REVIEW: John and the Hole [2021]

I was blue in the blue. Adolescent angst. That’s the impetus behind John (Charlie Shotwell) drugging his family (Michael C. Hall‘s Brad, Jennifer Ehle‘s Anna, and Taissa Farmiga‘s Laurie), dragging them through the backyard, and depositing their bodies in an unfinished bunker according to the synopsis of director Pascual Sisto and writer Nicolás Giacobone‘s film John and the Hole. Adolescent angst. I guess you can get away with it too when you declare the result a “fable” as opposed to a nightmare. We aren’t supposed to look so closely at…

Read More

REVIEW: The Nest [2020]

If I don’t worry, no one will. I think a lot of people are telling on themselves when describing Sean Durkin‘s latest film The Nest as the “dissolution of a marriage” since that’s very clearly not what it is. They’re either revealing that they’ve been lucky enough to not yet deal with the inevitable turmoil any partnership must endure to discover whether it’s strong enough to move forward or that they see the characters’ ability to angrily walk away without guilt when they’re the victims of an injustice as a…

Read More

REVIEW: Captain Fantastic [2016]

“Your mother is dead” When you look at the poster for Captain Fantastic—especially the bright red suit worn by Cash family patriarch Ben (Viggo Mortensen)—you can’t help conjure twee thoughts of Wes Anderson quirk and yet Matt Ross‘ sophomore feature is anything but. This film is instead rooted in a very strong sense of reality. Just because it may not be your reality doesn’t lessen the events occurring or decisions made. If anything they’re strengthened because you notice the choices your parents made and you’ve made as parents in this…

Read More