Richard Linklater’s Timeless “Before” Trilogy

Boyhood is my favorite film of the year and that doesn’t seem likely to change. The inspiring experimental film was, in many ways, a diary for Richard Linklater as a writer and director, the movie equivalent of a hand-scribbled height chart in your child’s room. Boyhood may be about Mason’s coming-of-age, but it’s also … Get hard

Star-Studded Poe Adaptation “Stonehearst Asylum” Somehow Works Because Of Its Bajillion Twists

Over the first twenty minutes of Stonehearst Asylum, you slowly begin to dread watching the rest of the film, thanks to looking and feeling like your typical insane asylum movie. Jim Sturgess’ medical school graduate Edward Newgate has arrived at the mental institution to become an alienist, a Lovecraftian term … Get hard

Twisted New Zealand Home Invasion Horror Film “Housebound” Injects Fun Into Genre

Kylie Bucknell (Morgana O’Reilly) is a perpetually pissed off juvenile delinquent, except she’s closer to 30 than high school. Treatment facilities have failed time and time again, so she’s sentenced to eight months of house arrest with her mother Miriam (Rima Te Wiata, MVP) and her “cabbage in a polo” … Get hard

Antonio Banderas & Company Break Laws of Robotics in Sci-Fi Snoozer “Automata”

It’s 2044 A.D. and 99% of the human population has perished from radiation. It’s a testament to how flawed, unfortunate and cliché this movie is that I feel bad for the surviving 1% of the world who had to weather this foggy, nonsensical I, Robot knockoff. The ROC Corporation (of … Get hard

Hey You Guys…Shailene Woodley Really Is A Movie Star: “White Bird in a Blizzard” Review

On the surface, White Bird in a Blizzard is another book turned into a movie that stars Shailene Woodley, the go-to young actress to adapt the lives of several tortured teenagers on paper to the big screen. But, it doesn’t take long to realize Gregg Araki’s film is different. Somehow … Get hard

Viggo Mortensen Simmers, But “The Two Faces of January” Never Truly Boils

Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, The Two Faces of January is a well-acted, reasonably well made, vaguely Hitchcockian suspense thriller that explores the similarities between star Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings)and a guy who’s been labeled a future star so many times that he’s already leapfrogged over … Get hard

Must See To Believe: Katie Cassidy, Eliza Dushku & Michelle Trachtenberg In Superhero Mind-Bender “The Scribbler”

The Scribbler is a fascinating cauldron of genre actors playing against type, or EXACTLY within type, an IMDB enthusiast’s wet dream. The comic book movie somehow stars Eliza Dushku, Michelle Trachtenberg AND Katie Cassidy, three of the most divisive actresses on some of the Internet’s favorite shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse and Arrow. An acting clinic this … Get hard

“The Guest” Is A Movie You’ll Never Want To Leave

I was first introduced to director (and editor) Adam Wingard and writer-producer Simon Barrett’s sublime collaborations with You’re Next, an awesome send up and salute to home invasion horror movies. Nothing about that was a fluke, as I think I had even more fun while watching The Guest. The Wingard/Barrett … Get hard

LA EigaFest: “Ask This of Rikyu,” “Wood Job!,” & “Bilocation”

Film festivals are magical places. For the last two months you’ve had the choice of rewatching Guardians of the Galaxy for the umpteenth time or waste your money at the theaters with a slew of an almost unheard of amount of dreck, but this Saturday at LA’s EigaFest, I managed to … Get hard

LA EigaFest 2014: “Lupin The Third”

The fourth annual LA Eigafest came to the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood this past weekend, and brought with it a slew of recent Japanese releases, many carefully selected to appeal to the American masses. Of course, most of those in attendance throughout the weekend were either critics or die-hard eiga fans … Get hard