Director X’s slick, hip-hop fueled remake of the blaxploitation classic trades in 70s crime for music video slickness, and is none the better for it. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Beyond its artistic and entertainment value, a film is also a snapshot of the era in which it was made. In film, we ... SuperFly Review: A Gritty Remake That’s Far From Groovy
Drew Pearce’s pulpy near-future potboiler about a futuristic hotel/hospital for bad guys lets its stacked cast have fun amongst some shaky plotting. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Grungy, retro sci-fi seems to be making a comeback the last few years – cyberpunk potboilers whose scripts wouldn’t be out of place in a direct-to-video ... Hotel Artemis Review: A Grungy Sci-Fi Shoot-’em-Up With a Five-Star Staff
A24 continues its mean streak of unrelentingly interesting horror films, merging The Exorcist, The Witch and The Shining into pure cinematic nightmare fuel. This piece was originally posted at Alcohollywood From its opening frames, Hereditary digs its claws into you and doesn’t let go. A long, slow tracking shot pans across the workroom of Annie ... Hereditary Review: A24 Keeps Haunting, Existential Horror in the Family
Gary Ross’ gender-swapped revamp of the slick heist franchise doesn’t offer its female leads enough worthwhile things to do, despite the cast’s pedigree. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Certain movies bring out a strong reaction in me not just because I happen to disagree with their values, but because they claim to represent ... Ocean’s 8 Review: Female-Forward Heist Antics Don’t Cover A Lack of Depth
This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Alcohollywood’s spinoff mini-cast On Tap returns! Every so often, we’ll be providing you with exclusive interviews, reviews and festival coverage alongside the regular podcast. Hope you enjoy! To kick off our (semi-) inaugural installment, Clint reviews Leigh Whannell’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Upgrade. After losing his wife and the use ... INTERVIEW: Upgrade’s Leigh Whannell on Crafting the Futuristic World of BH Tilt’s Latest Thriller
Cobbled from footage of a pre-Grey Gardens attempt to tell the tale of Big Edie and Little Edie, this documentary offers scintillating new footage of the Beales, but offers little new insight. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Few things fire the imagination of a cinephiles quite like hearing that a film you love ... That Summer Review: Illuminating New Areas of Grey Gardens
Dominic Cooke’s sumptuous adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel tells the tale of a marriage doomed from the start, using luscious photography and brilliant performances from Saiorse Ronan and Billy Howle. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood This film played at the 6th annual Chicago Critics Film Festival – read our capsule review here. ... On Chesil Beach Review: A Picturesque Tale of a Broken Honeymoon
It’s messy and more than a little overlong, but Disney’s latest Star Wars prequel manages to coast by on just enough charm to work. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood In Disney’s grand experiment to give us one or two new Star Wars movies every year until we die or the universe expires from ... Solo: A Star Wars Story Review: Never Tell Disney the Odds
Netflix’s Australian zombie drama sports some fascinating twists on the undead genre, and drips with as much atmosphere as it does infected blood. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Zombie movies can often be judged by the balance they strike between the expected rules of a well-traveled world and the twists each new film ... Cargo Review: Netflix’s Sprawling, Intimate Zombie Travelogue
Rudiger Suchsland’s second documentary on the cinema of Hitler’s Germany takes a fascinating, if surface-level, look at the ways entertainment gave rise to fascism. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood When people think of Nazi films, they probably think of the Third Reich’s propaganda films; Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, or Fritz Hippler’s The ... Hitler’s Hollywood Review: Doc Explores Dark Periods of German Cinema History
The Merc With a Mouth is back in a sequel with more slicing, dicing and R-rated quips – but it’s only a slight improvement over the sophomoric original. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood While Marvel Studios seems to have solved the equation for how to make great (or, at their worst, pretty passable) ... Deadpool 2 Review: Ryan Reynolds Returns for More Quips, Gore and Gags
Now that the 6th annual Chicago Critics Film Festival has closed, it’s time to look back on some other highlights we loved this year. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood The 6th annual Chicago Critics Film Festival has come to a close, and what a year it was! Curated by the Chicago Film Critics ... Chicago Critics Film Festival 2018: Capsule Reviews (Part 3)
This over-the-top throwback to exploitation and queer films from the 60s and 70s revels in its tastelessness, delivering an edgy yet affectionate ode to its fruity forebears. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood The last few decades have seen a significant change in the way GLBTQ people are perceived by the general public. In ... Fags in the Fast Lane Review: A Madcap Race to Campy Bad Taste
Netflix’s latest original film (courtesy of Gattaca’s Andrew Niccol) gets bogged down in its near-future technology, and forgets to stick the landing. This piece was originally posted at Alcohollywood Netflix’s latest dystopian thriller Anon is the sort of movie bound to elicit a litany of questions pertinent to our daily lives. How much do we ... Anon Review: Netflix’s Dystopian Thriller Leans Too Hard on Tech
The latest from Japanese horror schlockmeister Ryuhei Kitamura (Midnight Meat Train) makes a tedious mess out of its stripped-down, gory premise. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood On a lonely stretch of road in the middle of nowhere, a tire blows out, stranding six twentysomethings by the roadside in an isolated stretch of California ... Downrange Review: Shudder’s Roadside Sniper Thriller Misses the Mark
Marvel’s culmination of their decade-long cinematic experiment stays afloat by sheer virtue of goodwill and charisma, and provides more than enough surprises to keep the bloated narrative from falling apart. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood The Marvel Cinematic Universe has spent the last decade building up a sprawling, interconnected world of comic book ... Avengers: Infinity War Review: Marvel’s Ambitious, Risky Magnum Opus
Koki Shigeno’s documentary tries hard to be the next Jiro Dreams of Sushi; however, unlike a good bowl of ramen, the documentary is not as good as the sum of its parts. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood While most major US cities enjoy a thriving food culture filled with authentic Japanese noodle joints, ... Ramen Heads Review: An Unbalanced Dish of a Documentary
Andrew Haigh’s heartbreaking, poignant drama is a testament to our deeply human desire to belong, told through a nuanced performance by Charlie Plummer. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood If you were to be told that one of the most heartfelt, poignant films of the year was – at its core – a story ... Lean on Pete Review: A Boy and His Horse Search for Home, Find Each Other