TIFF21 REVIEW: Jockey [2021]

I’ve never been scared before. Between the stiff hand and the self-applied electrode therapy in his trailer, hearing the track veterinarian tell Jackson Silva (Clifton Collins Jr.) he needs to see a human doctor isn’t surprising. Neither is his refusal to heed the warning. Jackson knows that going to the hospital for confirmation will be the final nail in his jockey career’s coffin and he truly believes he has two good years left. Add the prospect of his long-time trainer/friend Ruth (Molly Parker) unveiling a horse she took a gamble…

Read More

REVIEW: Monos [2019]

The Organization is our family. A scene of kids having fun playing a game of blindfolded soccer at night turns into a day of boot camp with an unknown man (Wilson Salazar) berating them like a drill sergeant to run faster, look meaner, and stand straighter. These child soldiers are hiding high up in the Colombian mountains—passing time with automatic rifles at the ready while watching over a kidnapped woman (Julianne Nicholson‘s Doctora) held for reasons also unknown. Our assumption is political leverage because they put her in front of…

Read More

REVIEW: The Kings of Summer [2013]

“That’s something my great grandfather would say. He’s a racist.” We’ve all had that urge to runaway when our parents prove too overbearing or too indifferent, but those thoughts disappear quickly once the allure of freedom evolves into a nightmare of self-sufficiency. So we stay at home; deal with the push and pull of personality responsibility, adolescent rambunctiousness, and the hope for a modicum of space/privacy; and either find ourselves accepting our fate or counting the days until escape is agreed upon mutually with the means to support it. Screenwriter…

Read More

REVIEW: Despicable Me 2 [2013]

“Do not do your business on the petunias” When we last saw super villain Gru (Steve Carell) in Despicable Me he had just returned the moon to its rightful place in the sky, retired from evil, and become a father to the three sweetest little girls ever: Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Kate Fisher). He had turned over a new leaf after youthful innocence thawed his heart a la how Cindy Lou helped the Grinch grow his in the classic Dr. Seuss tale. It’s the kind…

Read More