Category: Mini Review
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Mini Review: Club Kid
Club Kid is an absolutely incredible debut feature and great lead performance from Jordan Firstman. While it hits on familiar coming of age notes, it’s charm comes from its perfect blend of humour, levity and some downright heartwarming and earnest moments. Consider me impressed! 4.5/5
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Mini Review: Godzilla Minus Zero
Grounding things in the perspectives of the Japanese people remains the real strength of the Godzilla Minus franchise, that & the top notch special effects. While the story in Minus Zero admittedly treads on familiar beats & plot points, it still remains an impressive follow-up.
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Mini Review: Wild Horse Nine
Sam Rockwell & John Malkovich deliver a masterclass in banter in Wild Horse Nine, bringing some nice levity to the weighty themes that McDonagh treads through. While it didn’t exceed my expectations, & isn’t exactly my kind of humour, its still entertaining & well worth the ride. 3.5/5
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Mini Review: Tenzing
In Tenzing, what you see is what you get in this Everest biopic told from the perspective of Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who completed the first ascent. It’s well made & a solid choice if you’re looking for that uplifting story, but doesn’t do much to stand out otherwise. 3/5
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Mini Review: The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is surprisingly romantic in its tone & style, wearing its love of New York on its sleeve. It’s a wonderfully complete character study, anchored by great performances from its lead Turturro & strong supporting cast. A great film.
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Mini Review: Fatherland
Despite being short, Fatherland still manages to say a lot in its reflection of post-WWII Germany, led by another stellar performance by Sandra Hüller. While the themes are interesting, be warned it’s quite slow, & I don’t know if it would hit as well without Hüller in the lead.
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Mini Review: Everest: The Other Side
Vasarhelyi & Chin accomplish yet another impossible feat of documentary filmmaking in Everest: The Other Side. And while it doesn’t quite live up to the height of Free Solo (figuratively speaking), it’s still wild to see, especially on IMAX, even if it feels a bit self indulgent.
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Mini Review: Wicker
Knowing nothing about the source material, Wicker does a great job transcending its oddball premise, & is a surprisingly poignant reflection on marriage & gender roles. The messaging doesn’t always land, but kudos to Colman & Skarsgård for continuing to make bold career choices.
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Mini Review: Street Fighter
The Street Fighter movie is the kind of film that’s a blast to watch, but you can’t think about it too much or it all falls apart. A+ on casting, and the cast & crew know exactly what type of film they’re making. I just wish they gave a bit more thought to the plot…
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Mini Review: La Bola Negra
Wow! Los Javis bring such bold style to their visuals & direction in La Bola Negra, & what results is absolutely stunning filmmaking that takes the story to another level. The performances are equally strong. I don’t think it quite nails the ending, but you can consider me a fan! 4/5
