Theatrical Reviews

Reviews of selected general release films

Darby Duffin and Adam Jones’ FISH & MEN: NAPLES INTERNATIONAL Film Fest REVIEW; the fishing crisis and the journey our fish takes from the sea to our dinner

By Luke Y. Thompson 5 years ago

Sometimes it’s nerve-wracking going to see a documentary you’re pretty sure will tell you that you need to fix something. But that’s a bad reason to ignore it. Most folks involved in documentaries about ecological devastation, for example, hope to change the minds of environmental deniers. If we long for results like that, what does it say if we can’t take it when our own sacred cows – or fish – come under scrutiny?

Minna Dufton’s BIG VS SMALL: HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY Film Fest REVIEW; will convince you to surf your big dreams

By Daniel Pappas 5 years ago

Big vs. Small feels like one long Buddhist meditation. The gentle in-and-out flow of breath mirrors the rhythm to the film’s edit. The lap of waves on camera perform a sort of hypnotic metronome for audiences. This quality gives measured pacing to the film overall and gives the audience chances to take in the scope and velocity of some truly massive surfing waves, but also chances to listen to Andrade. It’s fantastically cut together stringing together footage from wildly different camera sources as it shows different highlights of her surfing.

Meg Daniels and Manie Robinson’s Proper Pronouns at HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY Film Fest REVIEW: finds true faith in gender expression

By Luke Y. Thompson 5 years ago

TV news and social media tend to pump things up to the extreme, but Proper Pronouns shows the positive side of this life. Masses out to protest anti-trans laws; accepting congregations draped in rainbow flags laying hands upon one another, and the worst we see is an occasional Confederate flag or some local country boy acting bewildered about these new-fangled “unisexual” bathrooms.

Daniel Lombroso’s WHITE NOISE at HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY Film Fest REVIEW; reminds us who the true deplorables are

By Luke Y. Thompson 5 years ago

There’s a lot of potentially triggering talk in this film, which lets the bad people say what they want to say. So how’s it different from, say, Fox News or AM radio? Mostly in that these people say the quiet parts out loud. Trump may claim to be not politically correct, and say terrible things to rile people up, but even he’s not quite at the low, low level of these fans of his who want full racial separatism at best, civil war at worst.

Lisa Donato’s GOSSAMER FOLDS: Film Review from OUT ON FILM 2020; delivers warm 80s story of underdogs helping each other out

By Luke Y. Thompson 5 years ago

Scott and Grey are so, so good that it’s their dynamic that matters. As a dictionary-obsessed only child, Scott spits out ten-dollar vocabulary words with hilarity and accuracy, while Grey portrays a powerful woman who may get irritated with less-enlightened folks but rarely sees herself as any kind of victim.

Hong Khaou’s MONSOON: Review from OUT ON FILM 2020; a reprieve from the loudness of modern cinema

By Tony Ruggio 5 years ago

What stuck with me beyond themes of cultural identity or expat aimlessness were Khaou’s images, often colorful and symmetrical, emphasizing the spaces around Kit, around Vietnam where new capitalism is fast encroaching on old traditions. There are many words about how fast and how much the country is changing, and you get the impression there’s both good and bad to be had in so much memory being lost to the march of time.