With Judas and the Black Messiah, writer/director Shaka King takes on the difficult project of making a movie about a man who would balk at his own protagonism. Telling the story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter in the late ‘60s, as a more typical biopic would betray […]
Alexander Harrison
Alex Harrison is an emerging film critic getting a Masters in Film Studies in his spare time
Posted inArts & Culture
What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Malcolm and Marie”
Malcolm & Marie, the newest Netflix release from writer/director Sam Levinson, will get a lot of attention from critics. Not because of its ascending stars or its black-and-white cinematography, which might be the usual reasons, and not even for being completely conceived, written, and shot mid-pandemic. No – critics will write about Levinson’s movie because, […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Dig”
One of the few entertainment outlets not to have their 2020 output disrupted by the pandemic, Netflix looks to continue their dominance in 2021 by releasing at least one new movie every week, with 71 titles already scheduled and a few more festival pickups likely on the way. While these will run the gamut of […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Kid Detective”
January and February are traditionally rough months for new releases. Because movies usually need a release date before December 31st to be eligible for Oscars, the major studios load the Fall with prestige pictures and treat the first two months of the new year as a dumping ground for movies they don’t expect much from. […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Promising Young Woman”
The slow trickle of movies that had Spring-2020 release dates to video-on-demand has become a familiar story for cinema of the plague year, and while Promising Young Woman is the latest to follow that pattern, it does so with a buzz that has endured since its Sundance premiere nearly a full year ago. Having seen […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Pieces of a Woman”
I have noticed a tendency in my reviews to write more generously about films I give two stars than those I give two-and-a-half, and the reason is simple: there is more to admire in works that aspire beyond what they achieve than there is in those that meet already tepid goals. Pieces of a Woman, […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Wonder Woman 1984”
The DC Extended Universe has been more of a mixed bag than its Marvel counterpart, but Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman in 2017 was a major bright spot. It helped inspire Warner Bros. to shift their tactics, moving away from a multi-film arc of Zack Snyder’s vision to handing individual projects to filmmakers with interesting voices. […]
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What’s Up 2020 Top 10: The Movies
As January 1st approaches, it’s customary for critics to publish a list of their top films of the year— even if, like me, you don’t get screeners or attend festivals and haven’t seen everything on offer yet. I did manage to catch 80-odd movies that released wide in 2020, but it’s still worth mentioning that […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Though it might seem like the perfect source material, adapting a stage play for the screen is no easy task. Or, rather, it shouldn’t be. Being written to be performed might make the dialogue easily translatable to film, but the storytelling targets a live audience sitting in front of a stage that changes only superficially. […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Prom”
What matters more when assessing a movie? The experience you had watching it in the moment, or your memory of that moment in the days, weeks, and years that follow? It’s an important question to keep in mind when writing critical reviews, and one that has no easy answer. While I do my best to […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Mank”
After spending the latter half of the 2010s working on the excellent Netflix series Mindhunter, acclaimed director David Fincher has returned to film with Mank, his first feature for the streaming giant. While distinct from his other work in both style and subject matter, it is very possibly his most personal project, finally bringing to […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Happiest Season”
When critics use the term “formulaic” to describe a movie, it’s not usually a compliment. Relying on time-worn storytelling beats can make for broad appeal, but people that watch hundreds of movies a year tend to be less impressed by those that play it safe— after all, something no one hates is not the same […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Mangrove”
British director Steve McQueen, likely best known to American audiences for his Best Picture-winning 12 Years a Slave, is set to dominate the final stretch of 2020. Partnering with both the BBC and Amazon, McQueen has created a five-film anthology series about the Black experience in Britain, titled Small Axe after a proverb popularized by […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Life Ahead”
You might have seen a familiar name in the entertainment headlines this week: Sophia Loren, the 86-year-old Italian icon, has returned to movie acting after a ten-year absence. She’s said in interviews that she’d only been waiting for material she connected with, but it’s no coincidence that the director of her new film, Netflix’s Italian-language […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Columns
What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Kindred”
Hoping to follow up last week’s exciting British horror debut with another, I decided on director Joe Marcantonio’s first feature film Kindred as my review for this week, and His House proved to be a more useful direct comparison than I expected. Though the two movies share a focus on Black protagonists under threat in […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “His House”
Looking for a scary movie to watch this Halloween? Already burned through all of Angela Marandola’s two-part breakdown of some great options? (Wait, really? I’m impressed!) Well, I have just the thing! His House, a new film that just dropped on Netflix yesterday, deserves your attention. Not one of those fun slasher flicks you watch […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
As much as October traditionally belongs to the horror genre, it’s obvious to everyone that this moment in American culture belongs to the all-consuming presidential election. The movie world is no different— last week, I reviewed Netflix’s attempt at political film for our times, and this week, I review Amazon’s. Both, coincidentally, star Sacha Baron-Cohen, […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
The Trial of the Chicago 7, which dropped on Netflix yesterday after a limited theatrical run, is a film with palpably lofty ambitions. It intends to be the next great courtroom drama, and coming from Aaron Sorkin, the legendary screenwriter whose film career started with A Few Good Men, that’s not an unreasonable expectation. It […]
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What’s Up at the Movies – We Review “Kajillionaire”
The world of Miranda July’s new film Kajillionaire is one of intense sensitivity filtered through a protagonist that doesn’t know how to process how she feels. A commitment to normalcy shown through a prism of oddness. The tone that results from this setup is a delicate one to balance, keeping a number of contradictory things […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Dick Johnson Is Dead “
All I knew about Kirsten Johnson’s new documentary Dick Johnson Is Dead going in, besides it having been a hit at this year’s Sundance, was its premise: to help process that her elderly father will inevitably die, Johnson has him play out numerous death scenes, filming exaggerated versions of the ways his life could eventually […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Enola Holmes”
Sherlock Holmes is among the most famous characters in all of fiction, as well as the human literary character with the most on-screen appearances (only Dracula has him beat overall). The new Netflix release Enola Holmes is the latest film to join this long tradition, and in its Victorian storyworld, Sherlock’s name means as much […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Devil All the Time”
Adapting a book for the big screen can be a tricky process. People often talk about film adaptations in terms of faithfulness to the source material, but those discussions put too much focus on story over storytelling, when the former is no guarantee of success. Even with the original story kept perfectly intact, what made […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
I’m Thinking of Ending Things, the latest work from filmmaker Charlie Kaufman adapted from Iain Reid’s novel of the same name, is a difficult film to write about. As the screenwriter behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and writer-director of Synecdoche, New York, and Anomalisa, Kaufman’s has always been […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Mulan”
After months of disruptions that continue to impact film distribution, we’ve now reached a point in the year when studios are starting to take chances with their blockbusters – high-cost productions they rely on for big financial returns. Many remain delayed indefinitely, and some, like Tenet, are forging ahead with a theatrical release, but Disney […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Get Duked!”
This week’s movie-news cycle has been dominated by the return of theatrical releases, with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and X-Men offshoot The New Mutants finally making their way the big screen— but the health risk of going to see them remains significant. As much as it pains this lover of the theatrical experience, in the world […]