Category: Reviews

In my memory, my high school had a caste system identifiable to any post-Breakfast-Club high school might. Jocks, overachievers, scene kids, band people, stoners, etc. At the time, I didn’t identify with any particular clique. Now, I would guess I technically belonged to the Kevin Smith strain of beta nerds who were into anime, video … Continue reading The Shape of Water (2017) – dir. Guillermo del Toro →

Any piece of art is an argument. Some are well-defined. Some are incomplete. Some are surprising, in good ways and bad. In fact, most films that get made have very comprehensible philosophies. Even terrible movies are capable of having some ethos. As amateurish and unintentionally hilarious as a dud like Birdemic: Shock and Terror is, … Continue reading mother! (2017) – dir. Darren Aronofsky →

I am a sucker for love stories. I love romantic comedies. I love stories about love at first sight. I love two people finding and falling for each other, against all odds. Similarly, I'm a sucker for Richard Linklater, who may be my favorite working filmmaker, and possibly my all-time favorite. His films capture the … Continue reading Before Sunrise (1995) – dir. Richard Linklater →

I don’t think very much about my sexual orientation. Yes, I’m bisexual, but I never formally "came out." At no point did I ever find such a practice to be necessary. One day, I admitted to myself of something I had suspected for a while, which was that I was attracted to men as well … Continue reading Love, Simon (2018) – dir. Greg Berlanti →

Though I’m not quite a silver screen fiend, I have a deep love for film. As I was discussing with a friend, what our peers are to copious purchases of vinyl records, I am to movie subscriptions and Criterion Blu-rays. I’m always devouring essays on craft, and have gone on to try to practice the … Continue reading Ready Player One (2018) – dir. Steven Spielberg →

I love making movies. My favorite joke about this is to say, “Yes, I’m a visually impaired filmmaker, but Beethoven has gone down as arguably the greatest filmmakers of all time, and he was deaf… and a dog.” Am I good at what I do? I don’t know. But the pieces I put together, be … Continue reading The Rider (2017) – dir. Chloe Zhao →

Our pop culture landscape as it exists today does not exist without Star Wars. No one knew what this sci-fi fairy tale was in 1977. As much as George Lucas says he had this or that mapped out, history has revealed that he could never nail down this pastiche of Flash Gordon and Kurosawa pictures. … Continue reading Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) – dir. Rian Johnson →

Even as someone who waivers on religion, I’m endlessly fascinated by Jesus Christ. Rather, I’m endlessly fascinated by the way we envision him and are meant to value his humanity, or at very least as a literary figure. With Christ’s supposed perfection in mind, how does someone whose unfailing goodness defines them make for a … Continue reading Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018) – dir. Morgan Neville →

I often wonder if most other people feel as alone as I do. Even though I have several good friends, some adored workplace proximity acquaintances, a killer family, and other perfectly pleasant associations in my life, I can’t say have many close friends. I have several people in my life who I call best friends, … Continue reading Moonlight (2016) – dir. Barry Jenkins →