In my limited estimation, there are few things more anxiety-inducing than the thought of getting up onstage, all alone but for a sweaty drink and rickety stool, and surrounding yourself with a room full with people waiting for and expecting you to make them laugh out loud. Nina Geld (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, “10 Cloverfield Lane”)…
A sheep in wolf’s clothing — by which I mean a B-movie in Euro-arthouse clothing — The Unseen shoulders its way into the dynasty of slow-burn horror films about middle class parents escaping to some distant place to cope with the grief of losing a child. Writer-director Gary Sinyor has a history of lightweight rom-coms…
Paul Verhoeven is back with more scratchy sexual politics, darkly comic innuendos, and harshly nasty violence. First things first, the most joyous part of that sentence is the beginning. Paul Verhoeven is back. Not back to Hollywood, of course, which he left nearly 17 years ago after the dismal response to his schlocky invisibility thriller…
It’s tough to make a religious film in 2016. Not that they aren’t produced anymore, far from it, but that their demographic continues to diminish. An increasingly secularized temperament in the world today means the topic of religion or spirituality in cinema becomes discussed in ever more derisive ways. For audiences, it was difficult to…
In Sun Choke, Janie (Sarah Hagan, “Spring Breakdown”) is just trying to get well, and while undergoing psychological treatment administered by Irma (Barbara Crampton, “You’re Next”), she’s making progress. She practices yoga and breathing exercises, she drinks blended green drinks for nutrition, and she’s working on keeping herself calm and focused. Though she’s been staying…
Trap for Cinderella dramatically explodes with a fire in a tranquil French villa leaving Micky (Tuppence Middleton) with serious burns and a complete loss of her memory. Fortunately for Micky, her guardian Julia (Kerry Fox) is there to steer her in the right direction and help her regain her past. But when Micky’s ex-boyfriend Jake…
