Criticism, whether you’re critiquing art, film or anything in between, can be a very persuasive tool. This “power of the critic” can make the most insignificant things seem meaningful, or the most valuable things seem worthless. To put it simply, it’s all one big trick. This is exactly what The Burnt Orange Heresy is trying to convey.
From a young age, the horror genre has always stood out to me. It was the ultimate escape from reality and the pure adrenaline from being scared shitless was my go to for a good time. The more I got into film, I realized that a large part of why I enjoyed certain films came from whether or not I liked or could relate to the characters. I mean, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) is quite literally why it’s one of my favorite movies. But the older I got and the more I began to understand who I was, I started to notice that I wasn’t necessarily seeing someone like me in horror. There was never the gay friend in a slasher movie, the queer kid who’s part of a family living in a haunted house, or even a gay couple in a home invasion, etc. Thankfully that’s finally changing.
To what extent does the past continue to dictate our future? Antebellum explores the relationship of slavery to the modern day, as main character Eden/Veronica (Janelle Monae) tries to navigate her life as a slave.
They say The Lord works in mysterious ways. He certainly does in Antonio Campos new Netflix film, The Devil All The Time. Based on the novel of the same name by Donald Ray Pollock, the film explores the vengeful life stories of several god-fearing Americans as they try to come to terms with a higher power, but truly attempt to come to terms with themselves. It is a dark window into a society where evil can be justified in simple terms and good can be difficult to distinguish from its more aggressive opposite.
The next and last volume of my round-ups for Fantasia! This was supposed to come out sooner, but to be honest, I felt a bit burnt out, but I’m trying to get back to my productive self. No other way to do so, but force it out, right?
As a long time fan of both the Jurassic Park/World movies, I’ve been dying to see if they’d ever make a series and what exactly that’d look like. Well, they did and it was nowhere near what I pictured or hoped for; being that it was an animated children’s show. But just because it wasn’t what I’d hoped for, doesn’t mean I didn’t like.
Nostalgia is something that we can all relate too, especially in today’s world where everything seems to be going into shambles. The Way I See It banks on this idea of nostalgia. Following Pete Souza and revisiting his eight years as the photographer for President Obama and his response following President Trump’s election and today’s world. Composing itself mostly of images and stock footage intertwined with interviews, The Way I See It tries to make you yearn for past times and fear our future with the current President of the United States at its head.
Going into this, I was not expecting it to be one of the most chaotic and stressful films to have come my way this year. The sheer messiness of this film was almost too much at times, and I say this as someone who absolutely loved every second of it.
For Emma Seligman’s (Shiva Baby, Void) feature directorial debut, we follow Danielle; a young student who runs into her sugar daddy at a Jewish funeral service with her parents. The chaos that radiates from that short description alone is nothing compared to the events thrown our way throughout the experience.
Going into this movie, my first thought was “is this sequel really necessary?” I mean, the original Babysitter ended up being one of my favorite films of the year, along with having an insanely awesome ending! The cast delivered in all areas and we were introduced to the incredibly charming and badass Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Hollywood). So again, was this necessary? The answer is no. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t welcomed.
I first heard of Luca Guadagnino with 2016’s A Bigger Splash, a film that has been on my radar but still sadly hasn’t seen (will fix soon). His next two films hit me like bricks – Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria (the remake is the superior version, and I will die on this hill). Since Call Me By Your Name, Luca’s name has been everywhere including a Lord of The Flies adaptation, and also the Scarface film that the Coen Bros wrote. On top of that, he also co-wrote and directed 8 episodes for HBO. I’ve seen four of the eight episodes, and I am absolutely head over heels for his latest project.
