REVIEW: Tár [2022]

There’s no glory for a robot. Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is an icon. A genius. Listen to a lecture introduction given by The New Yorker‘s Adam Gopnik and you’d be hard-pressed to refute someone hailing her as the second-coming of Jesus Christ. She’s a God amongst men that everyone in the classical music scene wants to either work with or become and she gives back to them with fellowship programs, mentorships, and her position as lead conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. With an EGOT on her shelf, a wife…

Read More

REVIEW: Sirens [2022]

But I don’t want to live in fear. While Rita Baghdadi‘s documentary Sirens centers upon the first all-female thrash metal band from the Middle East, it’s not really about the band. We follow them to a gig at Glastonbury, watch rehearsal sessions, and peek in on photoshoots, but the focus goes deeper than music. It reaches past the usual rock clichés to recognize that the struggle these women face is more immediate than striving to perform for sold out crowds or become signed by a label. This is about surviving…

Read More

REVIEW: Elvis [2022]

He was a taste of forbidden fruit. There’s a lot to talk about when dealing with Elvis Presley. Too much for one film to do him justice. That’s why Baz Luhrmann (who writes with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner) decides to tell someone else’s story instead: that of Colonel Tom Parker, the self-proclaimed “Snowman” who discovered the King and helped make him an American icon. Unfortunately, he also probably played the biggest role in killing him thanks to the pills and injections necessary to keep Elvis on-stage and…

Read More

FANTASIA22 REVIEW: Inu-ô [Inu-oh] [2022]

Here we are. Director Masaaki Yuasa and screenwriter Akiko Nogi‘s adaptation of Hideo Furukawa‘s novel The Tale of the Heike: The Inu-oh Chapters finishes with a couple screens of text describing its titular Noh performer’s final years of success despite his name being all but forgotten in comparison to the shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu’s personal favorite. It’s why these three have brought the story of Inu-ô [Inu-oh] to life to ensure his name, and that of his friend Tomona from Dan-no-ura, a blind biwa-playing priest, won’t disappear again. What better way…

Read More

REVIEW: Neptune Frost [2022]

But my life was never quite mine. Of the many disciplines for which Saul Williams excels, poet seems his label of choice. He’s an actor, rapper, songwriter, and many more titles that fit under the umbrella of “artist”, but poet gets to the heart of his soul and his power. Its built-in esotericism should also set the stage for the fact his feature film directorial debut alongside co-director/cinematographer Anisia Uzeyman won’t necessarily be the easiest to access sight unseen. This Afrofuturist, anti-colonial, science fiction uprising is the latest chapter of…

Read More

REVIEW: The Score [2022]

Why’s it always someone else’s pain that makes you happy? As Troy (Will Poulter) muses on the car ride out-of-town to meet with “professional criminals” (he and Johnny Flynn‘s Mike realize they’re amateurs at best, still trying to move their way up) and exchange twenty grand for unspecified goods, “score” is one of those words with multiple meanings. Film score. Settling scores. Scoring on the soccer field. Scoring in bed. While it’s as much a monologue to explain writer/director Malachi Smyth‘s decision to title his film The Score as it…

Read More

REVIEW: Torn Hearts [2022]

You weren’t welcome to begin with, dear. Keeping things in the family isn’t always easy—just as the Gallagher Brothers. Blood doesn’t mean anything once fame and fortune enter the fray because outside interests will begin to whisper and divide until the world discovers two halves aren’t quite as good as the whole. That’s not saying Noel’s High Flying Birds or Liam’s Beady Eye are bad. They’ve both created some good music post-break-up, but neither reached the heights Oasis had. The former’s music and latter’s voice built something that could only…

Read More

REVIEW: Metal Lords [2022]

Metal is … taking the wheel. There hasn’t been a “battle of the bands” since an unfortunate scrotal incident scarred many a teen not expecting nudity a few years back, but the mere mention of the possibility Dean Swanson (Sufe Bradshaw) decided to give her students another shot has Hunter Sylvester (Adrian Greensmith) salivating. The problem is the fact that he doesn’t have a band. Wanting one and having one are too different things and Dad’s (Brett Gelman) money (stolen, of course) can only get Hunter so far before a…

Read More

REVIEW: Little Shop of Horrors [1986]

I’m just a mean green mother from outer space and I’m bad. Know which version of Little Shop of Horrors you’re watching before sitting down because you might be in for a surprise if you don’t. Having grown up with the theatrical cut often finding its way onto my television, I have a clear picture of how the story is supposed to end. There’s a visual reprise of the “Somewhere That’s Green” sequence with bright lights, mowed grass, and an outrageously strange bud popping out from the middle of a…

Read More

REVIEW: Cabaret [1972]

One of my whims. The place to be in 1930s Europe was apparently Weimer-era Berlin. That’s where Cambridge-educated Christopher Isherwood went to live his life as an openly gay man amongst kindred spirits populating its robust nightlife. He met numerous friends, embarking on numerous adventures ultimately inspiring his semi-autobiographical novel The Berlin Stories which in turn inspired John Van Druten‘s Broadway play I Am a Camera. From there, Joe Masteroff and songwriting duo Kander and Ebb (John Kander and Fred Ebb) created their musical Cabaret, largely influenced by Isherwood’s short…

Read More

REVIEW: West Side Story [2021]

Life matters even more than love. It’s tough to know what to expect when a remake of a ten-time Oscar-winner (including Best Picture) like West Side Story is announced. Not even Steven Spielberg being at the helm can help in the grand scheme of things either because you almost wish a talent like his would spend that time on original work instead. The hope is therefore always that the powers that be found an avenue in to make the attempt worthwhile. We pray that purpose rather than profits was the…

Read More