A couple of years ago, Australia’s pop icon Kylie Minogue released the knowingly cringe-worthy travel jingle “Matesong,” a deliberately kitsch invitation to British holidaymakers. Australia may be famed for laid-back beaches and sun-soaked getaways, but it has also been a fertile ground for vivid, inventive horror and thriller cinema ever since the Ozploitation boom of … Read more
The Power of the Dog (2021) Director: Jane Campion Screenwriter: Jane Campion Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee What lies beneath the rough exterior of men? Is traditional masculinity simply another form of power? Jane Campion examines these questions by taking us into a particular moment of American history—the vast, often unforgiving … Read more
Spencer (2021) Director: Pablo Larraín Screenwriter: Steven Knight Starring: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Jack Farthing, Sean Harris, Sally Hawkins Pablo Larraín, the Chilean director known for his distinctive approach to historical portraits, follows his celebrated study of Jacqueline Kennedy with Spencer, a bold and intimate film about Diana, Princess of Wales. Larraín’s earlier work demonstrated … Read more
The Purge series is an alternate-history thriller-horror phenomenon that has earned large box-office returns on relatively modest budgets. The franchise includes five films and a two-season television series. Each entry varies in focus, but the central premise remains consistent: one night a year, most crimes are legal in the United States, with a few narrowly … Read more
Escape the Undertaker (2021) Director: Ben Simms Starring: The Undertaker, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is so woven into pop culture that for many people the word “wrestling” instantly conjures Vince McMahon’s entertainment empire. The company’s golden eras—Hulkamania and the Attitude Era—are long past, and mainstream breakout stars from the … Read more
“If it bleeds, we can kill it.” The Predator stands out among cinematic extraterrestrials as a merciless hunter: a masked, technologically advanced warrior that stalks its prey from the shadows. Cloaked by a near-invisible device and armed with heat-seeking weapons, it methodically hunts humans, often keeping the skulls and spinal cords of its victims as … Read more
Ride the Eagle (2021) Director: Trent O’Donnell Screenwriters: Jake Johnson, Trent O’Donnell Starring: Jake Johnson, Susan Sarandon, D’Arcy Carden, J.K. Simmons Emerging from the limitations of the pandemic, Ride the Eagle is a small, heartfelt film born of constrained creativity. Jake Johnson and director Trent O’Donnell, collaborators with a background in comedy television, crafted this … Read more
Isle of Dogs (2018) Director: Wes Anderson Screenwriters: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola Starring: Bryan Cranston, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Greta Gerwig, Yoko Ono After the critical and commercial success of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson returned in 2018 with the stop-motion animated feature Isle of Dogs. Building on his earlier … Read more
Delphine’s Prayers/Les prières de Delphine (2021) Director: Rosine Mbakam Rosine Mbakam’s latest feature documentary, Delphine’s Prayers, offers a powerful, intimate portrait of a young Cameroonian woman navigating life as an immigrant in Belgium. Mbakam, known for her empathetic films about African migrant women, frames this work as an extended, candid interview with Delphine, a 30-year-old … Read more
Songs for the River (2021) Director: Charlotte Ginsborg Charlotte Ginsborg’s documentary Songs for the River offers a concise, moving portrait of one small riverside community in London as it navigates the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Filmed between April 2020 and January 2021, the film centers on the residents of Brandrams Wharf, a riverside social … Read more