Dave Davis gives a dedicated performance as Yakov, a shomer disconnected from his faith. IFC/The Vigil Honesty in horror is tricky. It’s a genre premised on misdirection and subterfuge, and horror films will often point in one direction only to sneak up from an entirely different direction. To balance that act with a truthful core […]
Movies & TV
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Six Years in the Making, Lupe Drops on HBO This Friday
Courtesy Lupe/HBO The new film Lupe has had a long journey to getting seen. It originally premiered at Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose back in 2019 and now will be available to stream this Friday on HBO. The directorial debut of André Phillips and Charles Vuolo, the film tells the story of Rafael (Rafael […]
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Review: Nomadland Is a Gentle Epic
Fern (Frances McDormand) will take you places. Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection Watching director Chloé Zhao’s gentle epic Nomadland is a transportive experience—quite literally, since much of the film is spent inside or around converted vans, zooming down interstates or sneakily parked on empty lots. It’s dreamy, even spiritual, to see characters left behind […]
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17 Blocks Review: A Searing and Uplifting Portrait of a Black American Family
Courtesy of Davy Rothbart You can’t take your eyes off 17 Blocks for even a second. The raw, home video footage documentary offers an intimate view into the lives of the Sanford-Durants, a Black family struggling to find joy and stability in Southeast Washington D.C. So many of the documentaries we watch now are slick […]
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Love Weed? Then Submit Your Short Movie to the SPLIFF Film Fest!
Fact: You are both creative and stoned. Therefore you should definitely dream up a weed-inspired short film for SPLIFF—America’s favorite film festival made by and for the stoned! The SPLIFF film fest features a hilarious and mind-altering array of short films that explore the meaning, pleasures, and culture of cannabis use. Trippy, comedic, documentaries, animation, […]
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Review: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar Is a Bizarre Treat for Wacky Times
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar orders from the delightfully weird part of the menu. Lionsgate The dictionary defines “culottes” as knee-length or calf-length pants cut to look like a skirt. Did you know that? Now you do. It’s weird to open a movie review with a definition, isn’t it? And I don’t […]
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Submit Your Short Stoner Film to the SPLIFF Film Fest! Deadline is March 5!
Fact: You are both creative and stoned. Therefore you should definitely dream up a weed-inspired short film for SPLIFF—America’s favorite film festival made by and for the stoned! The SPLIFF film fest features a hilarious and mind-altering array of short films that explore the meaning, pleasures, and culture of cannabis use. Trippy, comedic, documentaries, animation, […]
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Streaming the Pandemic: The Assorted Horrors of Host
Host film still Welcome to Streaming the Pandemic, our column in which we evaluate pop culture produced during and/or about the COVID-19 pandemic. Got a movie, TV show, album, etc. you think should be reviewed? Email me here. The 17th Century French dramatist Jean Racine once wrote that “Life is a comedy to those who […]
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“Africa Through the Eyes of Africans”: Stream the Cascade Festival of African Films
A film still from Dhalinyaro (Youth), a coming-of-age movie set in Djibouti. In any year, the Cascade Festival of African Films (CFAF) is a unique experience. Hosted by Portland Community College’s Cascade campus, the festival brings a well-curated selection of different genres, countries, languages, and perspectives to Portland audiences, with only one common trait: They’re […]
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Streaming the Pandemic: Reviewing Locked Down and Home Cooking
Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in Locked Down. HBO Max In the very early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was tempting to think the whole experience might be some weird temporary blip, a month-long virtual slumber party in which the worst long-term effects would be the hacky standup jokes it spawned. Of course, […]
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Sundance Film Fest Review: Ma Belle, My Beauty Is the Queer, Poly Escape We Needed
Things get sort of complicated, but at least they’re in the south of France? Courtesy of Lauren Guiteras and Sundance Institute [If you’re a movie fan who’s always wanted to attend the Sundance Film Festival, but couldn’t make the trip, you’re in luck! Due to the pandemic, Sundance is streaming online and you can get […]
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Sundance Film Fest Review: Questlove’s “Black Woodstock” Doc Is Pure Gold
Sly in Harlem is no longer stuck in the basement… Summer of Soul [If you’re a movie fan who’s always wanted to attend the Sundance Film Festival, but couldn’t make the trip, you’re in luck! Due to the pandemic, Sundance is streaming online and you can get tickets for most of the films here. Here’s […]