|
|
MaXXXine
(2024)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
There is nothing worse than a great movie with a disappointing ending. What a waste of a good time!
Posted Jul 08, 2024
|
|
|
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
(2023)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person” is an unexpected delight about misfits finally embracing themselves and finding joy in each other without sacrificing the innate brutality of vampires.
Posted Jul 04, 2024
|
|
|
A Quiet Place: Day One
(2024)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“A Quiet Place: Day One” is fine, but the story and special effects are beneath the cast’s capabilities.
Posted Jun 30, 2024
|
|
|
Kinds of Kindness
(2024)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Though intellectually inventive and provocative, it does drag at times.
Posted Jun 30, 2024
|
|
|
I Am: Celine Dion
(2024)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Even if you are completely disinterested in Dion, if you are a human being who has not found a way to achieve immortality, “I Am: Celine Dion” is still for you.
Posted Jun 29, 2024
|
|
|
Thelma
(2024)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
June Squibb is the Tom Cruise of her generation, and “Thelma” will be a new cult classic that people will enjoy for decades to come.
Posted Jun 29, 2024
|
|
|
The Bikeriders
(2023)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The engrossing performances makes “The Bikeriders” feel fresh, but the narrative is predictable. Even for someone who has not delved into the biker gang genre, it will feel familiar. It helps that the tone turns on a dime
Posted Jun 29, 2024
|
|
|
The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy
(1980)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy” is a haunting, bizarre film, which is a compliment. It depicts three brothers who are close and are arrested in development because of their past trauma, but find a way to be alive, individuals and together
Posted Jun 29, 2024
|
|
|
Tuesday
(2023)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The inherent tension in “Tuesday” is how can you kill someone that you love more than yourself or allow them to die. Zora’s road trip with Tuesday makes her appreciate that death is a gift—the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” reference is intentional.
Posted Jun 16, 2024
|
|
|
Chick Fight
(2020)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Chick Fight is also one of those movies that allegedly preaches girl power, but feels suspiciously as if it actually hates women or the idea of women is completely alien. Why do women seem to lean towards owning coffee shops
Posted Jun 15, 2024
|
|
|
Judas and the Black Messiah
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Kaluuya, Fishback, Thorne and Powell transcend the limitations of the script and infuse an emotional history and character development missing in the actual script.
Posted Jun 15, 2024
|
|
|
The Devil All the Time
(2020)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
please do not do a flashback of a scene that I already saw moments ago. A quick flash to remind us of what happened earlier is fine, but rewatching the entire scene feels repetitive and monotonous. It is not as if the scene was that good the first time
Posted Jun 15, 2024
|
|
|
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
(1989)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The film seems to suggest that our traditional view of greatness in the contemporary US is virtually impossible, but it also democratizes what greatness can look like in a society like ours by elevating friendship, decency and good naturedness.
Posted Jun 14, 2024
|
|
|
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
(1991)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
It uses the Terminator franchise as a great jumping point for the shenanigans that create the momentum of the film, but it also tackles popular culture depictions of heaven and hell in counterintuitive ways that are not always played for laughs.
Posted Jun 14, 2024
|
|
|
Gaga Chromatica Ball
(2024)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
preferred the first half because of its cinematic quality. The prelude and first act are the most impactful and seemed to pay homage to movies. The positioning of the dancers reaching up for Gaga as she is encased seemed visually like “Metropolis” (1927)
Posted Jun 14, 2024
|
|
|
The Watchers
(2024)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The scenario also felt like a not to subtle dig at consumers of media. Cue Maddy from “Euphoria” asking, “Wait. Is this fucking play about us?”
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Bill & Ted Face the Music
(2020)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
I hate emotional manipulation, but it worked, and I felt something at the end of the film as music becomes the unifying force in the face of divisions such as time, country, race and gender.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Misbehaviour
(2020)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The narrative is inconsistent and never quite finds its rhythm as it toggles between characters and issues, but ultimately is pleasing enough and shows a deeper insight than most movies that tackle historical events and big issues.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Synchronic
(2019)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
You should not watch Synchronic if you love animals.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
78/52
(2017)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Part of the joy of this documentary is watching these accomplished people fangirl over Psycho while showing their intellectual side.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Godzilla vs. Kong
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Kong revealed that to prepare for the role and get in shape for his return to the silver screen, he took some boxing and surfing lessons while maintaining a strict diet of fish
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Gone Girl
(2014)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The film is a character study, an analysis of gender norms with a regressive, problematic underbelly that could easily be missed because the movie is so darn entertaining.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Mortal Kombat
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Mortal Kombat (2021) is the equivalent of making a film called The Olympics and only showed the qualifying rounds before actual Olympians are appointed.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
The House That Jack Built
(2018)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
If you enjoy serial killer movies, do not watch The House That Jack Built expecting traditional, satisfying fare. If you are a von Trier fan, he has done better work, and something in this film feels lacking.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Mary Shelley
(2018)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Fanning does an admirable job as the author, but I think that she had more to give than what was demanded. When an actor was on her level and gave her something to work with, she got interesting.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Garden State
(2004)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Garden State’s original sin is abandoning the original story of how to resolve the numbness of the beginning with tropes like stop taking your prescription medicine, socialize and live. Braff treats the central concept, why the protagonist is so numb
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
The Cured
(2017)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
