8.5
The intimacy of the “influencer relationship” has always been suspect. How does one sift through the disingenuity of the online space to find any real affection when there are Instagram power couples who spend more time orchestrating their romantic selfies and composing
8
What happens when you combine a fleet of public transportation employees, a stage, a classic sci-fi horror film directed by Ridley Scott, and an endless spark of creative ingenuity? You get the West End production of “Alien…on Stage,” an amateur, from-scratch stage
6.5
There is an enthralling line of dark-web, creepypasta intrigue running through Jacob Gentry’s Broadcast Signal Intrusion. which starts his sleek conspiracy thriller off on some strong footing. Set in the late ’90s, when the broadcast airwaves were unruly and full of potential
7.5
It is the film’s personal, maternal angle that makes I Am A Cliché anything but.
7
In the economically bizarre world we live in – where the sizable population of the super-ultra rich could collectively cure world hunger multiple times over but have just decided not to – we have been programmed to view the very idea of
7
Fires on the Plain sees Tsukamoto apply his signature style to a classic of Japanese cinema.
8
The Actor is a witty and kind-hearted look at the acting industry from the perspective of a career sideliner.
5.5
The wonted familial deceit that props up Lying to Mom belies the uneven and bloated melodrama of its plot.
10
A manic meta-comedy of immense proportions, Red Post on Escher Street pokes fun at the chaos of film production with equal parts absurdity and empathy.
7
The laid-back approach in Mori, the Artist’s Habitat works well for such a terminally breezy subject.
9
Night of the Kings deftly celebrates the power of storytelling and myth-making when one’s freedoms are limited.
5.5
Sean Ellis’ 19th-century werewolf horror film lacks the substance and the follow-through to be memorable.
8
Prisoners of the Ghostland sees the eccentric Sion Sono embrace the midnight-movie mode and his exaggerated reputation to make one of his strangest features.
6
The Night is a slick — but ideologically empty — time-loop horror that drags on like its creepy premise.
As our 2020 wrap-up kicks into gear, Chris couldn’t sit idly by and allow only ten of the best films this year get recognition so he decided to highlight 30 of his top titles.
8
The assassination of former heir apparent to the role of Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-nam is probably the only time in the history of the world where the legal defense can be summaraized as, “It was just a prank, bro.”
