film

Underwater is a science-fiction/action movie with some horror elements that takes place at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Directed by William Eubank (The Signal), it follows a group of research scientists and technicians that, after the destruction of their undersea lab, are forced to travel by foot across the ocean floor to safety. Principle cast includes Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, and T.J. Miller. Two weeks later and I’ve already forgotten most about Underwater. Regardless of any talent attached to the script, this movie was destined to be disposable, at best. The main conflict between our protagonists and a swarm […]Read more »

Help! Tom Hooper’s Cats broke something in my brain! While seemingly every critic is turning up their nose in disgust at the musical, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve gone insane, or if everyone else has. It’s like I’m the doomed protagonist of my own Lovecraftian nightmare. It’s a bit of a stretch to even think of Cats as a movie in the traditional sense. The general idea is that a white house cat named Victoria (Francesca Hayward) is abandoned to the street by her owner and taken in by a clowder of cats known as the Jellicles. Once […]Read more »

1917 is the most recent film by Sam Mendes, loosely based on stories passed down from his grandfather about his experiences in World War 1. The film, which is edited to play as if it is (mostly) one single, unbroken shot, follows two British soldiers (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay) on the western front tasked with delivering an urgent message to another friendly battalion before an impending surprise attack by the Germans. Above everything else, 1917 is a gorgeous and monumental achievement in cinematography. Not only does it effectively create the illusion of one unbroken chunk of time, but it […]Read more »

The Similars (Los Parecidos) is a 2015 Mexican film by writer-director Isaac Ezban that falls somewhere between a throwback episode of The Twilight Zone and a slapstick farce. During a violent rain storm in 1968, eight strangers become trapped at a bus station where they gradually fall victim to a supernatural phenomenon. Seemingly at the center of the story is Ulises (Gustavo Sanchez Parra), a man impatiently waiting for his bus so that he may reunite with his pregnant wife in a nearby city. For reference that will make sense soon, Ulises has a full beard and a head of […]Read more »

Little Women is at least the seventh adaptation of the novel by Louisa May Alcott, this time adapted and directed by Greta Gerwig, primarily starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, and Florence Pugh. The film follows four sisters across a portion of their lives in Civil War-era America, dealing each with their own transitions from childhood to adulthood. Of course, by 19th century standards this means finding a husband and having a family by the ripe age of 20. Straight off the bat, this is a movie I can confidently say I enjoyed. It’s a competently, if not expertly, made movie […]Read more »

Day 2 of 2 in my series of “Watching The Grudge Movies Because I Feel Like It” segment has brought me to the most recent iteration in the J-horror series, written and directed by Nicolas Pesce and starring Andrea Riseborough, John Cho, and Demian Bichir. In what isn’t quite a remake, not quite a sequel, the titular curse has spread abroad to the United States after an American caretaker tangentially related to the events of the first film brings it home with her. The central idea behind the “grudge” is that an act of violence and rage can pollute a […]Read more »