If you are sick of zombies and pandemics, please do not let that stop you from watching The Cured! In an audaciously nuanced feature film directorial debut, David Freyne creates a world set in Ireland where zombies can be cured, but they remember
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
The Invitation
(2015)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The Invitation wants the viewer to question the concept of appropriateness, which is why it set at a dinner party in an affluent home in a beautiful location. Dinner parties do not display normal human interactions but superimpose roles on ordinary people
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Snow Cake
(2006)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Snow Cake advertises the autist as high functioning, but it was made in 2006 when a lot was still unknown about women with autism so while this movie is not Rain Man, it is not Tik Tok either so the definition of high function is going to vary
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
In the Heights
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
While In the Heights deserves kudos for depicting authentic immigrant characters in an urban setting, its discomfort with exploring the natural consequences of their actions and demand for a happy ending undercut the film’s authenticity.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“Summer of Soul” feels as if it is the wistful answer to a question that viewers had after watching “Black Panther” (2018), “Where is our Wakanda?” For a moment, it was Harlem.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Black Widow
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Black Widow” may be the most mumblecore entry in the franchise. Romanoff (how do they get assigned last names?) is the equivalent of the adult who just lost her job or got divorced then must return home to deal with some unresolved trauma
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
The Last Full Measure
(2019)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Stan’s job is to take a back seat to Bradley Whitford, William Hurt, Christopher Plummer, Diane Ladd, Samuel L. Jackson, Amy Madigan, Peter Fonda, Ed Harris and John Savage.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
I Feel Pretty
(2018)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“I Feel Pretty” centers the ordinary woman, gives her the delusion, adds a dash of The Devil Wears Prada, and depicts her personal aesthetic in the vein of Reese Witherspoon in “Legally Blonde.” The premise feels familiar but is subversive.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Cyrus
(2010)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
If you shied away from “Cyrus” because you were worried that Reilly was stuck in a rut, especially since it was released a few years after “Step Brothers” (2008), don’t be. It is so much better, far more relatable, and realistic.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Machete
(2010)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Rodriguez’s delightful denouement reclaims various Mexican stereotypes and combines them with recognizable humble professions for immigrants into a triumphant call to arms and a catharsis of violence against the people who hate them.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Machete Kills
(2013)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Vergara, whom most viewers are accustomed to seeing as the loveable, hot matriarch in “Modern Family,” steals the movie as the homicidal, man-hating, rage-filled whorehouse madam. She feels like the most authentic, Rodriguez character in the film
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
The China Hustle
(2017)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
If documentaries could be classified according to a fictional genre, “The China Hustle” would be a horror film teasing a sequel now starring Ali Baba as the next Michael Myers.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
The High Note
(2020)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Ross plays Grace as a woman graciously accepting backhanded compliments from people who will never be as great as her. It could have been an intriguing intersectional study on power.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Unforgettable
(2017)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“Unforgettable” is an entertaining, basic film that plays on women’s fear of playing by society’s rules, the ensuing anger when she is not rewarded, a woman’s fear of sacrificing some independence in exchange for accepting traditional roles
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
After “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), MCU movies have been adequate, but not exhilarating whereas “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” leaves you wanting more because of the humor, character development, poignant, dynamic trajectory of the story
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
The Suicide Squad
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
It is a deeply political and culturally critical movie about the state of the world without ruining the fun. The movie plays with the callousness and dispensability of life sacrificed for the US government’s policies, which are not idealized
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Candyman
(1992)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
Todd does not appear until forty-four minutes into the ninety-nine-minute film, he dominates the film and becomes an icon, our twentieth century Dracula. The special effects may not hold up, and the green screen is discernible, but Todd is timeless.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Ford v Ferrari
(2019)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
So there are two compulsions at play: not wasting life, i.e. finding meaning in returning to quotidian life, and finding a healthy outlet for aggression that was not out of place on the battlefield.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Reminiscence
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
The genre of the film is supposed to be a new take on film noir and detectives, but if Nick is supposed to be a type of detective that has seen it all, how does he get fooled into believing that his hottest client was just looking for her keys
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
When I saw the first movie’s end credits, I was not excited so maybe I should have known better than to buy a ticket, but the end credits for “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” are awesome.
Posted Jun 12, 2024
|
|
|
No Time to Die
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
If you watch Bond movies to learn more about Bond than saving the world, then you may be pleased to know that it ties up a lot of loose ends for the character without sacrificing what we enjoy about the character.
Posted Jun 10, 2024
|
|
|
Malignant
(2021)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“Malignant” is not a good movie yet it still managed to impress me. It ended strong, embraced the madness and showcased some genuine talent that the average bad movie could not do. I even got some genuine laughs, which some comedies cannot coax out of me
Posted Jun 10, 2024
|
|
|
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
(1995)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
They still want a Dracula type seducer and for audiences to lust after the protagonist, but the filmmakers refuse to put in the work to depict a paternal supernatural bond. Incest is not sexy.
Posted Jun 10, 2024
|
|
|
Candyman 3
(1999)
|
Sarah Vincent
|
“Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” could have been called Candyman 3: Titties.
Posted Jun 10, 2024
|
>