Go West, they say, and Hollywood sure is listening. Gorgeous landscapes, harsh terrain, and states like Wyoming and Montana become supporting characters instead of simple locations. Rod Blackhurst’s latest film Blood for Dust takes the viewer on an alternate route of the West, the region’s most lackluster and bland cities. This slow-burn crime thriller is […]
“The Purge” series of films takes aim at Texas in its latest installment, more specifically Marfa in West Texas. “The Forever Purge,” fifth in the horror franchise, focuses on immigration and white supremacy. The film was originally slated for a summer 2020 release, where the cruelty displayed on screen would resonate more with the tumultuous
Sweet, syrupy, pure fantasy—I loved this movie! The joke’s on me, because it’s not the kind of film that I usually take to at all—in fact, I’m often averse to this kind of thing. Yet, there was something about it that moved me and sustained my interest the whole time. It’s basically a tension between ultra-realism and pragmatics
I have serious questions about the critical reactions coming from the Telluride Film Festival. Numerous times recently critics there, who got the first crack at some of the most anticipated fall season films, oversold expectations. All that to say that James Mangold is the kind of director you can usually count on. His films “Walk
There are a lot of great heartfelt moments in Elizabeth Chomko’s directorial debut, including the opening scene where the musical score and images really settle you into your seat. What follows is an intimate look at Alzheimer’s through the eyes of the children dealing with their mother. Oscar winner Hilary Swank is mounting a slow
It’s not Peter Landesman’s first political drama, his failed Parkland remains a sting on his filmography, but he rebounded with the forgotten gem Kill the Messenger the following year. With Mark Felt, Landesman highlights the similarities between the Felt/Nixon and Mueller/Trump era. This, all talk and barely any suspense, drama has scene after scene of
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No confusion in what you are seeing with this title. Of all the misleading and poorly appropriated feature film titles at SXSW, The Most Hated Woman in America is the most accurate. Writer/director Tommy O’Haver (Ella Enchanted) can’t take credit for the title; Atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair both earned and claimed that prestigious title.
Actor turned director Joel David Moore’s film on the topic of legal human euthanasia isn’t the first of 2016 to cover such grounds. I point to Me Before You this past summer and of course the Oscar winning Amour in 2012. Moore (Savages, Avatar) directs the script by newcomer Andrew Eisen in the vein of
Perhaps the film Mud (2012) had a bigger influence and impact on filmmakers than it did on viewers. David Gordon Green’s latest, Joe, and now Sara Colangelo’s Little Accidents both seem to grow from the same fertilizer that Mud derived from. Jacob Lofland, who played “Neckbone” in Mud, gets typecast in his second feature but