3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets: A look back at the 'Loud Music Trial' that dovetailed with the birth of Black Lives Matter
ReviewJim Slotek3 ½ Minutes, 10 Bullets, Loud Music trial, Shooting deaths of young blacks, Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, Marc Silver, Black Lives Matter movement, George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri, Cory Strolla, John Guy, Michael Dunn, Jordan Davis
Nomadland: Beautiful, affecting film has a deep well of compassion for a forgotten fringe of society
By Karen Gordon
Read More
ReviewJim SlotekNomadland, Frances McDormand, Characters on the fringe of society, Homeless on wheels, Linda May, Bob Wells, David Strathairn, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, Chloé Zhao, The Rider, Terrence Malick, Kelly Reichardt, Joshua James Richards, Ludovico Einaudi, Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Held: Tepid horror movie about a 'smart house' holding a couple hostage is not that smart
ReviewJim SlotekHeld, Evil AI movies, Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing, Jill Awbre, Rez Kempton, Bart Johnson, Housekeeping Monthly’s The Good Wife’s Guide., The Simpson’s House of Whacks episode, Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man.
Embryo: Middling Chilean Sci-Fi/Horror Repays Viewing Dilignece With Scant Dividends
Review, PreviewJim SlotekEmbryo, Chilean films, Science fiction, Horror, Alien movies, Patricio Valladares, Romina Perazzo, Domingo Guzmán, Cristian Cuentrejo
Senior Moment: A Likeable Love Story for the Aged If Not for the Ages
Review, PreviewJim SlotekSenior Moment, William Shatner, Jean Smart, Christopher Lloyd, Giorgio Serafini, Esai Morales, love story, Palm Springs, Aging, Movies about aging
Quo Vadis, Aida?: Oscar-Chosen Drama on Grim Chapter in Bosnian War Nails Emotional Tenor
Review, PreviewJim SlotekDrama, TIFF 2020, Jasmila Žbanić, Jasna Đuričić, Oscar nominee, Bosnia, Serbia, Bosian War, Quo Vadis, Aida?, 1995 Srebrenica massacre
Sugar Daddy: A budding musician joins the gig economy as a sex worker in this idiosyncratic-yet-familiar film
ReviewJim SlotekSugar Daddy, Movies about sex workers, Kelly McCormack, Wendy Morgan, Shiva Baby, Hilary McCormack, Maria Callas, Ishan Davé, Nicholas Campbell, Colm Feore, Stephan Littger, Her Composition, Rachmaninov, Mozart, The Roches, Marie-Helene L. Delorme, aka Foxtrott, Kaniehtiio Horn
French Exit: Michelle Pfieffer Riches-to-Rags Drama Leaves a Bitter Taste and Impression
Review, PreviewJim SlotekFrench Exit, Azazel Jacobs, Patrick deWitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges, Into the Wild, The Marksman, Riches to rags stories, Paris, Imogen Poots
Shoplifters of the World: Tribute to Alt-Rock Icons The Smiths Tender But Trite
The Marksman: Liam Neeson’s Latest Average-Guy-Cum-Hero Actioner True to Form… Sigh
Review, PreviewJim SlotekThe Marksman, Liam Neeson, Robert Lorenz, Clint Eastwood, Action movies, Mexico, Drug cartels, Juan Pablo Raba, Jacob Perez, Mexican border
Godzilla vs. Kong: Like the WWE, enjoyably cartoonish with bigger behemoths and a serviceable story
ReviewJim SlotekGodzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, King Ghidorah, King Kong, Rebecca Hall, Batman vs. Superman, Adam Wingard, Alexander Skarsgård, Brian Tyree Henry, Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things, Kaiju
Original-Cin Q&A: Ingrid Veninger on Creating the Ultimate Female Pandemic Collaboration
Review, Preview, InterviewJim SlotekOne (nine), Ingrid Veninger, Female Eye Film Festival, pandemic, Pandemic movies, Female filmmakers, female directors, 2020
Six Minutes to Midnight: Eddie Izzard-Guided WWII Drama Intriguing but Unfulfilling
Nobody: Bob Odenkirk makes a surprising action hero in a trope-filled tale of a milquetoast who fights back
ReviewJim SlotekVigilante violence, Bob Odenkirk, Nobody, High Noon, Falling Down, Death Wish, Ilya Naishuller, Michael Ironside, Characters rediscovering their masculinity, Aleksey Serebryakov, Christopher Lloyd, A History of Violence, Home invasions
Shiva Baby: Sex, Death and A Buffet Table in Strong Debut Feature
By Linda Barnard
Read More
Review, PreviewJim SlotekShiva Baby, Emma Seligman, TIFF 2020, Rachel Sennott, Polly Draper, Fred Melamed, Dianna Agron, Comedy, Jewish funereal tradition, Coming of age, Generation Z, Sex and death
SLAXX: Killer jeans, demonic denim, the sinister-hood of the traveling pants - whatever you call it, it's a hoot
ReviewJim SlotekNovelty horror films, Demonic blue jeans, SLAXX, Elza Kephart, Possessed inanimate objects, Peter Strickland, In Fabric, Romane Denis, Sehar Bhojani, Brett Donahue
Enhanced: Familiar Mutants Among Us… But Duller Than Ever
I Am Lisa: Mean girls discover karma is a howling b--tch in this low-rent/low-expectations lycanthropic revenge tale
ReviewJim SlotekWerewolf movies, Female revenge films, I Am Lisa, Mean Girls, Ginger Snaps, Kristen Vaganos, Carmen Anello, Manon Halliburton, Frances McDormand, Shawn Eric Jones, Wolf, Patrick Rea, Eric Winkler
Iron Mask: Jumbled Schwarzenegger/Jackie Chan Period Piece May Watch Better While High
Review, PreviewJim SlotekIron Mask, Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Actioner, Period piece films, Oleg Stepchenko, Fantasy, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Jason Flemyng, Yao Xington, CGI
Doors: Weird End-of-Days Sci-Fi Thriller Nods to Stanley Kubrick… and Breakfast Club
Review, PreviewJim SlotekDoors, Sci-fi, Saman Kesh, Jeff Desom, Dugan O'Neal, Breakfast Club, Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, David Hemphill, Darius Levantè, Kyp Malone.
