Whether or not it is designed as an allegory of modern Russia, no film in recent memory has examined the growing emptiness of human relationships with such expressive force as Andrey Zvyagintsev’s (“Leviathan”) Loveless, a heart wrenching drama about a couple on the brink of divorce whose emotional neglect of their son leads to devastating…
Let me be blunt for a second. “Blade Runner” never needed a sequel. Yes, I know. It’s a tired statement, I get sick of hearing it too. You could argue most movies don’t need sequels. But “Blade Runner” really did not need one, more so than others, and there are a number of factors contributing…
Released nearly two years ago, it turns out that Hell House LLC wasn’t the complete package. Some intended VFX shots for the final sequence were never completed, and investor anxiety over breaching the 100-minute mark meant eight minutes of characterization was shaved from the original release. This “director’s cut,” which I saw, reinstates some of…
Darren Aronofsky has become a stalwart of complex themes bursting at subconscious seams with metaphor and symbolism throughout his impressive career. His darkly brutal handling of vivid despondency and ardent intentions has made his voice one of the most uniquely inspiring and eclectic in contemporary film. mother! has seemingly hit a crescendo of its director’s…
There aren’t many contemporary horror features — mainstream or independent — that one can boast as being pleasantly imaginative, thought-provoking or metaphysically intriguing. Writer-director-producer Michael Williams, breaks that notion by placing his profoundly frightening fingerprints upon the tension-filled, captivating horror suspense feature, The Atoning. Thoroughly engaging, contemplative and percolating with loads of mystique, Williams brings…
Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water,” Wind River is a murder mystery about the death of a young Native American women, found frozen in the snow. Part character study, part police procedural, and part political statement, it is a deeply disturbing film that contains graphic…
After a summer slew of big-budget studio films, it can be difficult to find, sit down and watch a movie with more modest origins. Yet for the second time in a row, director Christopher Di Nunzio manages to cross that threshold and craft an engaging narrative around seemingly finite resources. His latest, A Life Not…
