Despite being an endless source of fascination for artists, genius can be a difficult subject to explore well, particularly when it involves a real person. Exceptionality both draws us in and, by definition, keeps us at a distance; the best cinematic portrayals craft a delicate balance between insight and elusiveness, creating something we can admire […]
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 “Project Power”
With as much content as they produce, it is only natural that the quality of Netflix’s original movies can vary significantly. At the bottom end are what feel like category-fillers, transparently designed to fit an algorithmic-niche, while unique, auteur-driven works by directors as prominent as Martin Scorsese and Alfonso Cuaron make for a very high […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “She Dies Tomorrow”
She Dies Tomorrow, the new film from writer-director Amy Seimetz, begins by frustrating its audience. The first few minutes closely follow the protagonist, Amy (Kate Lynn Shell), as she unravels alone in her apartment. She wanders from room to room as if in a haze, playing Mozart’s “Lacrimosa” on endless repeat. She presses herself against […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Rental”
Early responses to The Rental, the directorial debut of actor Dave Franco, have been interestingly divided. While movies often do better with general audiences than with critics, jaded as they are from seeing formulas endlessly redeployed, this one has inspired the opposite reaction. That might be the expectation for more experimental, arthouse films, but The […]
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What’sUp at the Movies: We Review “First Cow”
From the opening minutes of First Cow, the latest film by American director Kelly Reichardt, nature has an enormous presence. The camera is as interested in capturing various trees, animals, and mushrooms as it is human faces, and with music used only sparingly, the natural world shapes much of the soundscape. The role it occupies […]
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What’sUp at the Movies: We Review “The Old Guard”
The Old Guard, Netflix’s new action film from director Gina Prince-Blythewood, is in a constant state of conflict with itself. The premise— an immortal group of warriors from throughout history fighting to improve the world— clearly has potential, offering a number of creative ways to approach character, theme, and fight choreography. But, with franchise potential […]
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What’sUp at the Movies: We Review “Palm Springs”
As a movie featuring a time loop, it’s inevitable that every review of Palm Springs, which released on Hulu today after premiering at Sundance back in January, will compare it to Groundhog Day— avid readers of film criticism might feel like they’ve slipped into a time loop themselves, or at least an echo chamber. Despite […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Nobody Knows I’m Here”
Despite its Chilean setting and origin, director Gaspar Antillo’s debut film Nobody Knows I’m Here (Nadie Sabe Que Estoy Aquí in the original Spanish) features a face American audiences will recognize: actor Jorge Garcia, who played Hurley in the 2000’s TV show Lost, stars as Memo, an ex-singer living on a secluded island in southern […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Story of Fire Saga”
One of the earliest scenes in Will Ferrell’s newest movie, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, encapsulates both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness: Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, as their Icelandic characters Lars and Sigrit, perform in an overly dramatic music video for their song, “Volcano Man.” For viewers unfamiliar with Eurovision, […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Babyteeth”
In Babyteeth, the feature-film debut of director Shannon Murphy, chaos and order exist as complements instead of opposites. The events of the story are not strung together with conventional clarity, but the repeated use of section titles insists there is intentionality in their structuring. Characters often make odd, spontaneous choices, but they do so in […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods”
It’s clear that Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee’s latest film and his first for Netflix, was always intended to feel relevant. Much like in his previous film, BlacKkKlansman, Lee uses Brechtian techniques to keep today’s politics in our minds as the drama unfolds, though the present-day setting makes that a little easier this time— it’s […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Shirley”
Early on in Shirley, the new film from director Josephine Decker based on Susan Scarf Merrell’s book of the same name, the young Rose (Odessa Young) wonders at her reflections in a double-mirrored train bathroom, the camera switching between her and her likeness. Later, the older Shirley (Elizabeth Moss) sits in her bathroom, and we […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The High Note”
Like The Lovebirds, director Nisha Ganatra’s The High Note is another movie forced into an online release by the pandemic, following the $20, 48-hour rental pathway instead of selling directly to a streaming service. The two films end up being somewhat similar in my eyes, but unlike my assessment last week, I think The High […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “The Lovebirds”
Michael Showalter’s The Lovebirds, which stars Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani as a couple on the rocks who find themselves tied up in a criminal conspiracy, was one of the first films to have its release plan blown up by COVID-19. Originally set to premiere at “South by Southwest” and hit theaters in early April, […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review “Capone”
In 2012, director Josh Trank made his feature film debut with Chronicle, which made creative use of the found-footage format to tell the story of three high school seniors that develop telekinetic powers. Benefiting from efficient storytelling and the casting of young, rising talent, Chronicle went on to earn ten times its budget at the […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: Spaceship Earth – Watch at Jane Pickens Screening Room
Though it occurred a few years before I was born, I was vaguely aware of the Biosphere 2 project before sitting down to watch Spaceship Earth, director Matt Wolf’s new documentary on the subject. I knew that, at some point, someone built a large, self-contained building recreating various ecosystems, and that a group of people […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review TFW No GF
One of the first major events to be cancelled due to COVID-19 was South by Southwest (SXSW), a film festival in Austin, Texas that represents a major landmark in the cinematic calendar. While most of the films due to premiere there are holding out for similar prominence, a selection of this year’s lineup has moved […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review Netflix’s “The Willoughbys”
Netflix’s new, animated comedy The Willoughbys, based on a children’s book of the same name by Newbery Medalist Lois Lowry, is an odd film— the narrating cat (voiced by Ricky Gervais) says as much after introducing the titular family, with its mustache-based heritage, commitment to child neglect, and pair of twin boys that share both […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: We Review Netflix’s “Tigertail”
There’s an inherent difficulty that comes with making a film about the inability to connect. One of cinema’s strengths as a medium is how effectively it fosters a connection between the viewer and what’s on screen, and we instinctively want to form those connections, to find something we can invest in. Building a story around […]
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What’s Up at the Movies: “The Gentlemen”
Guy Ritchie has always been a stylish filmmaker, something that has brought him versatility and financial success, though not always affection from critics. Despite having made successful blockbusters like the Sherlock Holmes franchise, his first two caper comedies, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), remain his most beloved features. Both are […]
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What’s Up At The Movies: ‘Bombshell’ out this weekend
In its portrayal of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes’ 2016 sexual harassment scandal, director Jay Roach’s Bombshell tries to balance two very different tones. On one hand, the film is a serious examination of how cultures of sexism prop up abusive men in powerful positions, and how those cultures can become very difficult to dismantle. On […]
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Review: ‘Knives Out’ includes brilliant cast, masterful storytelling
Successful mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead from an apparent suicide, but private eye Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), fresh off a profile in the New Yorker, suspects there’s more to it. He interviews Harlan’s children, their spouses, and his grandchildren, played by a star-studded ensemble cast, as well as Harlan’s former nurse and […]
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Movie Review: “The Lighthouse” shines bright (and dark…)
When Robert Eggers made his directorial debut in 2015 with one of the best horror films of the decade, it was clear that he had a unique talent for crafting atmosphere. With its combination of dedicated production design, heavily researched colonial-era dialogue, and gripping performances, The Witch was a fully realized Puritan nightmare, each frame […]