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Few filmmakers dig as deep as Charlie Kaufman does into existentialism. What makes us tick, how we connect, the meaning of life…these are the major themes in all of his work whether it’s [...]

There’s something incredibly heartening about the new Netflix documentary RISING PHOENIX in a time when so many selfish, pigheaded Americans refuse to wear masks to fight COVID-19. Those [...]

Post-modern filmmaker Michael Almereyda has been experimenting with form, de-construction, and mixed media in his works since the beginning of his career in 1985. It’s no wonder that he was drawn [...]

UNHINGED stars Russell Crowe, one of the most heralded actors of his generation. Its screenwriter is Carl Ellsworth, who wrote the accomplished thriller RED EYE in 2005. And the director is [...]

The new teenage romance CHEMICAL HEARTS is entirely earnest, wearing its heart on its sleeve from the very first second to the last. Unfortunately, sincerity can only carry a film so far. Despite [...]

Tension gives films crackle. It’s palpable when there is great conflict in a story, and characters are angrily at odds with another. Some films, like the new Netflix adventure PROJECT POWER, also [...]

If you think that political dirty tricks, petty party in-fighting, and character assassinations are only the vestige of seasoned professionals in D.C., just wait till you see BOYS STATE. It’s the [...]

There are all-too-typical scary movies with cornball monsters and victims tripping over everything in the night, and then there are films like SHE DIES TOMORROW. Writer/director Amy Seimetz’s [...]

Vaulted author Thomas Wolfe famously wrote You Can’t Go Home Again but cinema seems to absolutely adore stories about people who try. In I USED TO GO HERE, the naif who thinks she can [...]