Review: Goat, 2016, dir. Andrew Neel

I can picture a cut of Goat that leaves out the extraneous stuff, the stuff that has net zero impact on the plot, and I can also picture that cut of Goat being much, much better than the cut we got. Oh well. The cut we got is still pretty solid, excess material aside. Goat, by the way, … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 4.01, “Coral Palms, Pt. 1”

God it always feels so good to get back to reviewing Brooklyn Nine-Nine once enough time has passed between its previous season’s finale and its incoming season’s premiere. Especially when the incoming season’s premiere is as good as “Coral Palms, Pt. 1,” which is super duper obvious but still totally hilarious and effective all the same. … Continue reading →

Review: Other People, 2016, dir. Chris Kelly

I’m not quite as in the bag on Chris Kelly’s Other People as some of the film’s more effusive proponents, but you know what? It’s still a solid first movie, and as “sad dudes with cancer friends/family” stories go, it’s light years ahead of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which you all may recall I … Continue reading →

Review: Demon, 2016, dir. Marcin Wrona

It’s an immense tragedy that Marcin Wrona, the brilliant filmmaker responsible for creating Demon, committed suicide around this time in 2015 after showing the picture in Gdynia (and also showing at TIFF); it’s a powerful work, the work of a master in the making, and the third contestant in a three-way-tie for “best horror film of … Continue reading →

Review: By the Time It Gets Dark, 2016, dir. Anocha Suwichakornpong

It’s important to be honest with yourself when you’re a film critic, and sometimes that can be really hard, especially when “being honest” means admitting that you’re not sure if you understand the movie you’re fucking writing about. Case in point: I really genuinely loved Anocha Suwichakornpong’s By the Time It Gets Dark, but damned if I … Continue reading →

Review: The Dreamed Path, 2016, dir. Angela Schanelec

Complaining about a movie’s dullness or accusing a movie of pretension always makes me feel like a bad movie critic, but hey, when the shoe fits, right? Such is the case with Angela Schanelec’s new film, The Dreamed Path, another one of those “remote TIFF screeners” I was privileged to watch on behalf of The Playlist; … Continue reading →

Review: Karl Marx City, 2016, dir. Petra Epperlein

Who needs to go to the Toronto International Film Festival when you can just watch movies in competition remotely? Okay, fair answer: Me. I need to go. But I can’t, or I couldn’t, so instead my very awesome editors over at The Playlist gifted me with screeners, thus allowing me to be “part” of TIFF without the … Continue reading →

“In the Beginning, There Was TV”

We all get nostalgic sometimes. When we do, things like the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things happen. Also: This big ol’ joint feature by all of us TV types at Paste Magazine, in which we each wax poetic about our bygone days of TV watching and talk about our favorite TV memories. Those of you who know … Continue reading →

Review: The Light Between Oceans, 2016, dir. Derek Cianfrance

Can any of my patrons who have both read M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans and seen Derek Cianfrance’s adaptation tell me whether the movie matches up with the book in its soapy, over-the-top, yet remarkably under-drawn melodrama? I either know people who have read the book or watched the film. I don’t know people who have pulled … Continue reading →

Review: Klown Forever, 2016, dir. Mikkel Nørgaard

Remember five years ago when I reviewed that movie Klown? I’m at it again, reviewing its sequel, Klown Forever, over at The Playlist, much like its stars, Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam, are at it again playing awful, petty, self-destructive alternate versions of themselves. How nice to be reunited with them. Wait: No, not how “nice.” How … Continue reading →

TV Review: The Get Down, E05 & E06,

I can’t imagine a better, more celebratory way of closing out the first half of The Get Down‘s first season than with these two episodes. I won’t elaborate much more than that, because I wrote over 1,000 words on them for Paste Magazine, but this two-part home stretch feels like the most electric dance party of … Continue reading →

Review: Dekalog, 2016, dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski

Have you seen Dekalog, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s groundbreaking 10 hour television film of biblical design? No? Okay, lemme break it down for you: You should see Dekalog, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s groundbreaking 10 hour television film of biblical design. 10 hours is a lot of hours for sure, but the film is really ten one hour films as … Continue reading →