Magnolia Pictures

What does it mean to be a man? A woman? A father? A mother? Do our actions define who we are, or are we already defined by our gender? These questions and more are thrown around in Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure, Sweden’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards. Through […]

As a musician who’s been in a few bands in differing capacities, I’m a little biased toward films like Frank. The quest for musical perfection, much less to master one’s craft or instrument, has always been fraught with great peril and comedy, as you’re constantly comparing yourself to other bands and musicians, either trying to […]

There’s a scene in “Blackfish” that depicts how whalers used to separate killer whale (or orca) calves from their mothers. It’s an incredibly disturbing thing to watch, being somewhat reminiscent of 2009’s “The Cove” (a shocking exposé about dolphin poaching in Japan). In an illustration, we see how the orcas strategize to protect their young. Luring […]

As a tennis fan from childhood, I spent a lot of time with my father watching the Grand Slam tournaments on television and attending exhibition matches locally here in DC at Rock Creek Park. Every few years or so, a new powerhouse player would come into the scene; the era which I remember was famous […]

(This review was originally published on April 24, 2013 at Reel Film News) If Xan Cassavetes gets one thing absolutely right in her feature debut, it’s the tone of an authentic 1970’s European horror film. “Kiss of the Damned” harks back to a time when vampires were exclusively nocturnal and decidedly more aristocratic than metrosexual. […]

(This review was originally published on November 30, 2012 at Reel Film News) If you were to combine “Reindeer Games” with “The Ref”, you might end up with something like “Deadfall”, a film that circles hungrily around the promise of a moral, as well as a twist, like a vulture waiting for something to die. […]