by Courtney RaveloThe Danish Girl is about the first transgender woman to go through reconstructive surgery. Last year’s Oscar-winner, Eddie Redmayne, plays the title role of Einar/Lili Wegener and breakout star, and Alicia Vikander portrays his wife, Gerda. The film comes to heavily depend on these two actors’ performances. It starts out at an art … Continue reading
by Max SchwarzMany films touch on the themes of life and death, each in their own way. Whether we’re watching McMurphy’s rebellious hunt for action in a suffocating hospital ward (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) or McCandless’s call of spirituality and freedom to the woods (Into the Wild), movies show life’s adventures, meaning, and … Continue reading
by Byron BixlerSo fragile is that precious thing called love. The memories, the fragrances, the images that linger; all dissolved in a moment of doubt and the acknowledgement of profound delusions. In his previous film, Weekend, Andrew Haigh found emotional authenticity in a blossoming romance between two men. It was young love – spontaneous, raw … Continue reading
by Mac GugertyCharlie Kaufman’s breakthrough 1999 film, Being John Malkovich, opens with a puppet show. John Cusack’s Craig, a lonely, socially inept puppeteer, performs an interpretive dance with a six-inch representation of himself. The puppet begins its dance standing at a small table, seemingly lost in thought. It catches its own reflection in a mirror, … Continue reading
by Joshua WiederIf any doubt remained that the January doldrums has come round once more for us movie junkies, this release removed it. From director William Brent Bell (The Devil Inside), The Boy is really nothing short of insulting. By the end of the film’s only 97-minute runtime, the only relief from the tedious plot … Continue reading
by Justin MadoreWell, it’s January again, so I’m not sure why I expected anything walking into 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Admittedly, the fact that it’s being praised as one of the best films of director Michael Bay’s career piqued my interest, with said praise equating it as some sort of renaissance for … Continue reading
by Haley GoetzWhen the most ominous word in a film is “basement,” it becomes apparent that some rather large narrative flaws exist. In Jason Zada’s horror/thriller, The Forest, nothing is actually scary, save for a few cracking twigs and blank stares. The film’s story is grounded around Sara Price, an American woman who comes to … Continue reading
by Elizabeth EstenWhen I was eight years old, the musical stylings of The Steve Miller Band and Frank Zappa were fixed in my young mind thanks to my father. But the one artist that stuck with me most of all was Arlo Guthrie, whose old school approach to folk-sounding music permeated my mind from the … Continue reading
by Elizabeth EstenVampires have been prominent figures in the pop culture lexicon since the Universal horror films of the 1920’s and 30’s. As the years go by, vampires have changed considerably with the time, depending on the director, screenwriter and culture in which it was made. So what happens when the visual language of Robert … Continue reading
by Byron BixlerLike the best animated fantasies, Song of the Sea comes at the viewer with the kind of serenely poetic energy often only reserved for lullabies. Its world is expansive—seemingly pre-formed from Celtic mythologies. Humans tell stories of ancient spirits while unknowingly rubbing shoulders with the very entities they speak of and the painterly … Continue reading
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