Theatrical Reviews

Reviews of selected general release films

TRIBECA 2017 REVIEWS: Kevin Phillips ‘s SUPER DARK TIMES is a dramatic thriller thinly disguised as a suspense piece without easy characters or nifty resolutions

By Miguel Cima 9 years ago

While a sort of mystery does brew as the story moves on – with a surprisingly more shocking ending than one may expect – the draw here is the focus on how sudden life-altering experiences impact the minds of children entering young adulthood. The lingering horror tropes become almost a welcome distraction from the tension generated by immature confusion.

TRIBECA 2017 REVIEWS: Marc Meyers's MY FRIEND DAHMER examines the real terror behind the creation of a killer

By Miguel Cima 9 years ago

Could the savage butcher Jeffrey Dahmer been brought back to a course that could have led to a normal, fulfilling life? Obviously, we can never know. What we can know is that a lot of people failed him. And to be fair, it certainly seems like a dark cloud was lodged deep in his psyche, perhaps one which could not be repaired. But this film attempts to find the humanity within this real-life character, employing an organic approach which gives the figure perhaps the best chance his life could ever get to a fair trial.

TRIBECA 2017 REVIEWS: Oren Jacoby’s engaging documentary SHADOWMAN doggedly profiles New York's enigmatic East Village artist, Richard Hambleton

By Miguel Cima 9 years ago

In concert with celebrating Hambleton’s achievements, the film looks unflinchingly at the insanity and degradation which is the artist’s very messed up life. As the details unfold, we find some of the usual suspects behind self-destructive geniuses. More surprising are the nuances of this troubled man’s path, the almost pure motivations which repulsed him away from success, intermingling with the frailty of a human being succumbing to an endless parade of indulgence and personal neglect.

TRIBECA 2017 REVIEWS: Julia Solomonoff's NOBODY'S WATCHING sidesteps escapist gags or Oscar-hounding histrionics, delivering subtle realism, patiently uncomfortable scenes, and a whole lot of empathy

By Miguel Cima 9 years ago

What could have easily have gone off the rails as a series of zany low-grade sitcom vignettes settles in as a restrained effort relying on quieter moments of experience showing (rather than dialogue explaining) both the laughs and the tears. Refusing to play it safe, there’s a lot of tough scenes between the lighter fare, including some stark and belligerent sexual encounters.

TRIBECA 2017 REVIEWS: Elina Psykou's SON OF SOFIA takes us into the deeply dark realm of an abused and neglected child’s imagination

By Miguel Cima 9 years ago

Using transitions between a harsh, stern reality and the deeply dark realm of an abused and neglected child’s imagination, it’s a haunting expedition into a shadow world of juvenility without light and hope. Nestled in the core of this savage trek, however, is an important discovery. What is the outcome of insight? This film seeks the answer to this through a beautiful and besmirched prism, where disillusionment is uncovered as a fractured form of enlightenment.

TRIBECA 2017 REVIEWS: Julian Rosefeldt's MANIFESTO is an ambitious avant garde experimental feature film that works as a mosaic and doubles as a video installation. It's also REALLY good.

By Miguel Cima 9 years ago

Lovely milieus are crafted which do everything from mock a funeral to provide meditative contemplations of buildings as living things. Always, always in the service of framing the manifesto. More than once we go from hives to drones to queens and broods, our insect instincts trying to gain meaning from a larger culture and history.

THEATRICAL REVIEWS: Jenny Gage's ALL THIS PANIC travels through teenage girlhood in all of its confusing, brilliant realness

By Daphne Street 9 years ago

Beyond relationships, the girls also share several common threads that allow for a cohesive storyline: similar ages, location and some common struggles. However, it is their vast differences that make the film compelling. Differences in family support and stability, socio-economic issues, and all of the little bits of vulnerability that emerge through an open dialogue as the teens speak candidly about their unique hopes, fears and musings that gives the film its heartbeat.

DIFF 2017 REVIEWS: Mark Palansky ‘s REMEMORY is the rare sci-fi film/emotional drama hybrid that gets the balance right

By admin 9 years ago

When it comes to the matter of “truths,” REMEMORY is complex enough to admit that examining perspective and putting together the pieces of multiple accounts is everything in the quest for enlightenment. In this sense, the film is a reflection on the human condition and the types of neuro technologies that we’re set to wrestle with in the near future.

Dallas International Film Fest 2017 REVIEWS: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s debut feature film, HEARTSTONE is a grand achievement

By Miguel Cima 9 years ago

The visual transition is caught in wild nature, like much of the film, and offers a tiny flicker of hope – don’t blink or you’ll miss it – in a grand spontaneous gesture, as far from phony as you get in cinema. Truly, this work is a grand achievement, Guðmundsson’s first feature, hopefully foreshadowing an equally brilliant career to come.