When a Horror Movie Shows Too Much

Let me tell you a story about a guy named me who just got his first piece up in The Hollywood Reporter. It was a good piece, and in fact still is, and you should go read it. I’m not sure what else I’m doing here, really. I’m too excited by my THR debut. Sue … Continue reading →

Game of Theories: Why We’re So Fixated on “Figuring Out” Game of Thrones

  By now, y’all have probably forgotten that I watch Game of Thrones. This is because I don’t write much about Game of Thrones, except for when I feel the impulse to swoop in and pour disdain on Internet hysteria over needless, manipulative plot contrivances. But I’m back, writing about Game of Thrones once more, this time for the … Continue reading →

Review: Columbus, 2017, dir. Kogonada

I missed Columbus at this year’s Independent Film Festival Boston, so of course I was thrilled to catch up with it for its theatrical release. I was even more thrilled to find that it’s lovely, poetic, and just plain old great. At a glance, I expected the film to follow along expected plot lines, but I … Continue reading →

Review: The Trip to Spain, 2017, dir. Michael Winterbottom

I took a trip to Spain back in May, during Independent Film Festival Boston, which is just a cutesy-poo way of saying that I saw The Trip to Spain, Michael Winterbottom’s third entry in his The Trip series, orchestrated with and starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. As with the other Trip movies, I liked this one. But it … Continue reading →

Bingeworthy Breakdown: Comrade Detective

Trust me: I really wanted to love Comrade Detective. I’m fond of most of the people involved, and if I’m naturally inclined to consider the basic conceit of dubbing comic vocal tracks over material that is not at all innately comic, I’m okay with it on the off chance that the people doing it nail the … Continue reading →

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, July 2017

I forgot to post this, so here it is: Paste Magazine’s Criterion Collection Round-Up for July of 2017.  For whatever reason, I thought I’d written about Rome, Open City in the past – and it’s possible that I have, and have merely forgotten – but revisiting it years after first watching it, I found that my appreciation … Continue reading →

Drinking All of Vermont’s Great Beers in a Single Night

I’ll keep this short: I went to the Vermont Brewers Festival with my wife and brother in law in tow, and we all got pretty darn well sloshed drinking a whole lot of really good beers (plus a couple that weren’t so good, but we don’t like to talk about those). And then I wrote … Continue reading →

Review: Menashe, 2017, dir. Joshua Z. Weinstein

Sometimes, all it takes to reevaluate your stance on a movie is to start writing about it months after first seeing it, and also rebuking yourself for not fully embracing its greatness when you wrote your stupid halftime list in June. So it goes. I saw Menashe back in May during the 2017 Independent Film Festival … Continue reading →

Spider-Man: Homeroom

It’s bad enough we have to learn about superheroes in movie theaters all across the world these days, but now our children have to learn about superheroes in the classroom. Someone, please: Think of the children. There’s a lot that happens in <i>Spider-Man: Homecoming</i>, most of it designed to bolster the bonds holding the Marvel … Continue reading →

TV Review: Room 104

Well, would you look at that! I got an article up at The ARTery, the arts and culture hub for our local NPR station here in Boston, good ol’ WBUR: It’s a review of Room 104, a new anthology series running on HBO, which just began airing on 07/28. In my estimation, based solely on what … Continue reading →

Review: The Emoji Movie, 2017, dir. Tony Leondis

I really don’t even know how to account for this movie, guys. I wish I knew who in their right mind thought making a movie about fucking goddamn emojis was a sound idea, though “right mind” is likely being generous; whoever came up with this pitch was probably coked out of their minds and on … Continue reading →

Review: The Incredible Jessica James, 2017, dir. James C. Strouse

Hey, uh, Jessica Williams: On the off chance you read my review of your new movie, The Incredible Jessica James, don’t take it personally. I liked you fine! I just didn’t like anything else about the movie! Except maybe Chris O’Dowd! And Noël Wells! Okay, mostly I just didn’t like the direction, because I think James … Continue reading →

Review: Killing Ground, 2017, dir. Damien Power

In stark contrast to Kuso, that really gross movie I reviewed the other day, here’s my review of Damien Power’s Killing Ground over at Paste Magazine, which is arguably harsher while being much less offensive to watch. This is something I struggle with frequently as a critic and as an all-around cinephile: What is, and isn’t, offensive, and … Continue reading →

The 20 Best “Mad Men” Episodes

I don’t need to explain this one, do I? Mad Men turned 10 years old yesterday. The TV writing staff at Paste Magazine wrote about its best episodes; I specifically wrote about Pete Campbell getting knocked the fuck out by Lane Pryce, and also about the time Sterling Cooper became Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Nothing complicated, … Continue reading →

Review: Kuso, 2017, dir. Flying Lotus

I have no further words for Kuso, the first feature from Flying Lotus, aka Steve Ellison, because I expended them all while writing my review of the film for The Playlist. Suffice to say: It’s something else. As you’ll no doubt gather from the piece’s opening paragraph, I have a high threshold for fucked up movies, … Continue reading →

Review: Endless Poetry, 2017, dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky

If you’ve not seen a single Alejandro Jodorowsky film, from El Topo to The Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre to Tusk, or his last movie, 2013’s The Dance of Reality, then don’t worry: His latest, Endless Poetry, is totally accessible and understandable, no matter that you have no idea who Jodorowsky is, do you? Do you?! You disgust me. …so yeah, please read my review of Endless Poetry! … Continue reading →