As long as there have been tales of revenge, there have been warnings about its tendency to consume its practitioners. For every satisfying story of vanquishing one’s enemies, a counterpoint exists that focuses on the harm it does to the righteous, complicating their catharsis. But recently, we’ve seen more tales in which it goes so […]
Saturday Night Review
Saturday Night Live is an American television institution. It has lasted for 50 years, and the story of its first broadcast is told in an energetic comedy-drama. It’s October 11, 1975, and NBC is 90 minutes from broadcasting an unusual show, a live sketch show with musical and comedic guests. Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), leads […]
Severance – Woe’s Hollow Review
Out of the six episodes of season two I’ve seen, “Woe’s Hallow” was far and away my favorite (and that’s saying something, as my pre-season review can attest: I loved all of these episodes). I’ll also admit that the first time I watched the episode, it was directly after finishing episode three, (which, you may […]
The Brutalist Review
The Brutalist is one of the leading contenders for the 97th Academy Awards, having earned 10 nominations as of this writing. László Tóth (Adrien Brody) is a Holocaust survivor who emigrated to America after the Second World War. Despite being a celebrated architect in Europe, László survives to earn a living in Philadelphia. He gets […]
Love Me Review
The core theme of Love Me destined it to be labeled a pandemic-era movie. While Americans had already been experiencing epidemic levels of loneliness in the late 2010s, the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns highlighted what was already there while deepening that isolation. We were drowning in a preponderance of think pieces and studies […]
James Review
Like most Americans, I read “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in high school (sophomore year, in Honors American Literature, to be precise). And I distinctly recall not really liking the book. I’m not sure if it was a case of not caring all that much about a story about a young boy coming of age […]
Companion Review
From the team that brought audiences the horror hit Barbarian and the studio of The Notebook is a darkly funny film about a toxic relationship. Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) are a couple in love and plan to spend the weekend at a Russian oligarch’s lake house. Iris is given a chance to […]
Severance – Who Is Alive? Review
I’ll admit that this episode of Severance threw me for a loop in a number of ways and left me with more questions than answers – particularly when it comes to the Cobel arc for this season. In fact, I’ve watched it four times thus far, trying to understand just what is going on with […]
Flight Risk Review
Flight Risk is Mel Gibson’s sixth film as director and his first contemporary set film with this airborne thriller. Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) is a U.S. Marshal who arrests Winston (Topher Grace), an accountant for the mob. Winston agrees to testify against a notorious mob boss in exchange for immunity. The pair must travel from […]
Presence Review
Presence is the latest film released by prestige distributor Neon, which acquired the rights after its premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The Paynes move into a new house after a tragedy. Chloe’s (Callina Liang) best friend died from an overdose and she is still grieving. Chloe’s troubles affect the rest of her family. In […]