Thriller
PVT CHAT Gets Kink Right: Review
This review was originally part of our Fantasia Festival 2020 coverage. The Pitch: Jack (Peter Vack) is a lonely boy in the big city. He lives in a rundown apartment—the only kind anyone can afford in New York City–where his windows are duct-taped over and his day-to-day involves either bowls of Maruchan ramen or online poker games. But he also engages in BDSM scenes with a number of cam girls, and one in particular has caught his eye. Enter Scarlet (Julia Fox), who dominates Jack from afar, making him a human ashtray as smoke billows out from her big beautiful lips. As time ticks away and more and more money is dropped, Jack and Julia begin to connect on a deeper level, a connection that sets both parties up for twists that audiences will never see coming. I’ll Always Love You New York: W...
Top 10 Horror Films of 2020
What a year for horror… 2020 has certainly seen its share of terror — both on screen and in reality. With a global pandemic forcing most of us inside our homes, it’s been scary times for the film industry. Yet while horror was hardly immune to the year’s savagery — bye-bye Candyman, see you next Fall Halloween Kills — it’s arguably fared better than any other genre. Thanks to a strong community and a willingness to push the creative envelope, horror has survived, thrived, and, in some cases, held us together during this long, dark year. Sure, the delays for the blockbuster horror fare were disappointing, but they also opened the door for low-budget horror gems that have long been the backbone of the genre. Similarly, genre festivals led the way in experimenting with digitization, allowing ...
Promising Young Woman Attempts to Scorch Earth with Provocative Rape Revenge Thriller: Review
The Pitch: Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was once a promising young woman in medical school, along with her best friend, Nina. When a traumatic event involving Nina resulted in her suicide, it left Cassie jaded and enraged at the system that would protect those that hurt her best friend. Because of this, Cassie dropped out of med school, took on a dead-end job at a coffee shop, and now spends her evenings dismantling the system one “Nice Guy” at a time. However, her plans for ruthless vengeance alter when she crosses paths with former classmate Ryan (Bo Burnham). “Toxic”: Writer and director Emerald Fennell’s auspicious feature debut serves as a scathing critique of rape culture and the privilege that protects it. To make the medicine go down easier, Fennell uses a bubble gum pop aesthetic, an e...
Ranking: Every David Fincher Movie from Worst to Best
Mank, the latest from director David Fincher, is yet another feat by a filmmaker who has notched a few of them. He’s in that holy trinity of modern directors right alongside P.T. Anderson and Christopher Nolan — auteurs whose films are so defiantly theirs. Fincher would be the first to tell you that his career started off disastrously (read on for info on the Alien 3 production), so who could have anticipated all of the success that would follow both critically and financially? Not only did our film staff agree on a ranking of Fincher’s 11 films, we went ahead and dissected each movie, as well. The director’s career is full of highlights, curiosities, and a small serving of disasters. However, all of his films remain interesting in their own ways. We hope you’ll dive into the 8,000+ words ...
Lynne Ramsay to Direct Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
One of Hollywood’s most exciting filmmakers is entering the world of Stephen King. According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Lynne Ramsay has signed on to direct Village Roadshow Pictures’ adaptation of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. If you recall, I Am Not Okay With This co-creator Christy Hall was tapped… Please click the link below to read the full article. Lynne Ramsay to Direct Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Michael Roffman You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet rev...
Netflix’s Rebecca Is Haunted by Better Adaptations: Review
The Pitch: As recalled in Daphne du Mauier’s famed 1938 Gothic novel of the same name, our narrator and young, nameless lady’s companion (Lily James) meets, falls in love with, and marries a wealthy, older Englishman and widower, Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), while on holiday in Monte Carlo and returns with him to his lavish Cornish estate, Manderley. She soon begins to notice the long, profound shadow her husband’s recently dead wife, Rebecca, hauntingly casts over Maxim; family and acquaintances; household servants, including cold, austere housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas); and even the animals. As the second Mrs. de Winter grows increasingly frustrated with the strange power her predecessor possesses, even from beyond a watery grave, she slowly begins to learn the truth ...
