Likely the burden of precedent never lifts from M. Night Shyamalan, whose name became noun, adjective, and verb more-or-less the moment The Sixth Sense landed with shockwaves a quarter-century ago. As certain narratives about his career (twist endings, Newsweek covers) waned, others emerged: a has-been for whom more than one obituary was penned with delight; […]
The post Trap Review: M. Night Shyamalan’s Best-Engineered Work Since The Village first appeared on The Film Stage.
A teenage girl and her geeky friend must use a magic paintbrush to save the world from killer kaiju in eighty-eight-year-old Murase Keizô’s debut feature, Brush of the God. Akari’s (Suzuki Rio) grandfather has just passed away and she doesn’t exactly know how to feel about it. They weren’t terribly close in life, but when she arrives at his memorial, she realizes that he meant a lot to many people. Tokimiya Kenzo was an artisan, a designer and creator of kaiju monsters for Japan’s popular tokusatsu (special effects) movies and television series. She realizes this when she runs into her nerdy classmate, Takuya (Narahara Takeru), a Kenzo superfan. The pair of teens are approached by a mysterious man who identifies himself as Hozumi (Saitoh Takumi)…
Someone is emerging from early (filmmaker) retirement, and we might have Cannes topper Thierry Frémaux to thank for it. After a cool volunteer job as the head of the Un Certain Regard jury this summer, Xavier Dolan‘s creative spark was reignited. He has dusted off a project he wrote before the pandemic and is now putting the finishing touches on what will be his ninth feature film—a venture into the horror genre. It’s worth noting that Dolan had a small role in Pascal Laugier’s gore-filled Martyrs before debuting as a director with I Killed My Mother in 2009. This new energy also came ab out from a trio of projects that Dolan has climbed on as an actor.… Read the rest
(The 2024 Sundance Film Festival runs January 18-28. Check out M.J. O’Toole’s movie review of Kneecap. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) “Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom,” Michael Fassbender’s IRA fugitive repeatedly tells […]
The post KNEECAP appeared first on Hammer to Nail.
They say “You’ll find love when you stop looking for it.” Well, I can tell you from experience that I stopped a long time ago and either I’m not looking very well or it’s complete bullshit. On the other hand you could be Agnes in Alice Lowe’s new film, Timestalker, and be doomed for eternity to repeat the same mistake, looking for and falling in love with the same, wrong man over and over again, from age to age, and die in some of the most comedic ways possible. In the time-traveling rom-com Agnes (played by Lowe) makes bad choices every time. It ends terribly and terribly funny, propelling Agnes into the next century to meet her ‘true love’ by chance (or intention…
It wouldn’t have been Sundance without at least a handful of coming-of-age stories. Sean Wang’s audience award winner Dìdi (弟弟) proves that, with a new perspective, there are still emotions to be mined from a tried-and-true formula. Exploring the everyday life of a Taiwanese-American boy growing up in Fremont, California, wherein issues of friendship and potential crushes […]
The post Dìdi (弟弟) Director Sean Wang on Resisting Nostalgia, Marketing Battles, and Why First-Time Directors Need Patience first appeared on The Film Stage.
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck star in Doug Liman’s knockabout action comedy about a bungled robbery, featuring an all-star supporting cast and a lot of smashed vehicles.
ScreenAnarchy has the first word about two acquisitions from our friends at Dark Star Pictures. The outlet has once again picked up two films from Australian trans director Alice Maio Mackay. Today they’re announcing the acquisition of Satranic Panic and Carnage For Christmas, and are planning theatrical, digital and hard copy releases as early as this month and in October. They have the distribution rights for North America and the UK. Previously they distributed two of Alice’s earlier films, Bad Girls Boogey and T-Blockers. The prolific teenage filmmaker – no longer a teenager this Sunday when they turn just twenty years old – has been raising a proper ruckus for the trans community with other films like the aformentioned Bad Girls Boogey, T Blockers and So Vam. Our own…
Written and directed by Sean Wang, the film stars Izaac Wang, Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, and Chang Li Hua.
Like a well-executed heist, the film knows how to get in and get out with minimal fuss.
The post ‘The Instigators’ Review: Doug Liman’s Fleet-Footed, Boston-Set Crime Caper appeared first on Slant Magazine.
