Chris Luciantonio, Author at Film Pulse

COMING TO MY SENSES Review

A lone man pushes a wheelchair through the vast, unforgiving expanse of 20 uncharted miles of Death Valley back to civilization. Far from the psychedelic runoff of an uncontained Lynchian experiment, director Dominic Gill is documenting the final symbolic journey of motocross rider Aaron Baker, who in 1999 broke his neck and severely damaged his spinal cord, resulting in paralysis and significant mobility reduction with little hope of recovering.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio May 25, 2018 0

THE MISANDRISTS Review

There are few things more dependable in cinema than Bruce LaBruce's transgressive sexual politics and his aesthetic fixation with that enticing grey area between independent cinema and hardcore gay pornography.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio May 21, 2018 0

8.5

AVA Review

AVA is completely composed of these static, penetrating shots into space that give off the air of stringent rules and authority in all the ways Ava finds herself decentralized in these compositions.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio April 29, 2018 0

WHO’S JENNA…? Review

Never thought I would say this in a review, but you could honestly find better examples of cinema on PornHub than with the lowly Who's Jenna...?

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio April 23, 2018 0

AN ORDINARY MAN Review

Perhaps, with its priorities reorganized, the effort Kingsley puts into the role could not have been so thoroughly wasted; but as it stands, it seems An Ordinary Man is the lesser of the four films he appeared in last year.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio April 20, 2018 0

5.5

AFTER LOUIE Review

From After Louie's conceptual standpoint there exists the foundation for a highly intriguing character study about this human artifact from the AIDS crisis coming to terms with the his generational succession by his community.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio March 30, 2018 0

6.5

I KILL GIANTS Review

As a fan of the source's unsuspecting depth, this isn't nearly enough for me, but as an introduction to this story, it is more than suitable.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio March 20, 2018 0

RAMEN HEADS Review

Ramen Heads comes apart, not because of its failings as much as its unintentional reiteration that it could have worked better as a short film.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio March 13, 2018 0

OPERATION RED SEA Review

Operation Red Sea should not be watched for its weak point in writing but be appreciated for its earnest proficiency in action directing.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio February 26, 2018 0

7.5

ARE WE NOT CATS Review

Not since the days of David Cronenberg has the classical approximation of love as being the act of “giving a part of one's self to another” ever been more grotesquely literal than in Xander's Robin's destitute romance Are We Not Cats.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio February 20, 2018 0

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INTERCHANGE Review

Existing on a precipice between its police-procedural grittiness and the fantastical digressions of its local mythology, Interchange is an anomaly with a failure to delineate these worlds from one another or to give exposition to their coexistence, making its investigative trip to mystic territory obtuse at best.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio February 20, 2018 0

3.5

THE FEMALE BRAIN Review

The Female Brain seems like the CliffsNotes of Dr. Brizedine's greater work and condensed into a romantic comedy schema, which desperately attempts to reject it.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio February 14, 2018 0

5.5

BILAL: A NEW BREED OF HERO Review

Bilal fails at establishing its central hero for any of the teaching points you graft onto him.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio February 9, 2018 0

BEFORE WE VANISH Review

It should be emphasized that the elements corralled together are strong in their own rights, and if Kurosawa could have shored up the dragging run time necessary to cover his juxtapositions, Before We Vanish could have been a much more promising endeavor.

Posted by: Chris Luciantonio January 30, 2018 1