A new channel on YouTube offers micro-doc series about true crime, greed and corruption – jjust in time for the World Cup.
The final weekend of June offers the third film by Olivia Wilde, described by our critic as “adult entertainment,” an ethereal horror drama by a ‘daring new voice’ in the indie space, an autobiographical portrait of family origins, and a superhero action-adventure that features “playful nihilism.” Neat! I have some serious catching up to do. Yesterday, I watched one of the four new releases, the only one of the four that was playing at my local movie house, and agree completely with our critic’s review. And I didn’t even realize that “playful nihilism” is a thing! Please see our summary below, with links to our reviews of each film. If you can, get out of the house (or apartment or townhouse or villa) and see…
With a competition slate spanning political thrillers, medical dramas, prison comedies, literary adaptations and returning anthology horror, Italian Global Series’ second edition offers a compact showcase for the breadth of contemporary scripted storytelling.
With their mom gone, Clara cares for her younger sister Ruby while starting senior year. Struggling to give love and support, the pressure builds until buried trauma surfaces and Clara spirals toward her breaking point.
Christian imagery is the theme here for the Columbia Picture adaptation of Kazou Ishiguro’s novel, Klara And The Sun. In the dystopian science fiction story, where advances in genetic engineering have divided humans into strict, isolated social classes, an obsolete android ends up with a sick girl for whom she was purchased. The teal and yellow (blue skies ahead) colour palette, along with Jenna Ortega’s saintly visage, suggests more optimism than grimness. The halo invokes holiness, divine favour, and the presence of God’s grace. The teaser poster below (no credit block, folks) from BLT Communications foregrounds mood and minimalism. With any Ishiguro adaptation marketing attempt (See also: Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go) this is a wise approach, as his work tends…
Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, and Finn Little star in the ‘Yellowstone’ spin-off series, which was just renewed for a second season on Paramount Plus.
Milly Adcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, and Jason Momoa star in director Craig Gillespie’s adaptation of the comic book superhero.
There’s a moment in American Theater where the gathered group of (mostly) self-described “cancelled” performers and crew discuss Mike Pence and how he isn’t actually hateful towards gay people. Brian Clowdus, the gay leader of the troupe and creator of their Salem witch trials-inspired show, says that Pence once came to a gay conservatives conference and thanked them for their support. But when another member of the group notes that one of the former vice president’s charities supports a camp that offers conversion therapy, Clowdus makes a face and let’s out: “Oh, that’s bad.” It’s a rare instance of clarity from a gay man who was once a star of the immersive theater scene, but rebranded to an aggressively outspoken Trump supporter after accusations of…
From outright disgrace to global cultural treasure, the recent octogenarian iconoclast filmmaker/raconteur John Waters has lived a dozen lives since he first picked up a camera as a teenager in the ’60s. By the time Waters made 1977’s Desperate Living, he had shocked the world with some of the first midnight movie miracles like 1972’s Pink Flamingos and 1974’s Female Trouble, both of which put Waters and his voluptuous drag queen muse, Divine on the map. However, as wild as those films are, there is an argument to be made that Desperate Living is the absurdist acme of his wild early years. Peggy has completely lost touch with reality and her husband, Bosley, can’t take it anymore. Just as he prepares to once again send…
In 1970s Detroit a working-class romantic is framed by a ruthless gangster after falling for his girlfriend. After years in prison, he returns with only one mission: revenge.