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Trouble Review: A Modest Small-Town Dramedy With an Overqualified Cast

While Theresa Rebeck’s low-budgeted rural hangout comedy sports a fine cast, they can’t quite elevate the proceedings beyond the occasional modest laugh. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Movies that are remembered are generally on a spectrum of cinematic triumph to shoddy exercise for an inexperienced rube’s hubris. Then there are the films that ... Trouble Review: A Modest Small-Town Dramedy With an Overqualified Cast

Interviews

Trouble: Writer/Director Theresa Rebeck on Wrangling Low Budgets and Big Stars (Interview)

This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Novelist, screenwriter and Pulitzer-nominated playwright Theresa Rebeck is a woman of many hats – the latest of which is the director of the independent ensemble comedy Trouble. A film with modest ambitions but no small amount of charm, its tale of a small-town sibling rivalry is bolstered by tremendous ... Trouble: Writer/Director Theresa Rebeck on Wrangling Low Budgets and Big Stars (Interview)

The House with a Clock in its Walls Review: Eli Roth Tries (and Succeeds) at Spooky Kid’s Fare

Fresh off a string of failed horror flicks, Eli Roth bounces back with an unexpectedly fun, faithful adaptation of John Bellairs’ classic kid’s adventure books. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood The prospect of grindhouse provocateur Eli Roth directing a four-quadrant kid’s flick is a dicey, but fascinating one – yet here we are ... The House with a Clock in its Walls Review: Eli Roth Tries (and Succeeds) at Spooky Kid’s Fare

Unraveling pop-culture one thread at a time
The Spool is an irreverent, informative source for film and television coverage, focused on diverse, thoughtful opinions that seek out a greater understanding of the media we love.
TV

The First TV Review: Hulu Ventures Into Space, Stays Disappointingly Earthbound

Despite brilliant performances and an intriguingly cerebral attitude, Sean Penn’s Hulu-set space race fails to reach for the stars, keeping its feet disappointingly on terra firma. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Let’s get this out of the way first: if you’re looking for The First to be a rollicking space adventure about Sean ... The First TV Review: Hulu Ventures Into Space, Stays Disappointingly Earthbound

Film Review: Searching Is a Riveting, Screens-Only Missing Persons Thriller

Anchored by a layered lead turn from John Cho, Aneesh Chaganty’s screens-only thriller explores the formal implications of laptop cinema in new and exciting ways. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood (We previously reviewed Searching in our coverage of the Chicago Critics Film Festival. Read our capsule review.) While ‘laptop cinema’ films like Unfriended and Open Windows are becoming ... Film Review: Searching Is a Riveting, Screens-Only Missing Persons Thriller

En el Séptimo Día Is a Naturalistic, Humanistic View of the Immigrant Experience

Jim McKay’s tale of the plight of undocumented workers in America is soulful, sensitive, and a potent rebuke to modern rhetoric about the humanity of immigrants. This piece was originally published on Alcohollywood It’s easy to demonize an entire group of people when you know nothing about them. Murderers, rapists, thieves, and drug-dealing gangsters are ... En el Séptimo Día Is a Naturalistic, Humanistic View of the Immigrant Experience

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Hurt Is Blumhouse’s Latest, Spookiest, Most Uneven Scare-Fest

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

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: The Witch in the Window Scares Without a Drop of Blood

Andy Milton’s atmospheric haunted house film is inscrutably scary and beautifully lit, balancing bone-chilling existential horror with compelling domestic drama. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Here it is, 2018’s version of The Witch and It Follows, a horror movie in which half its audience will appreciate its slow, moody burn, and the other ... Fantasia 2018: The Witch in the Window Scares Without a Drop of Blood

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Satan’s Slave Review – Ghosts, Zombies and Sex Cults, OH MY!

A loose remake/prequel to the 1980 film of the same name, Satan’s Slave is a chilling story of how the sins of our parents haunt us in the present from director Joko Anwar. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood A grief-stricken family comes face-to-face with the aftermath of their recently deceased mother’s deal with ... Fantasia 2018: Satan’s Slave Review – Ghosts, Zombies and Sex Cults, OH MY!

Fantasia 2018

Fantasia 2018: Hanagatami Review – The Director of Hausu Confuses and Delights in His Final Epic

Hausu’s Nobuhiko Obayashi starts wrapping up his 60-year career in filmmaking with a deeply weird, compellingly stream-of-consciousness wartime drama. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Nobuhiko Obayashi is one of Japan’s veteran suppliers of the weird and fantastical – despite a career spanning nearly forty films, his most famous international export is 1977’s kaleidoscopic, ... Fantasia 2018: Hanagatami Review – The Director of Hausu Confuses and Delights in His Final Epic

Skyscraper Review: The Rock Cooks Up Another Underdone Summer Thriller

While the Rock maintains his larger-than-life presence, this taller Die Hard knockoff buckles under the weight of its sizeable lack of humor. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Ever since my childhood days of watching professional wrestling, I’ve wanted Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to succeed. Whether it was in the ring (where he would ... Skyscraper Review: The Rock Cooks Up Another Underdone Summer Thriller

Interviews

La Enfermedad del Domingo: Entrevista con Ramón Salazar (Español)

This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood (You can find an English-language version of the interview here. Read our review of the film here.) La Enfermedad del Domingo es diferente a cualquier película que hayas hecho hasta la fecha. ¿De dónde vino la inspiración? La inspiración para la película debería ser Susi Sánchez, con quien trabajé ... La Enfermedad del Domingo: Entrevista con Ramón Salazar (Español)

Interviews

Sunday’s Illness: Ramon Salazar on Creating Female-Driven Stories (English)

We sit down to talk to Sunday’s Illness director Ramón Salazar about the creation of the film and the importance of telling women’s stories. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood (Una versión en español de la entrevista se puede encontrar aquí. Read our review of the film here.) Sunday’s Illness is unlike any film ... Sunday’s Illness: Ramon Salazar on Creating Female-Driven Stories (English)

Sunday’s Illness Review: Netflix’s Elegant, Stately Mother-Daughter Drama

Ramón Salazar’s direct-to-Netflix Spanish drama is a heartfelt exploration of the tenuous bonds between mother and daughter, anchored by sumptuous filmmaking. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood (You can read our interview with Salazar – in both English en español – here.) For most people, their most powerful relationship is the one they’ve had since ... Sunday’s Illness Review: Netflix’s Elegant, Stately Mother-Daughter Drama

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