June 9 - June 15 2025
Sinners, National Anthem, Femme, Fresh Kills, Bring Her Back, The Tale, Robot Carinval
- Sinners [2025] - 87
Ryan Coogler’s newest film, Sinners, will likely be snubbed come awards time — though, with nominations for things like Nosferatu and The Substance, I do [potentially] see a light at the end of the so-called tunnel here — and, should that come to pass, it will be an absolute crime. Sinners is the serious-but-still-fun, intelligent-but-still-goofy, and coherent-but-still-zany second cousin twice removed of Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn: It’s got a long dramatic setup that slowly hints at something more sinister happening behind the scenes, and then all hell breaks loose and you better keep your arms and legs inside the ride if you’ve any interest in keeping them attached. Sinners features some excellent cinematography, interesting [if a little charactered] performances, and once scene in particular that I think should send Coogler home with the “Best Director” Oscar. If you haven’t seen this, I definitely recommend it… Maybe I’ll get around to writing a full review…
- National Anthem [2023] - 83
National Anthem is a movie very apropos to 2023, and that isn’t a bad thing. A story about a boy who takes care of his younger brother, because his addict mother can’t, who stumbles upon a ranch of queer, poly cowhands and explores the larger world of his sexuality and self through falling in love with them all in different ways. It’s a truly wonderful movie that’s easy to become engaged with and concludes in a satisfactory, fulfilling, and meaningful way… If a little too neat for me. I tend to be very distracted by Charlie Plummer in things — he almost always plays the same character: a sort of less likeable Michael Cera — but, in this, his persona of “every word I want to say feels like it’s going to be wrong so I pause awkwardly during conversations” works and evolves in a way that feels natural and meaningful. The directorial debut of Luke Gilford and writing debuts of Kevin Best, Gilford himself, and David Largman Murray, National Anthem shows a very promising start to a sensitive and meaningful career for all involved.
- Femme [2023] - 90
Sharper and harder hitting than National Anthem is the debut of writer/ directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping with their harsh and dangerous thriller, Femme. Femme is a sexy, sharp, and tense in a way that you wouldn’t typically associate with a drama about homophobia, drag, and closeted sexuality. Femme is brutal and coarse, while also being extremely sensitive and respectful of the people it depicts and the very real situations it dramatizes. A film that deserved much more credit in awards circles than it got, Freeman and Ping should not only be proud of what they created, but asked to do more of it. Bolstered by emotive, frightening, and empathetic performances by leads George MacKay [Captain Fantastic, 1917], and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett [Candyman 2021, Azrael], Femme cuts like a well-honed knife and then convinces you to take the blade back into your hand so it can do it again.
- Fresh Kills [2023] - 94
Not only is Fresh Kills impressive as a film on its own, but add in the context of it being a writer/director debut by costar Jennifer Esposito? Breathtaking. Redolent of my #5 slot a few years ago, Blood on Her Name, what Esposito’s crime-thriller lacks in terms of Blood’s brilliant narrative structure, it more than makes up for with outstanding performances, brilliant dialogue, and a story that manages to be detailed, decades long, and succinct all at once. Because of the way life works, I watched Fresh Kills on 11June, but am writing this Roundup on 3July… and I can still hear one of the closing lines of dialogue and feel the heavy emotions from one of its climactic scenes as if I’d finished it only minutes ago. While grounded and mundane, Fresh Kills manages to soar high above and far ahead of other entries into this genre, and marks Jennifer Esposito as a “must watch” name in the field.
- Bring Her Back [2025] - 71
The second film by the Philippou-Hinzman trio [2022’s Talk to Me being their first], Bring Her Back simultaneously shows a growth in maturity in terms of the depth of themes tackled, but also growing pains in that this one feels less polished and less concise than their previous work as well. I typically find that films [especially in this genre] are best at the 100-miunute mark. At 104-minutes long, I checked my watch more than once during my theater visit for Bring Her Back and found myself groaning after several moments where they reintroduced already known themes, concepts, or plots. It’s not that [echoing my thoughts on Talk to Me] any of it was bad perse… It’s just that I understood what was being communicated the first time and didn’t need to be spoon-fed the same information over and over… The plot of the film is very clear very early on and it almost never does anything to dissuade you of what you assume is happening. If anything… Bring Her Back almost works so hard to convince you of what’s happening that you do wonder if you’re somehow wrong; a flaw, not a fun/ mysterious boon in this case.
I don’t know. This was fine but, without the standout performance from Sally Hawkins, I think it would have been entirely forgettable.
- The Tale [2018] - 91
A difficult film reflecting writer/director Jennifer Fox’s own experience being sexually abused as a child, The Tale is smart, unsettling, subtle, and very heavy. After uncovering a story her daughter wrote when she was 13, Jennifer’s mother calls her, concerned about what it contained. Through reviewing her own writing, visiting those people in question, and reliving her memories, Jennifer travels through several stages of repression, grief, and denial; ultimately coming to the conclusion that she did not, in fact, have a “relationship” with her adult riding coaches as a child, and that she was, in fact, abused and manipulated by them. Led by the always excellent Laura Dern, The Tale is hard to watch even as someone who hasn’t experienced these things first hand, and I’d imagine it’s even moreso difficult if you have, though not because it’s vulgar, graphic, or theatric… Because it’s so tame and nuanced and real. Though it is, calling this film “excellent” is hard given it’s subject matter and, though I do, it is also difficult to recommend for the exact same reason.
- Robot Carnival [1987] - 24 - DNF
Robot Carnival had a lot going against it from the start — anthology pieces tend to fall pretty flat for me, anime is also a hard sell, etc. — and it managed to die on every hill it wanted to climb. The stories were lame and contextless, they were full of what I call “anime-bullshit” [crying, screaming, overdramatic nonsense that serves no purpose, convenient garbage writing], and there didn’t seem to be any logic or point to anything I was shown. I don’t know, there’s not much to say on this one… It was just really dumb.
