Tag Archives: Arthouse

Saltburn (2023)

Posted on by

Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Barry Keoghan presented such a heartbreaking and nuanced performance in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” it’s pretty excellent to see how much he’s snuck up on movie fans over the years. “Saltburn” is that movie that he might be known for, for a long time because while that might seem like a slight, it’s astonishing how good he is here. Keoghan is wonderful at playing the chameleonic Oliver Quick. Keoghan portrays such a layered and complex protagonist whose shades of morality are often at odds with what the audience is allowed to perceive.

Continue reading →

Full Time (2023)

Posted on by

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Éric Gravel’s drama is a movie filled with so much tension and suspense, yet it’s a movie that has no actual villain. There’s no criminal or abusive spouse or corrupt officer. All there is is time that constantly seems to be working against our protagonist Julie. In a world where being a single parent becomes tougher and tougher, Gravel has offered audiences easily the most universally relatable drama in a very long time. Despite its setting, “Full Time” is wonderful often emotionally exhaustive exploration of a single parent, Julie, who is tasked with trying to keep her world above water. This becomes even harder as she’s tasked with caring for two children, both of whom are demanding of her constant attention.

Continue reading →

A Thousand and One (2023)

Posted on by

In as much as it is a film about a mother and her son, “A Thousand and One” is also a movie about the rising tide of gentrification in New York City. This adds a layer of absolute tension between Inez and her son Terry because as they’ve hidden out for years within their city, now it’s grown and pushed them out so much that they’ve officially run out of places to set up their lives in. So much of the movies around New York in the modern age have been about the looming specter of gentrification and we witness it in real time, the idea of the old New York becomes more and more just a relic of a bygone era.

Continue reading →

The Allnighter (2022)

Posted on by

I’ll admit, I didn’t think I would like Aimee Graham’s arthouse drama, mainly because the premise is kind of bizarre. It begins as this kind of weird night out with two random people, then devolves in to a car theft and odd detours, and then transforms in to this pretty hypnotizing drama about two kindred spirits. Despite the narrative that feels like it goes literally everywhere, “The Allnighter” is thankfully not hindered by this one caveat. Truth be told, “The Allnighter” is altogether pretty stellar, and it’s a film that kept me hooked right through the very end.

Continue reading →

Our Five Choice Indie Shorts of 2023

Posted on by

It’s been an interesting year and we’ve manage to cover a few of the usual film festivals and found some favorites along the way. We were thankfully able to compensate for last year by really digging our heels in to the indie movies and festivals, and we’ve combed over some really talented directors, and writers.

These are five of the best short films we saw in 2023.

Continue reading →

Priscilla (2023)

Posted on by

After last year’s goofy “Elvis” failed to really bring us anything new about the actual man known as Elvis, it’s refreshing to see “Priscilla” come along a year later. Sofia Coppola’s biopic about Elvis’ iconic wife Priscilla is the absolute antithesis of a love story. It’s the anti-romance, and the unsensational depiction of Elvis and Priscilla and how their marriage and romance came out of a utilitarian circumstance more than a genuine love and passion. What may trouble fans of Elvis and Priscilla is that this is a movie that finally views Elvis in a new light. He was a man who was possessive, controlling, self-obsessed, and often times incredibly abusive.

Continue reading →

The Holdovers (2023)

Posted on by

The older I get the more and more I’ve grown to really appreciate Alexander Payne’s “Sideways.” His drama comedy about unfulfilled ambition, and arrested development is still a wonderful experience. “The Holdovers” is a character piece very much in the same vein, but while it might be a character piece it might also end up being one of the most unique Christmas movies ever made. Payne is wonderful at observing and dissecting such complex and unique characters, and with “The Holdovers,” he explores the lives, regrets, and frustrations of three immensely different people.

Continue reading →