US Republican senators confront Netflix over Chinese sci-fi show
Five Republican US senators have confronted Netflix over the streaming giant’s plan to adapt a Chinese sci-fi book trilogy, expressing concern over the original author’s comments about claims of forced labor in Xinjiang. Liu Cixin’s bestselling “The Three-Body Problem,” which tells the story of humanity’s first contact with aliens, is set to become a major Netflix series co-written by the creators of “Game of Thrones.” In a letter to content boss Ted Sarandos, the senators accused Liu of “parroting dangerous [Communist Party] propaganda” and suggested Netflix was “providing a platform to Mr Liu in producing this project.” They highlighted a New Yorker article from last year in which Liu is quoted defending mass internment in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, where activists say more th...
Netflix’s The Devil All the Time Is a Messy Southern Gothic Stew: Review
The Pitch: Set against the mud-covered backdrop of southern Ohio and West Virginia in the ’50s and ’60s, we see the ways that faith, violence, and lost innocence play out against an interconnecting web of characters. There’s Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård), whose experiences in WWII haunt him even as he tries to make a life back home with a sweet waitress (Haley Bennett). There’s also Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough), who get their kicks picking up hitchhikers, photographing them, then slaughtering them. There’s Sandy’s brother, Lee (Sebastian Stan), a portly, corrupt sheriff constantly gunning for re-election and turning a blind eye to his sister’s wrongdoing. Caught in the middle of it all is Alvin (Tom Holland), Willard’s orphaned son, trying to navigate his way throug...
I’m Thinking of Ending Things “Explained”
If you’re reading this, you’ve likely finished Charlie Kaufman’s i’m thinking of ending things, and you’re probably wondering what the hell you just watched. You’re not alone. The general consensus from everyone who’s seen the film is that it’s a dense, labyrinthine meditation on, well, a lot of things. The film chews on memory, ego, grief, time, loss, and the laundry list of existential woes rattles on. It’s all permeable enough that the takeaways to be had are nothing short of infinite, and the film is very self-aware about that notion, so much so that one could argue that was Kaufman’s meta intent. But that’s always been par for the course when it comes to Kaufman. His ironclad resume speaks to a cinematic tradition of turning everyone’s minds into puzzle pieces — and that’s why anythin...
I’m Thinking of Ending Things Will Crush You: Review
The Pitch: A young woman (Jessie Buckley) travels with her boyfriend of six weeks, Jake (Jesse Plemons), for a long snowy drive to meet his parents for the first time. She’s not sure about this guy; he’s nice, but insecure, a bit of a know-it-all. She’s thinking of ending things. But something’s off about the whole affair as soon as she arrives at the farmhouse where Jake grew up. His father (David Thewlis) and mother (Toni Collette) are giddy to see her — almost a little too giddy. She sees herself in pictures of Jake as a boy. The dog won’t stop shaking itself dry. She sees Jake’s parents as older, and older, and older, and younger. What is happening? Who is Jake? Who is she? Many a New Day: And now, dear reader, the unenviable burden of unpacking and explicating a Charlie...
Perdida Offers an Indelible Spin on the Hitchcock Thriller: Fantasia Fest Review
This review is part of our Fantasia Festival 2020 coverage. The Pitch: Eric (José María de Tavira) is a rich conductor living in a gorgeous modern home. So, why when we meet him is he getting fall-down drunk by himself at a dive bar? Enter Fabiana (Cristina Rodlo), the bartender on the night Eric causes a scene. Feeling curious, Fabiana brings Eric back to her place to let him sleep. When he wakes up, Eric rewards Fabiana with a pleasant afternoon date that leads to sex and a fast-tracked relationship. After practically moving into his apartment, detectives arrive with questions surrounding the last of Eric’s girlfriends. Seems one went missing not too long ago, though Eric insists it’s less nefarious. She left him. Fabiana’s not sure what to think, but then she starts hearing strange soun...
Russell Crowe Taps Into His Inner Nicolas Cage for Maniac Motorist Movie Unhinged: Review
The Pitch: Ever wander on to YouTube, watch a few “Fail” videos, and suddenly find the algorithm inundating you with “Epic Fail” and “Expensive Fail” videos? YouTube sees your morbid curiosity for mayhem, and takes note. A day later, confident of where society seems to be heading, emboldened and in conjunction with your social media habits (a steady diet of Caucasian sociopaths refusing to wear masks), YouTube suggests more videos of people refusing to wear masks, getting into fistfights in grocery stores, and dash-cam footage of these folks trying to run people off the road with their cars. This genuinely happens to me all the time. In a way, the existence of Unhinged was algorithmically inevitable. Unhinged is a film particularly interested in road rage. Who are these guys? What drives a...
