Alex Noyer
I’ve suffered from anxiety all my life. It’s an insidious illness that’s never the same for two people. For me, loud noises can trigger an episode that ruins weeks. People shouting are the worst. Sound of Violence, the debut from Finnish-American filmmaker Alex Noyer, had me shaking
Beforeigners
(Beforeigners Season 2 premieres on HBO Max on December 5th) When the first season of Beforeigners premiered back in 2019, I was instantly smitten by the absurd and high-concept premise. Sometime in the early 2010s, people from the past appear unannounced in present-day Norway. Heralded by flashes of light and
A Pure Place
Night Visions begins on December 1st and runs until the 5th. I’ve watched ten films from the lineup in advance and compiled the reviews here on some of the best the festival has to offer. Here are some of the visions you don’t want to miss this year.
Night Visions
(King for a Day premieres at Night Visions Maximum Comeback this week.) Back in the sixties, Tiny Tim was one of the hottest tickets around. He played The Royal Albert Hall and entertained 600,000 people at the Isle of Wight. John Lennon and Bob Dylan gushed about him profusely.
Back 4 Blood
Spinning off from the beloved (but undoubtedly aged) Left 4 Dead series, Back 4 Blood (see what they did there?) is a nostalgic effort in reanimating a straggling franchise. Unlike many others who try the same, only ending up in a ghoulish Weekend at Bernie’s type of deal, B4B
Battlefield
Battlefield 2042 has struggled on the road to release, not least because of COVID-19, which sent the development team into remote work for the better part of two years. The initial beta in the late summer season was a disaster, and the first few weeks after the public launch have
Forza Horizon
Set in a fictional take on Mexico and continuing the freewheeling, ultrawealthy lifestyle that is as noxious as it is loud, Horizon overcomes its annoying trappings through the sheer joy of exploration. The world is vast and constantly changing, and there’s so much to explore at your leisure. What’
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
I’m not sure people remember the original Ghostbusters. They seem to remember how it felt to like the concept of it, but not the picture itself. Because Ghostbusters – a disjointed gag about schlubby con artists starting a pest removal business for ghosts – continues to garner a bizarre reverence to
Disney Plus
( Hawkeye premieres on Disney+ Wednesday, November 24th. The first two episodes were screened for review.) Hawkeye doesn’t make for an easy review. Only two episodes out of six were screened in advance, and out of those, the second one meanders so drastically that you’d think this was a
Benedetta
After months in lockdown and an unprecedented attack on the arts by the Finnish government, Night Visions is back with a vengeance. Featuring over thirty films and a masterclass from John Landis, visiting to celebrate the anniversary of An American Werewolf in London, there is no reason to miss out
Kevin Smith
(Masters of the Universe: Revelation arrives on Netflix on November 23rd) The first half of Revelation, released this summer and reviewed here, received exactly the kind of response you’d expect for a series that questions nostalgia. Guided by Kevin Smith, Revelation dared to put He-Man on the bench for
Cowboy Bebop
(Cowboy Bebop premieres on Netflix on November 19th.) Let’s be honest, a live-action adaption of Cowboy Bebop was never going to top the original. At best, it would be a complementary addition to one of the greatest anime series ever made. At worst, it would be terrible, and we’