Review: The Tiger Hunter, 2017, dir. Lena Khan

Casting people of colors in roles that demand they speak in regional accents they don’t have is insulting, but what if – what if – a movie directed by an Indian-American woman (Lena Khan!) cast an Indian-American actor (Danny Pudi!) as a guy from India and thus required him to adopt an Indian accent? I’m not sure … Continue reading →

‘mother!’ Marks New Turn In Year of Prestige Horror

It’s been seven years since I gave a damn about a Darren Aronofsky movie, but in that time he won everyone’s hearts with Black Swan and made a big ol’ oopsie with Noah, so I guess on the “give a damn” scale, he still scores better than neutral. So it was a pleasure to write about his … Continue reading →

Review: The Limehouse Golem, 2017, dir. Juan Carlos Medina

I’m on board for any kind of atmospheric Gothic guignol, so The Limehouse Golem is right in my wheelhouse. Everyone knows that Jack the Ripper was the most prolific serial killer of his day; what this film presupposes is, what if he wasn’t? That’s a campy enough premise to work off of, and if I’m being … Continue reading →

Review: Trophy, 2017, dir. Shaul Schwarz & Christina Clusiau

I’m of the mind that we’re all animal lovers, even those of us who include animals in our diet, whether in the form of products derived from, say, their milk (like cheese) or in the form of their meat. So it stands to reason that we’re all going to get something from watching Shaul Schwarz … Continue reading →

The Over/Under Podcast: ‘La La Land’ & ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’

Let’s be upfront with each other: You don’t want to hear me complain, yet again, about La La Land, and you don’t want to hear me sing the praises of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg once more. You also don’t want to hear me do both at the same time, because I’ve done it already. But I do want to … Continue reading →

Review: High Fantasy, 2017, dir. Jenna Bass

I think we’re going to see a lot of people making movies on iPhones, or I guess I should say a lot more people; it’s not like Sean Baker, the brilliant Sean Baker, he of Tangerine, and Starlet, and Prince of Broadway, is the first filmmaker to think of using a mobile device to shoot a movie, but I doubt … Continue reading →

“It” Proves That Children Are The Perfect Heroes Of Horror

Another day, another piece about It, and also, by pure, happiest of coincidences, another piece for Polygon. This time, I’m on about the child heroes of It, arguing that children make the best heroes in all of horror cinema. (They do! The reasons are few but, if you ask me, they’re pretty persuasive. Then again, I wrote … Continue reading →

Hollywood Has Reached Peak ’80s Nostalgia

If you know me, you know that unchecked and irrational nostalgia for the 1980s, whether in real life or in film or in television or literally frigging anything, makes me want to hurl. So imagine my delight to find that It doesn’t indulge in nostalgia; it just reroots the King story in the 1980s, with only … Continue reading →

TV Review: Top of the Lake: China Girl

Oh, Top of the Lake: China Girl; I wish I liked you better.  The first season of Jane Campion’s SundanceTV series is phenomenal, make no mistake; also make no mistake that she should have left it at one season, assuming that her plan for following it up was always, well, this. Top of the Lake: China Girl … Continue reading →

Review: 1%, 2017, dir. Stephen McCallum

I suspect most will find 1% entertaining enough that my remote TIFF review of the film (so called because I reviewed the film in Boston and not on-location at TIFF) will strike some as maybe a little bit unfair or even a bit pretentious. Well…you’re wrong! It’s neither of these things. If anything, I’m just being … Continue reading →

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, August 2017

Forgive me, lord (and also my readers): I spaced out and totally, utterly, sadly forgot to share the link for Paste Magazine’s Criterion Collection round-up for August. I am the worst. So I’ll keep this short and thus give you less to read from me, the better for getting around to reading from the Paste Criterion … Continue reading →

Why Didn’t ‘Cabin in the Woods’ Change the Horror Genre?

Lookit me, all posting more horror-centric things at The Hollywood Reporter again! Any excuse to write about The Cabin in the Woods is a good excuse, and since the film got a 4K Blu-ray re-release today, “Tuesday,” I believe it’s called, I figured I’d write about how well the “game changer” claims have panned out in … Continue reading →

Review: I Do…Until I Don’t, 2017, dir. Lake Bell

I rather liked Lake Bell’s first go behind the camera, In a World…, so maybe I put higher expectations on her second, I Do…Until I Don’t than I ought to have. I didn’t hate it; I didn’t even dislike it. But it’s a step back, in a sense, from In a World…, less polished, less successful as a narrative, … Continue reading →

WBUR’s Fall TV Preview Guide-o-matic

I put together a big ol’ list piece for The ARTery about what’s coming to television this Fall season. There’s a lot! Some of it even looks good! (Some of it, by contrast, looks like hot garbage, but I didn’t write about any of that stuff. I just wrote about stuff that I think looks … Continue reading →

Interview: Janicza Bravo & Brett Gelman, Lemon

Sick of hearing me talk about Lemon? Tough noogies: Here’s more of me talking about Lemon, this time in conversation with Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman. Bravo directed the thing; Gelman starred in the thing; they both wrote the thing together. It’s a good thing! (The movie, I mean. The interview is a good thing, too, though, … Continue reading →

Review: The Villainess, 2017, dir. Jung Byung-gil

I think I know a thing or two about South Korean revenge movies, and I think I know a thing or two about South Korean action movies, which means I’m uniquely positioned to write about The Villainess, a South Korean revenge-action movie. It’s pretty solid, if lacking in fight scenes; the quality is there, but the … Continue reading →