Category: Reviews
Imran J. Khan’s Coming Of Age Comedy Comes Up Short With Its Supporting Cast [SXSW]
Imran J. Khan’s Coming Of Age Comedy Comes Up Short With Its Supporting Cast [SXSW]

Every instance of abject grief, embarrassment, disappointment, and failure known only by teenage boys can be sourced to cosmological forces beyond their control or to a bummer ticket in the biological lottery. Imran J. Khan’s first feature, “Mustache,” opts to…

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The Cowboy & The Samurai
The Cowboy & The Samurai

Sometimes a Hollywood rumor is so good that it should be put on film. Yes, Hollywood often exaggerates stories based on actual events, but when it comes to indie films, well, they sometimes don’t have the budget to exaggerate. Well,…

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‘Last Stop Larrimah’ Review: A Captivating Small-Town Mystery
‘Last Stop Larrimah’ Review: A Captivating Small-Town Mystery

Larrimah is about as small of a town as you can get. With only 11 people, the small community in Australia’s Northern Territory has seen better days. The one road is scattered with the remnants of businesses from the past…

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Animation Has A Big Heart Despite Flimsy Script
Animation Has A Big Heart Despite Flimsy Script

Based on the novel of the same name by Kate DiCamillo, The Magician’s Elephant is an endearing, whimsical tale about one boy's quest to find his lost sister and the town he inspires to believe in magic again. In Netflix’s…

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A Shaggy and Compelling Murder Mystery About a Small Australian Town [SXSW]
A Shaggy and Compelling Murder Mystery About a Small Australian Town [SXSW]

Larrimah, the small Australian town that gives Thomas Tancred’s documentary its title, has a population of 11. Or, at least, it had 11 people until one, Paddy Moriarty, went missing along with his dog in 2017. A portrait of an…

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Coming-of-Age Comedy Paints a Picture of Being a ’90s Kid
Coming-of-Age Comedy Paints a Picture of Being a ’90s Kid

One of the best things about indie films is that we often get to see stories from real people who live in completely different realities and learn details from their routines. In that context, even the most ordinary and cliché…

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Kiernan Shipka Shines in Coming-of-Age Tale
Kiernan Shipka Shines in Coming-of-Age Tale

Family is there for you—and not there for you—whether you want them to be or not. The clashing personalities, opinions, mindsets, ages, and approaches to the most benign things can make it extremely difficult to live harmoniously with and appreciate…

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Are You Lonesome Tonight? | Film Threat
Are You Lonesome Tonight? | Film Threat

Are You Lonesome Tonight? is so precisely wound and elegantly constructed that it shows a master helmsman at the top of his craft. Wait, scratch that. This handsome, dramatic mystery is Shipei Wen’s feature-length directorial debut. He also co-wrote the…

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The Magic Fizzles As Lightning Doesn’t Strike Twice On This DC Franchise
The Magic Fizzles As Lightning Doesn’t Strike Twice On This DC Franchise

One of the things that made “Shazam!” so engaging, entertaining, and different was that it brought humor, an endearing irreverence, and an exploration and development of character that satisfied the initiated but also drew in the unfamiliar. It felt natural,…

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A Psychological Thriller Full of Mixed Signals
A Psychological Thriller Full of Mixed Signals

Longtime music video director turned feature-length filmmaker, Marcella Cytrynowicz, debuts her psychological thriller/romance American Cherry on March 17. Also written by the director, the script tackles mental health, anger issues, addiction, and family drama among two troubled young adults. Hart…

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‘The Magician’s Elephant’ Review: A Charming Family Film
‘The Magician’s Elephant’ Review: A Charming Family Film

If Netflix has an animation niche when it comes to family fare, then it exists within the realm of pseudo-fantastical worlds that feel like the moderately distant yet undefined past that almost always have a sprinkle of magic in the…

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Netflix Animated Series Is a Colorful Binge, But Low on Laughs
Netflix Animated Series Is a Colorful Binge, But Low on Laughs

After almost four years in the pipeline, rock and roll’s first icon Elvis Presley is finally getting the small screen treatment with Netflix’s new raunchy, adult-animated comedy series Agent Elvis, premiering this weekend. But by no means is this colorful,…

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