illuminati

Ripley

Ripley

Patricia Highsmith’s enigmatic Tom Ripley has been very well served by the movies — Alain Delon in Purple Noon, Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley, John Malkovich as an older version in Ripley’s Game — so do we really need another Tom Ripley? After watching the story unfold over eight hours of beautifully produced […]

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Scoop

Scoop

Netflix’s Scoop is a dramatic interpretation of the infamous 2019 Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. This story was told more thoroughly in the excellent British miniseries, A Very Royal Scandal, but what sets Scoop apart is that it mostly follows producer

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Bucha

Bucha

February 24, 2022 was a day that shook the world to its very core. Russian forces had invaded Ukraine. They have been consistently referred to as the largest act of aggression by one country against another in Europe since World War II. But perhaps the most shocking thing about this attack was not how long

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Civil War

Civil War

Civil War is an extremely dynamic movie. It depicts a scenario terrifying for any American that involves the country being torn apart by a second Civil War. Alex Garland’s near-future dystopian collapse of democratic values turns neighbors into vicious and brutal enemies with a realism that is quite scary. Unfortunately, given the status of current

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Fallout

Fallout

If you imagine screenwriter/filmmaker Jonathan Nolan spending hours playing Fallout 3, the 2008 video game of the year, then you have an idea of how much love went into adapting “the best video game franchise of all time.” It took him more than a decade — from The Dark Knight Rises to Westworld — before

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The Antisocial Network

The Antisocial Network

The Antisocial Network, directed by Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini, is a chilling film about how the internet affects real life and politics. During a period where online spaces served as both an escape from reality and a means of control over it, the documentary argues convincingly that there’s not only a straight line between

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Sasquatch Sunset

Sasquatch Sunset

Sasquatch Sunset might be the most bizarre movie you ever see. The Zellner brothers, who are surrealists by trade, do a deep dive into Bigfoot legends with equal parts absurdity, heart and a dark commentary on man’s destruction of nature. There is no dialogue or three-act structure to speak of; rather, this cast grunts and

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parachute

Parachute

Writer/director Brittany Show (the Pitch Perfect films, Hairspray) pulls the creative ripcord in Parachute – her feature film debut behind the camera – and sticks the landing. The result is a refreshingly honest, compassionate, and thought-provoking story about addiction and codependency. Parachute is a beautiful achievement from Snow and some excellent indie filmmaking to boot.

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The Absence of Eden

The Absence of Eden

In a divided border town, a Mexican woman escaping violence and an ICE agent find themselves drawn together. The Absence of Eden is unflinching in its portrayal of human trafficking and the exploitation of undocumented people — as well as the different reactions from those in charge of keeping order. In his feature debut, writer/director

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Arcadian

Arcadian

A father tries to protect his teenage sons in a world destroyed by an apocalypse and filled with terrifying creatures, this is the familiar premise of Arcadian: but it takes that idea and runs with it. I have to give credit where it’s due; Director Ben Brewer and screenwriter Michael Nilon manage to come up

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