Fare Thee Well: On the Tenth Anniversary of Inside Llewyn Davis

Fare Thee Well: On the Tenth Anniversary of Inside Llewyn Davis

Folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is auditioning for Bud Grossman (F. Murray Abraham) in a last-ditch effort to salvage his fading chances of making it as a folk singer. This single pivotal scene defines what the Coen Brothers superb “Inside Llewyn Davis” is all about. During his audition toward the end of the film,…

Waitress: The Musical

Waitress: The Musical

Some things never change, according to the song that opens this film of the Broadway stage production. But as the final song reminds us, some things do change, and what happens between are the kinds of changes that happen to us and the changes we make happen. The Tony-nominated musical is based on a beloved 2007…

All the Horror You Need to Stream in December 2023

All the Horror You Need to Stream in December 2023

Celebrate the holidays with some ho-ho-horror movies. By Meg Shields · Published on December 7th, 2023 Welcome to Horrorscope, a monthly column keeping horror nerds and initiates up to date on all the horror content coming to and leaving your favorite streaming services. Here’s what to watch in December 2023: Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong…

Todd Haynes' 'May December' Twists the Knife to the Bone

Todd Haynes’ ‘May December’ Twists the Knife to the Bone

In which Todd Haynes goes full Pedro Almodóvar and never looks back. By Meg Shields · Published on December 7th, 2023 There is a moment early in the set-dressing of May December when my jaw swung open like the doors of a well-loved saloon. On paper, it’s nothing out of the ordinary: a caress between a married…

Steph Holmbo in Peculiar Indie Horror Film ‘Soft Liquid Center’ Trailer

Steph Holmbo in Peculiar Indie Horror Film ‘Soft Liquid Center’ Trailer

“I don’t always feel like the most reliable source…” Gravitas posted the official trailer for this indie horror creation called Soft Liquid Center, made by a filmmaking duo called “Perry Home Video“. It premiered at a few fests earlier this year, including at the RiverRun & Chattanooga Film Festivals, with a VOD release set for…

Saltburn and Subverting the Passing Narrative

Saltburn and Subverting the Passing Narrative

A little over halfway through “Saltburn”—writer/director Emerald Fennell’s early aughts-set class study—it’s clear the jig is up. Wealthy golden boy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) takes the shape-shifting Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) on a road trip to what he believes is a broken household helmed by a drunken, destitute mother. Winding down country roads in Felix’s…

Werner Herzog – Radical Dreamer

Werner Herzog – Radical Dreamer

You do a disservice to Werner Herzog’s movies—and maybe Herzog himself—by uncritically reducing them to extensions of his singular personality, known predominantly in American pop culture as a whimsical mythomaniac with a funny accent. To their credit, the makers of the artist’s profile documentary “Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer” interview some of Herzog’s collaborators, including a…

Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla turns 70 next year, and to celebrate, his parent company Toho Studios waited until the end of this year to release the most conventional Godzilla movie in recent memory. “Godzilla Minus One” may also be the most sobering and least flamboyant Japanese-produced Godzilla movie since the original 1954 nuclear lizard disaster pic (though “Godzilla…

The Unloved, Part 120: The Claim

The Unloved, Part 120: The Claim

When I got to Boston in the winter of 2008 for schooling, I knew almost no one. I had family that I roomed with for a semester and took it as my burden that by living an hour’s train ride away, it wouldn’t be feasible or realistic to try and do much in the city, and…

Family Switch

Family Switch

“Family Switch” is a Dad Joke of a movie, genially corny but enjoying its corniness so much that it invites us to enjoy it, too. It is a body-switching movie where a character assures everyone, “This is a completely unique and original situation that has literally never happened before,” followed by a series of lightly…

'Scott Pilgrim Takes Off' Is a Winning Remix With Surprises Up Its Sleeve

‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Is a Winning Remix With Surprises Up Its Sleeve

A familiar voice cast returns for this bold, heartfelt, self-referential new take on a much-loved story. By Valerie Ettenhofer · Published on November 28th, 2023 Reboot, remake, revival, reimagining, legacy sequel: there are a half-dozen names for the surprising second comings of beloved and mediocre franchises alike, but none of them describe the precise alchemy of Scott…

La Syndicaliste

La Syndicaliste

The story of Maureen Kearney is one of the most confounding scandals of the present day. Kearney was a labor representative for workers in the French nuclear industry. In the early part of the 2010s, the Irish-born Kearney discovered dealings that would throw France’s nuclear sector into the hands of Chinese interests> one of many…

Good Burger 2

Good Burger 2

Just over 25 years after the debut of the original film, Nickelodeon reignited the nostalgic cult flame with the Paramount+ release of “Good Burger 2.” Dexter (Kenan Thompson) is a failed entrepreneur, and after his latest business venture literally goes up in flames, he returns to Good Burger hoping for a crutch from Ed (Kel…

Watch: A Google-Search-Gone-Wrong Short Film – ‘Trichotillomania!’

Watch: A Google-Search-Gone-Wrong Short Film – ‘Trichotillomania!’

“Why do I pull out my hair?” That’s the question Kelly typed into Google one day while in lockdown. And she ended up on a journey into the depths of the internet, spiraling around the hallowed halls of Google. Trichotillomania! is an animated short made by filmmaker Kelly Schiesswohl (aka “kelly4.me“) based in NYC. It’s…

Enjoy 1 Hour of David Lynch Reminiscing on Life & Listening to Rain

Enjoy 1 Hour of David Lynch Reminiscing on Life & Listening to Rain

“There’s an ocean of consciousness inside each of us. It’s an ocean of solutions… When you dive into that ocean, that consciousness, you enliven it, it grows and the final outcome of this growth of consciousness is called enlightenment – which is the full potential for us all.” It’s time for something relaxing. We all…

Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros

Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros

The 93-year-old master documentarian Frederick Wiseman is often described as a filmmaker whose specialty is depicting the inner workings of institutions of varying sizes, and the way they evolve and change over time, whether it’s an army base, a mental hospital, a domestic violence shelter, a small town in Maine, a neighborhood in Queens, the New York Public Library….

Our Home Video Pick of the Week Destroys the World

Our Home Video Pick of the Week Destroys the World

Oppenheimer [4K UHD] What is it? The story of one man’s journey towards and past the creation of the atomic bomb. Why see it? Christopher Nolan’s latest probably shouldn’t work as well as it does — a three hour drama about Oppenheimer and those around him in the years leading up to an beyond the…