There are two main types of stories about small town people finding themselves: ones where they move away from the suffocating place where they grew up, and ones where they come back. “Close to You” is the second kind of movie. Written and directed by Dominic Savage, starring Elliot Page in his first lead performance […]
When you have a name like Hope Goldman, two words lacquered in shiny aspirational vibes, you probably know it’s ought to be shared with the masses. Indeed, who wouldn’t want someone named Hope to bring exactly that into their lives; their one-way journey towards the inevitable? In frequent music video director Austin Peters’ nifty and
Director Julian Farino’s “The Union” follows Mike (Mark Wahlberg), a construction worker content with his job, dive bar outings with his friends, and sleeping with his former seventh-grade teacher (an awkward joke that remains a punchline over the course of the film’s entirety). When his adolescent flame, Roxanne (Halle Berry) returns to the east coast
When “Caligula” arrived in theaters in 1979, it came in on a tidal wave of hype, most of it on the negative side. The production of Penthouse Magazine publisher Bob Guccione’s grand experiment in creating an adult film that included the elements innate to a typical Hollywood spectacle was filled with such strife that both
More than 900 days since Russia first launched its invasion and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, aimed at annexing territory and erasing Ukrainian identity, the conflict rages on but in terms of achieving his strategic objectives, President Vladimir Putin has already lost. In seeking to topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government, dismantle its statehood, and
There’s something radical about the old-fashioned approach of “My Penguin Friend.” It’s an earnest, crowd-pleasing family film–nothing snarky or self-referential, no on-the-nose needle drops–just a sweet, beautifully made movie that earns the emotion it’ll surely draw from its viewers. Director David Schurmann tells the true story of the unlikely bond between a penguin and a
There’s a great high-concept premise at the start of “Consumed,” an otherwise frustrating creature feature about a married couple who go camping and then fall apart. A rift has already formed between Beth (Courtney Halverson) and Jay (Mark Famiglietti) before they set out on a long hike, so tension only continues to grow once they’re
“Are you lost?,” an old lady at the mall asks sad-sack Renn Wheeland (Nick Jonas) during one of his omnipresent bouts of millennial ennui. It’s the kind of innocuous statement that, when revealed in stark close-up, is meant to convey a broader thematic underpinning in Robert Schwartzman’s weepy indie dramedy “The Good Half.” You see,
“Jackpot!” is a trashy and repetitive action comedy about greed and bloodlust set in a world full of people who are proud to be awful. Directed by Paul Feig (“Spy”), it’s set in near-future Los Angeles, which begins to seem like a statement in itself as the movie goes along. There’s a statewide lottery. For
“Good Bad Things” is an intimate, small story about the gigantic issue that challenges and terrifies us all: the collision between the desperate need to be seen and loved and the fear that what people might see will repel rather than attract them. Written by lifelong friends Shane D. Stanger (who also directed) and Danny
