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Lance Oppenheim’s three-part HBO docuseries “Ren Faire” walks that fine line between mocking and celebrating its incredibly unique subjects. I told a friend just now that I was reviewing a docuseries about a “Succession”-esque power struggle at a Renaissance fair, and he said, “So, a comedy?” Yes and no. While aspects of “Ren Faire” are […]

The issue of the spoiler remains a critical one in cinematic discourse. At this moment, it weighs on this reviewer particularly heavily. “What You Wish For,” a picture written and directed by Nicholas Tomnay and starring Nick Stahl, is one that I went into relatively cold, and that contributed significantly to my enjoyment of the

Pablo Berger’s “Robot Dreams” is a lovely fable about partnership and imagination, a movie that uses the form of animated cinema to tell a story in a way that couldn’t be possible in any other medium. Without a word of dialogue, the director of “Blancanieves” casts a spell, crafting a film that is often truly

The most fascinating thing about Chris Nash’s hyperviolent slasher experiment “In a Violent Nature” is that it’s not scary. At least, not in the way that the “Friday the 13th“-esque splatter flicks he’s clearly riffing on used to be. There are no jump scares, few bouts of high-wire tension, and no ambiguity about who the

Last month, I was a juror in the Narrative Feature category at the Florida Film Festival; one of the films, “Hellbent on Boogie,” directed by Vito Trupiano, was about an autistic teenager (Alyx Ruibal) being homeschooled by her mother and kept in isolation from her peers. The portrayal of neurodivergence has an authenticity one doesn’t

Zombies don’t have to be fast. It’s a fun novelty sometimes, sure. But the essence of zombies as a horror subgenre is best expressed as a feeling of creeping dread, the idea that something horrible is coming and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Executed properly, the slowness can actually enhance the terror,

Like many people of my approximate age, my childhood was heavily touched and influenced by the work of Jim Henson. I adored the craziness of “The Muppet Show” which made it stand out from the comparatively bland other things being offered up as children’s entertainment at that time and found myself relating to a number

The personal essay film is a tricky genre, because when you get right down to it, who cares? Sure, there is a brotherhood of man and all that, but is it such that we’ll be interested enough in a brother’s struggles that we’re willing to sit with them for a while in a movie theater,

The film, which takes place over a single day, is told from the perspective of Celestina (Kiersey Clemons), the “young wife” of the title. Celestina is hosting a party that definitely isn’t a wedding (although it is) at her demanding “Maman’s” (Sheryl Lee Ralph) country retreat in a flooded marsh. And all her friends and

“Backspot” does for competitive cheerleading what “The Novice” did for rowing: It depicts the pursuit of athletic excellence to the point of obsession through a specifically queer lens. Both sports may look refined on the outside, but they require grueling effort and intense dedication. And for us as viewers, they offer an intimate glimpse into