Jennifer Garner goes back to her Alias days as an ass-kicking action hero, but its muddy action and faux-Punisher derivations make it another late-August dud. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood The past few decades have seen an amazing resurgence in the vengeance film. In a world gone mad, it can be pretty cathartic ... Film Review: Peppermint Fails to Give Jennifer Garner a Minty-Fresh Franchise
This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood For the latest On Tap minisode, we air an interview Clint conducted for the new John Cho computer-screen thriller Searching – about a frantic father searching for his missing daughter by going through the clues on her laptop! Clint sits down with Searching director Aneesh Chaganty and producer Sev Ohanian ... INTERVIEW: Searching’s Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian on Building Suspense Through Screens
Jack Reynor keeps his brother and his big-ass gun safe in this tepid late-August shoot-em-up, its characters as mild as its ambitions. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Detroit has had a bit of a film renaissance in the 2010s, so much so that the city could be classified as its own sub-genre itself. ... Film Review: Kin Misfires With Egregious Sci-fi Sequel Baiting
Despite two incredible lead performances from Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley, this dramatization of the Mossad extradition of Adolf Eichmann feels a bit too safe. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood In 1960, a group of Mossad and Shin Bet agents, let by Peter Malkin, traveled to Argentina on an undercover mission to capture ... Film Review: Oscar Isaac Hunts Nazis in Compelling, if Spotty, Operation Finale
Blumhouse’s latest thriller is tense and deceptively clever, but undoes its thrills with no shortage of irritating fakeouts. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Trauma appears to be the monster in Sonny Mallhi’s Hurt, but things aren’t exactly as they seem. While the Blumhouse-produced thriller maintains an almost uncomfortable sense of tension, it suffers ... Fantasia 2018: Hurt Is Blumhouse’s Latest, Spookiest, Most Uneven Scare-Fest
The web-footage sequel to the first Unfriended sees the series move in more believably conventional directions, eschewing supernatural scares for more haunting domestic terrors. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood We live in an age of overwhelming technology. Most of us spend most of day in the digital world, our computers becoming individual microcosms ... Unfriended: Dark Web Elevates Its Premise to Scarier Screen-Based Dimensions
Justin McConnell’s lean, fascinating horror-drama blends an intriguing structure with some novel investigation into the psychology of its shape-shifting horror monster. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood There’s stalking, and then there’s what the narrator of Lifechanger does. Canadian horror-drama from writer-director Justin McConnell, it jumps right into the action right away, with Drew, ... Fantasia 2018: Lifechanger is a Bleak & Eerie Story About Identity & Never Letting Go
The writer/director of Fantasia-debuting horror film Lifechanger talks about the origins of the project and getting into the mind of his film’s main monster. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Lifechanger is a sneakier, more fascinating thriller than it might seem at first glance – the tale of a man doomed to feed off and ... Fantasia 2018: Lifechanger’s Justin McConnell on Shape-Shifting, Memory and Toxicity
Superbly acted and beautifully shot, Neomanila is a morally ambiguous tale about what we do to survive and crimes we commit for the ones we love. This piece was originally posted at Alcohollywood Set against the backdrop of President Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines, Neomanila is a grim and gritty tale of family ... Fantasia 2018: Mikhail Red Explores Violence, Morality and Family in Neomanila
This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood (This review and interview originally ran as part of On Tap’s previous run as its own separate feed. We’re re-running it here in conjunction with All the Queen’s Horses’ release on Netflix.) This week for our On Tap minisode, Clint discusses the new indie doc from Kartemquin, All the ... All the Queens Horses Interview: Kelly Richmond Pope on Rita Crundwell and Documentary as Education
This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood If you want festivals full of soulful contemplation of the human condition, and solemn documentaries about Serious Issues, Cannes and Sundance have you covered. Want to see blood, gore, sleaze, and Nicolas Cage getting in a chainsaw fight? You go to Fantasia. Fantasia is a genre film festival ... Four Crazy Horror Flicks We Want to See at Fantasia
Marvel’s first placeholder till the next Infinity War is a more assured caper comedy than the first Ant-Man, but it’s almost too lightweight to make a real impression. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood When the credits rolled for Avengers: Infinity War, we all walked out of the theater thinking the same thing: We ... Ant-Man and the Wasp Review: Marvel’s Latest Shrinks the Stakes
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
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
Part two of our coverage of the Chicago Critics Film Festival features reviews for films about unwitting superheroes and a documentary about a girl’s tragic kidnapping. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood FAST COLOR (dir. Julia Hart) With superhero fatigue setting in, big studios could stand to learn a lot from Fast Color, a ... Chicago Critics Film Festival 2018: Capsule Reviews (Part 2)
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 Chicago Film Critics Association’s 6th annual film festival (May 4-10) features some of the year’s best films that might otherwise fly under your radar. This piece originally posted at Alcohollywood For the past six years, the Chicago Critics Film Festival has been a brilliant showcase for some of the year’s most intriguing, bewildering and ... A Preview of the 2018 Chicago Critics Film Festival