillermo del Toro

“Don’t buy a ticket to Crimson Peak expecting a horror movie. Buy a ticket expecting a Guillermo del Toro movie. Your mileage with the film will improve exponentially, sort of like if you traded in your Bentley for a Tesla. With del Toro, “horror” is a misleading label applied mostly by critics and film geeks. … Continue reading

Why Stonewall Doesn’t Work

Why Stonewall Doesn’t Work

“A couple weeks have passed since Roland Emmerich released his latest disaster flick, Stonewall, to the outrage of the gay community, the transgender community, the Ron Perlman fanboy community, the film critic community and probably the “outraged over outrage” community, too. Maybe we should have seen the uproar coming. Emmerich is not the man you … Continue reading

Truer Story: Sicario, Cartel Land, & Narco Cultura

Truer Story: Sicario, Cartel Land, & Narco Cultura

“Mexico has had a problem with drug cartels for decades, but the country’s drug war didn’t officially start until Felipe Calderón ordered a battalion of troops to Michoacán for the dispensal of indiscriminate justice in 2006. You can trace the fallout of Calderón martial intervention either through good old fashioned journalism or U.S. pop culture: … Continue reading

Review: Pan, 2015, dir. Joe Wright

Review: Pan, 2015, dir. Joe Wright

“When Joe Wright’s Pan moves its setting away from London and into Neverland, Peter (Levi Miller), not yet the hero we know he becomes, steps out onto the deck of a flying pirate ship to observe a strip mine jammed with filthy children singing a shanty song that sounds an awful lot like “Smells Like … Continue reading

Review: Addicted to Fresno, 2015, dir. Jaimie Babbit

Review: Addicted to Fresno, 2015, dir. Jaimie Babbit

“Nothing about Jamie Babbit’s Addicted to Fresno sounds bad on paper. Babbit has helmed episodes of Girls, Married, andBrooklyn Nine-Nine in her career, while her partner, Karey Dornetto, has penned installments of Portlandia and vintage Arrested Development; the cast, meanwhile, features Judy Greer and Natasha Lyonne in leading roles while the great, criminally underrated Malcolm Barrett, … Continue reading

Review: Deathgasm, 2015, dir. Jason Lei Howden

Review: Deathgasm, 2015, dir. Jason Lei Howden

“It’s best to think of Jason Lei Howden’s Deathgasm as the spiritual kin of Brendon Small’s great Adult Swim seriesMetalocalypse. They’re both gleefully over-the-top odes to all things metal—from the music to its ethos and iconography. Metalocalypse ran from 2006 to 2012 before capping off with a one-hour rock opera in 2013 and focused on … Continue reading