6
Two years after his debut, Searching, director Aneesh Chaganty is back with his sophomore feature, Run, a Hitchcockian thriller that may be more traditional than his last computer-screen-based effort but is compelling nonetheless.
8.5
Like fellow Winnipeg weirdo before him, Guy Maddin, Matthew Rankin is quickly establishing a unique brand of surrealism for himself in the world of Canadian cinema. In his full-length feature debut, The Twentieth Century, the director applies his penchant for madcap and
4
This is a repost of our review from Fantastic Fest 2020, Girl will be available on VOD platforms November 20th.
Aside from being rather SEO unfriendly, the title of Chad Faust’s feature debut, Girl, refers to the nameless protagonist, a supposed stand-in
3.5
Paul Leyden’s Chick Fight centers on an underground MMA fighting club wherein pressed-upon women who have been “trained by society to cry out their problems” can embrace their inner Amazonian and work it out on another woman’s face in the ring. The
5.5
Watching Divine Love is like watching a home-run hitter ready up for a bunt. So much power and energy sit in the chest of the film, but it’s never released to its full potential.
Divine Love takes place in 2027 Brazil, where
5.5
Echo Boomers, directed and co-written by Seth Savoy, is positioned as “a true story if you believe in such things” and is told through the narrative lense of Lance Zutterland (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and others who were involved in a series of home
6
Stop me if you have heard this one before: Nine friends from high school meet up in the middle of a dense forest for a reunion camping trip. Significantly grown apart, their drunken revelry is stained by their antagonism for one another,
8
In our fundamentally connected digital epoch, it is a challenge for the ache of missing someone to still resonate the way it used to, when that person is eternally at your fingertips. For the imminently spacebound astronaut Sarah (Eva Green), the pining
5.5
Mortal exercises commendable ambition in its plot but is ultimately let down by a flat, dour execution; there’s something caught between its potential and its delivery, as if there’s some communication that’s been lost in the stages between the script and the
3
With its threadbare plot, gobsmackingly frustrating characters, and dull time-loop mechanic, Koko-Di Koko-Da is a test of one’s patience more than it is a meditation on grief.
5
The tight, 75-minute runtime allows little breathing room for its characters, while the story never quite differentiates itself from others that have come before.
8
The Donut King is a fascinating story of the promises (and blunt realities) of the American dream for one Cambodian refugee.
7
The unique and masterfully executed animation is worth the price of admission alone, but the thoughtful homage to classic monster movies and the frequent comedic injections make this a fun, albeit rough around the edges, spook show.
5
Compounded by its unoriginal story beats, the film comes out feeling uninspired, outside of its impressive direction.
8
After their debut with 2012’s glorious low-budget mindfuck, Resolution, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have been producing hit after hit, with their clever genre mashups that always keep the audience on its toes. With every release we can see them hone their
6
Changes in character and perception make this film unique, but it’s unfortunate that these elements are weighed down by a story teetering on the edge of believability.
