Category: Films

Film Review: “Undertone”

Clever premise can’t save underwhelming Undertone

Evy (Nina Kiri) hears strange sounds as she records her podcast.

Undertone, the first feature film from Canadian filmmaker Ian Tuason, first made a splash after it won the top prize in the the Best Canadian Feature competition at the Fantasia International Film Festival last year. The indie film’s success at the horror/fantasy showcase earned it a spot in the always intriguing Midnight section at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. A24, the studio responsible for such acclaimed horror fare as Hereditary, Midsommar, and The Witch snapped up the picture, and it’s now in wide release. Unfortunately, A24 may have made a bad bet, as a few festival accolades do not always bestow instant prestige horror film status. While Undertone delivers a few legit creepy thrills, they’re not enough to make up for the picture’s overall inert tone.

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Film Review: “The Bride!”

This monster mash is no cinematic smash

Frank (Christian Bale) and his bride Ida (Jessie Buckley) consider their next move.

The fact that Oscar voting closed on March 5th should work out well for actress Jessie Buckley, who is considered a Best Actress lock for her stellar turn in Hamnet. Her newest film, The Bride!, opened the next day. Had voters watched it before casting their ballots her way, they may have thought twice. Buckley is a terrific actress, but watching The Bride! you get the sense she needed to decompress from Hamnet’s emotionally taxing, heavy material. The Buckley we see in The Bride! is looser, ferocious, and over the top in a style more annoying than fun. 

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Film Review: “Dreams”

SF-set melodrama is more snooze than sizzle

Fernando (Isaac Hernández) and Jennifer (Jessica Chastain) share an erotic bond.

Bay Area movie fans who enjoy seeing their hometown on screen will get a kick out of the new Jessica Chastain movie Dreams, but everyone else may want to skip it. A soapy psychosexual thriller with more soap than thrills, the picture misses the mark on a promising idea that ultimately goes nowhere.

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Film Review: “Midwinter Break”

A holiday break, or a marriage break? Manville, Hinds, reason to see heavy marriage drama 

Irish couple Gerry (Ciarán Hinds) and Stella (Lesley Manville) are on holiday in Amsterdam.

If the opposite of spring break, with its sun-soaked, carefree, good time connotation, is a dark, chilly, and serious midwinter break, then British director Polly Findlay’s new film more than lives up to its title. Midwinter Break is about as far removed from a happy-go-lucky youthful romp as you can get, and your enjoyment of it may depend on whether you’re in the mood for a weighty but well acted relationship drama. 

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Film Review: “How to Make a Killing”

Powell impresses in Killing’s toothless satire

Becket (Glen Powell) scanning the scene in ‘How to Make a Killing.’

Producer Glen Powell found a fitting project for actor Glen Powell. Writer/director John Patton Ford’s new dark comedy How to Make a Killing, on which Powell is an executive producer, is a perfect star vehicle for the actor and a welcome return-to-form after last fall’s disappointing The Running Man remake. Aimed at being charmingly inoffensive to a wide audience, though at the expense of its satirical precision and level of twistedness, How to Make a Killing is an easily digestible distraction featuring likeable actors and nothing more. Continue reading “Film Review: “How to Make a Killing””

Film Review: “Crime 101”

Terrific cast anchors engaging contemporary LA noir

Detective Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) ponders a case.

If you loved Mark Ruffalo in HBO’s terrific miniseries Task, you need to go see Crime 101 immediately. I’m not sure when Crime 101 was made, but if Brett Layton, its writer/director, didn’t watch Task first, I’d be surprised. Ruffalo’s engrossing turn here as another rumpled but wise detective with a sad personal life is just one reason to see Crime 101, a highly entertaining and utterly absorbing heist thriller.

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Film Review: “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die”

Verbinski embraces human interaction in this offbeat, comical critique

Future man (Sam Rockwell) is mesmerized in ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.’

Director Gore Verbinski, who spent nearly five years in Disney franchise filmmaking while helming the Pirates of the Caribbean series, is one of those rare filmmakers who is unafraid to venture off-the-rails when it comes to unique storytelling (Rango) and/or genre-obscuring tonality (The Mexican, The Weather Man). With Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, Verbinski is once again letting loose and crafting a dynamic, low budget sci-fi adventure that defies categorization.  Continue reading “Film Review: “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die””

Film Review: “Dracula”

A style-over-substance vampiric jaunt through the ages

Dracula (Caleb Landry Jones) strolls through revelers in ‘Dracula.’

From Tod Browning to Francis Ford Coppola, Werner Herzog and Robert Eggers to Mel Brooks, and many in between, filmmakers love to put their stamp on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and/or its German offspring, Nosferatu. It seems that just about every year the Dracula story gets reimagined. Step up to the plate, writer/director Luc Besson (Léon, The Fifth Element, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets). Besson imprints the traditional Dracula story with his trademark strangeness, choosing to emphasize both humor and gothic romanticism while filling the frame with strong production design. Though this new Dracula is far from dull, and even features a few standout performances, the film’s erratic style and tonality keep the final product from reaching the emotional and cinematic heights of its most memorable predecessors. Continue reading “Film Review: “Dracula””

Film Review: “The Moment”

A heavy psychological drama disguised as fast-paced comedy

Charli XCX and Celeste (Hailey Gates) making their way to rehearsals.

It’s hard to take in a movie like The Moment without knowing the context surrounding it. It’s a faux-documentary about Charli XCX’s first-ever arena tour, which followed the surprise success of her 8th record, brat. Prior to brat, Charli’s only top 10 hits in the US came very early in her career, and she did not receive top billing, despite being the primary writer on both “I Love It” and “Fancy.” In the 10+ years since these massive songs hit the mainstream, Charli has largely remained in a “cult icon” status, producing underground club bangers that united LGBT club kids and indie rock hipsters, but she never really reached the massive stature she seemed primed for. She *thought* she had it figured out with 2022’s Crash. But even her attempt to construct a perfect pop record fell short of the goal, and brat was the response to that–a messy, noisy, emotionally complex affair that was expected to bomb. Continue reading “Film Review: “The Moment””

Film Review: “Whistle”

A bloody but iterative teen slasher

Chrys (Dafne Keen) blows the creepy whistle because why not, in ‘Whistle.’

Whistle, the newest horror film from director Corin Hardy (The Nun) and distributed by IFC and Shudder, is a smartly crafted exercise in mindless iteration. Like an eager groupie of the Final Destination franchise, Whistle riffs, steals, and honors the re-energized ‘90s franchise (Final Destination: Bloodlines was a surprise hit in 2025) to entertaining but ultimately forgettable ends. Whistle’s campy teenage horror proves the elasticity of the subgenre, even as the illogical script and unbalanced acting places a chokehold on the film’s effectiveness. Continue reading “Film Review: “Whistle””