Tangerine Review

Tangerine is a bold, raw, and deeply felt independent film from director and co-writer Sean S. Baker; it’s the first film I’ve seen of his and now I eagerly anticipate his next move as a filmmaker. This is the often hysterical, often draining story of two African-American transgender prostitutes, played with loud charm by Kitana…

Read More

5 Strange and yet Brilliant Christmas Films

1. Gremlins A boy who has been sold a tiny furry animal by a reluctant shopkeeper in chinatown manages to inadvertently break 3 important rules concerning his new pet and accidently unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. Never ignore the three simple rules: No water (violated), no food after midnight (violated), and…

Read More

The Wraith (1986) Review

Make no mistake – this is a bad movie. This is a film about a high school stud who gets murdered, then starts traveling between dimensions, assumes the spirit of a souped up sports car, which then starts extracting bloody and explosive revenge on the people who wronged him by driving them off the road….

Read More

Bringing Out the Dead (1999) Review

Paul Schrader’s script included some shout-outs to his decades earlier work in Taxi Driver, but this was its own thing, based on Joe Connelly’s bleak novel, and looking at a particular lifetstyle we don’t see too often on screen. Nicolas Cage was electrifying here — it’s a truly bravura big-screen performance, filled with the customary…

Read More
Emperor of the North

Emperor of the North (1973) Review

I find myself frequently coming back to this title over the last few months. Emperor of the North, aka Emperor of the North Pole, is an exceedingly masculine film. You can smell the cinematic machismo dripping off of Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine all throughout this beefy action-adventure from man’s man director Robert Aldrich (The…

Read More

Side Effects (2013) Review

Side Effects is a slick, smart, and deceptively layered thriller from Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns, who before this under the radar gem crafted the irreverent comedic masterwork The Informant! Side Effects is an extremely stylish head game that loves toying with the audience at all times, and it also happens to be…

Read More
Back to the Movies