Mississippi Grind movie review: a killer hand
A compelling character study of two intriguingly flawed people, the sort of richly observed drama that has gotten all but pushed out of mainstream cinema.
reviews by year
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension movie review: beyond the pale
Cheap, lazy, and limited by its slavish adherence to the found-footage trope. Bonus: features the most cynical use ever of 3D to boost cinema ticket prices.
The Last Witch Hunter movie review: burn it at the stake
If this were Law & Order: Black Magic, which it almost seems like it wants to be, it’d be a helluva lot more interesting than it is.
Goosebumps movie review: stick with the books (LFF 2015)
More theme-park attraction than movie, and paradoxically distastefully self-congratulatory about the Goosebumps phenomenon and insulting toward its author.
Steve Jobs movie review: insanely great (LFF 2015)
You’ve never seen such a compelling, entertaining movie about a genius jerk. As smart and as sleek as a Macbook Pro, and a compulsory bit of modern history.
Hotel Transylvania 2 movie review: check out and never return
The barrage of nonstop sitcom idiocy is nigh on unendurable. A father plotting against his daughter as touching and uplifting? Way worse.
The Program movie review: on your bike and follow the money (LFF 2015)
Pretty much strictly for fans of Ben Foster and Chris O’Dowd, who are both superb here. Probably not for fans of Lance Armstrong (if he still has any left).
Crimson Peak movie review: humorous gruesome
A deliciously creepy haunted-house story. Oozes eldritch atmosphere yet plays with our genre expectations in ways that make it as funny as it is scary.
Pan movie review: a disaster of fantastically epic proportions
An embarrassingly empty pastiche of numerous beloved action blockbusters, all frenetic action and soulless mishmashes of fantasy imagery.
Green Room movie review: waiting-room hell (LFF 2015)
Blue Ruin’s Jeremy Saulnier is back with a smart, savage, dryly funny horror flick that has something to say about all-too-human monsters. No spoilers!
