It’s safe to say Ernst Cline’s gaming-curated novel READY PLAYER ONE was a home run for Hollywood; not just an adaption, but another opportunity to showcase visuals in a blockbuster medium. Following Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) in a much tattered Columbus Ohio, a virtual universe titled the OASIS has taken the human experience by storm, […]
Author: Alex Perez
TIFF 2017: ‘Valley of Shadows’ (‘Skyggenes Dal’) Review
Lots of horror films (recently, in fact) have had a large focus on capitalizing fear through a device of sorts. And then here comes a film by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. While it’s not what you’d call horror necessarily, the keen intent of capturing fear through the eyes of a child is also prominently featured here, […]
TIFF 2017: ‘High Fantasy’ Review
The hedonistic era of filmmaking has had a much needed boost over the past few years, ones that gave off vibes of undoubtable realism. Jenna Bass’s High Fantasy is a movie that manages to keep that realization at hand with a twist to it. Here, a group of South African teens recoil a camping trip […]
TIFF 2017: ‘Porcupine Lake’ Review
Love never feels quite real from afar, but once you’re face to face with it, it’s like nothing else matters. Ingrid Veninger’s Porcupine Lake brings us an honest tale of discovery of a young girl named Bea, who meets Kate during a family trip. While Bea and Kate form a connection and explore a loss […]
‘Le Ride’ Review: A typical doc with Intriguing Insight
A flood of documentaries come out each year, all in which attempt to accomplish either a mission or give insight to real life. Le Ride takes the insight route, breaking down the 1928 Tour De France cycling event. A challenge amongst nearly all athletes, a 3,500+ mile course in which only 41 competitors were able […]
‘The Dark Tower’ Review: A Plain, Rummaged Version of its Source Material
Stephen King, one of the most iconic authors to walk the earth at this point in time, once stated that he was most proud of his expansive universe series of “The Dark Tower” in which it spanned across 8 novels. With the amount of expansive world building that must’ve continued to grow and build throughout […]
An interview with ‘A Ghost Story’ director David Lowery
A Ghost Story is David Lowery’s latest hit and its hauntingly beautiful story has understandably earned the film a lot of buzz. A film with such personal themes would have to come from a someone who has such connections to what they’ve crafted. In this case, it would be none other than writer/director David Lowery […]
‘Okja’ Review: Zany and Important
As far as visual conceptual is concerned, Bong Joon Ho’s Okja not only flourishes, but leaps into some of the most engaging spectacles of the year so far. From the costumes to the sets, there’s always something interesting to look at. While that is happening, there is simultaneously a struggle to maintain balance in what […]
‘The Book of Henry’ is the worst film of 2017, so far
2015’s Jurassic World destroyed box office records – something no one quite saw coming. It’s not even insulting to the fact to it’s big-budgeted, post-production, tattered, derivative nature though. It’s insulting because the man who made it is Colin Trevorrow, and that after that mess he makes an equally worse mess of a movie that’s […]
‘Abacus: Small Enough To Jail’ is real drama, and real life
The mess that the banking and financial industry has become is all the more relevant in Steve James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. From immigration politics to fraud, there’s a lot going on, but it’s a seamlessly presented look at such a crisis that gets you deep inside, yet never too lost, in […]
‘Baywatch’ can’t stay afloat with what’s on board
As Dwayne Johnson continually grasps onto more and more projects, there’s a lesson he should take away from Baywatch, and that’s that he cannot do all the heavy lifting himself. He can effortlessly lead a movie and promote it, but the behind the scenes is a mess. As nice a time the cast is having, […]
‘Alien: Covenant’ is Too Uneven to be Fully Operational
As film making continues to advance, franchises further with it. You can see clear distinctions in how movies are being made than the past. Ridley Scott’s Alien, however, has remained timeless; the technique and story still holds up due to how perfectly it was executed. It was almost executed too well in fact. With Ridley Scott […]
‘Free Fire’ is Insane for All the Right Reasons
By: Alex Perez Spanning in at a quick 90 minute runtime, director Ben Wheatley decided it would be a good idea to film a movie precariously set on a group of characters shooting guns at each other the whole time. He certainly did that with Free Fire, and when it works, it works very well. […]
‘Going in Style’ is Innocuous Fun
By: Alex Perez On the surface of Going in Style, you have a comedy staring three top-notch actors. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin can be considered legends at this point. On the flip side though, this project really came out of nowhere. Considering I haven’t seen the original (and I doubt that many […]