With that domesticated and relatable-beyond-borders quality, Cottontail is creating a greater journey, one venturing beyond any map charting the route to Akiko’s destined lakeside. Completing one’s final wishes is a quest of closure. You are answering a soul beyond the grave to finish something they could not. Yet, that course has branching paths of unsettled grievances, corrected connection, overdue forgiveness, and fulfilled promises.
Read MoreThe Secret Art of Human Flight hovers on perilous edges with this premise and its trappings, shot in a claustrophobic Academy ratio. At many moments, there’s humor to be found in a bespectacled Ben getting whipped into airborne shape by Mealworm’s unorthodox methods for doing so. Grant Rosenmeyer and Paul Raci share several scenes of poignant soul-baring talks forming the character reclamation project taking place.
Read MoreTherein lies the real key to unlocking a memorable conversation higher than chit-chat: Mood. Two people– not just one– have to want to talk. One person can have all the wisdom in the world or be a fountain of entertainment, but the other will never know it if genuine curiosity and investment aren’t reciprocated. Daddio doesn’t lose a second introducing a pair of differing dispositions prime for participation and initiative.
Read MoreMidas writer-director TJ Noel-Sullivan, making his feature-length debut after an award-winning early career in shorts, is savvy to realization and has formulated a slick new heist film fit for modern times. Noel-Sullivan also knows that today’s Robin Hoods are not going after miserly members of royalty hoarding all the proverbial gold. The current people of the highest wealth and power control companies, not countries. They are the despised new targets.
Read MoreWell, eat your f’n heart out, Tom Cruise! In the first lead performance of her seven-decade career, June Squibb proves she can get around just fine at a venerable age of 93! Sure, the speeds of the pursuits are exponentially slower and the heights of the obstacles are far closer to the ground, but, make no mistake, there are thrills to be had and laughs to be enjoyed with Thelma. With all due respect to Ryan Gosling, Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, and Glen Powell, June just leapfrogged them all to be the must-see action hero of the 2024 summer blockbuster season.
Read MoreThat is the imperfect and crooked road taken by Ezra helmed by actor/director Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss, Someone Like You). The sincere film dives into the complicated dynamics within the extended family of the titular young boy. Embodied by pre-teen neurodiverse actor William Fitzgerald in his feature film debut, Ezra is diagnosed with autism and is indeed the kind of apple where the tree that bore it demands its own attention.
Read MoreSure, it may have taken a bit to get there, but talented writer-director Vincent Grashaw demonstrated the shrewd patience to make those culminating moments happen on their own time and without some grand public showdown or audience. The “what for” and the “why” came to a head with dramatic focus. Bang Bang was never built to be anything close to a cliched sports movie. Instead, what burned intimately for the people involved stayed intimate to the bitter–and therefore realistic–end.
Read MoreGuy Friends circles its wagons and makes the fresh duo of Jaime and Sandy the core of the film. The main plot and their gestating sample examination of friendship establishment are shot in black-and-white by writer-director Jonathan Smith and mirror little full-color vignette testimonies of real people describing how they became best friends. In less witty hands, these arcs of burgeoning female connection and the well-worn looking-for-love plight would conveniently be vanquished in a grandiose and, in all likelihood preposterous, rom-com climax involving some kind of public shenanigans.
Read MoreSmooth one, Peter. Leave it to dads to gladly go beyond their reach and overdo a promise to impress their spouse and children. Why? Because dads are meant to be larger than life and therefore operate the same way. Well, “to the moon and back” sure worked on Peter Gilbert’s daughter Lydia (Isabel May of I Want You Back) every time it was shared. The Moon & Back confirms that claim with evidence captured with the framing and resolution of old VHS.
Read MoreMake no mistake. Unspoken history exists between Lena and James. At this recorded moment, they may or may not share the inquiring answer the host is hoping to extract. Nevertheless, there’s a story here that promises a long and difficult road merging togetherness and stardom. Using deft and economical storytelling, writer-director Patrick Meaney (House of Demons) has crafted The Brink Of to reveal this little melodrama nimbly.
Read MoreIt’s not that the movie or the actors don’t look the part in Sasquatch Sunset. That’s not the issue. It’s more about the purposes and examinations at hand. This film, which enjoyed praise during its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year, is one hell of a bizarre enigma poking and prodding any number of desires and intentions.
Read MoreWhen it comes to the contentious social and political conflicts surrounding the immigration issues between Mexico and the United States, it’s very easy to create “us vs. them” measurements and scenarios. On many occasions, each side has called out opposing irregularities and hostilities to declare themselves in the right while labeling the other the enemy. The Absence of Eden, the debut directorial effort from Marco Perego, attempts to address this balance while carrying a burdensome “us vs. them” dual narrative.
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