Code Breaker: 1959’s Anatomy of a Murder Was Designed to Push Boundaries
You need only get a few seconds into Anatomy of a Murder (1959) before you realize it’s not the film you thought it would be. When you hear the words “Jimmy Stewart” and “courtroom drama” in short succession in the description, you expect a Capraesque affirmation of the American justice system. You assume the opening…
Cool Again? This Year’s Filmfest DC Offers a Promising Slate for Film Buffs
Seasoned D.C. moviegoers remember when Filmfest DC, could be depended on for a surprise or two. The highlights may vary, but this was a festival that—in its heyday some 30 years ago—was the only place one could see works such as the Hanif Kureishi miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia (1993) or Mani Ratnam’s dazzling musical…
The People’s Joker Might Be the Last Great Superhero Film
Can’t recall the last good superhero movie you saw? Vera Drew is here to change that with an original story that manages to be a funny, sensitive, and profane story of identity.
The Beast Plays With Time to Suggest Our Patterns Are a Kind of Fate
What would it mean to erase your generational trauma? You would inherit less pain from your ancestors, leaving you unencumbered by their hardships. Perhaps that would mean your life is easier, more tranquil. The trade-off, however, might be a total or partial erasure of who you are. Your predecessors, just like your environment and your…
Civil War is an Irresponsible Tour De Force
Any cinephile old enough to go to the movies habitually in 1996 will remember the trailer for that year’s biggest hit, the fun-but-dumb-as-dirt UFO invasion throwback Independence Day. Its trailer ran before every movie I saw for half a year, culminating in a shot of the White House being vaporized by an alien death ray.…
Dawn of the Dead Gives You Something to Sink Your Teeth Into
BRAAAINS! It’s what zombies want, and what their films already have. It’s ironic really that horror movies about the mindless undead actually have the most on their mind. We have writer-director George A. Romero to thank for that. He pioneered the modern zombie film with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, a not-so-thinly veiled attack…
Música: A Standard Rom-Com, But a Sensory Delight
The word synesthesia is not uttered once during Música, the delightful autobiographical feature debut from multihyphenate artist Rudy Mancuso now streaming on Amazon Prime, but the director’s experience with the sensory phenomenon is all over his 90-minute coming-of-age tale. Take the movie’s opening scene. Rudy, playing himself, sits in a New Jersey diner across from…
Is Dev Patel’s Monkey Man the Most Violent Action Film in Years?
If Dev Patel wasn’t the star of Monkey Man, his directorial debut would be ambitious. It is a brutal action film, one of the most violent in years, and it wants to draw John Wick–size crowds—despite a cast of relatively unknown Indian actors and an original concept. Patel and his co-screenwriters Paul Angunawela and John…
Phantom of the Paradise: Perfect for Witching Hour Watching
I really like 1974’s Phantom of the Paradise, but I haven’t seen it with an audience yet, so what do I know? The early film from Brian De Palma screens at midnight this weekend at E Street Cinema, which will give you a chance to see it in the perfect mood: a little tired, slightly…
Monsters Ball: A Good Enough Good Time
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the weirdly punctuated fifth monster mash in the Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse saga that kicked off with Gareth Edwards’ 2014 reboot Godzilla, is a good enough good time wherein a capable company of gifted actors elevate the predictable material. I refer, of course, to the ultra-heavyweights in the title roles:…
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