SIFF 2026: 'Lady' Movie Review

When a young documentarian, Sam (Laurie Kynaston) takes a paid gig to shoot a portrait of the obscure noble Lady Isabella (Sian Clifford, Fleabag), what initially appears to be a vanity project for an entitled aristocrat quickly morphs into something much, much stranger and more off the wall. The mockumentary format is a hit-and-miss affair, for me at least, but Samuel Abrahams’s Lady makes excellent use of this stylistic approach and delivers something both hilarious and truly unusual, all anchored by an incredible, unhinged performance from Clifford. Think Absolutely Fabulous meets Grey Gardens by way of the Invisible Man.

The BoneBat Comedy Of Horrors 2026 Lineup Is Here And As Wild As Ever

It’s springtime in Seattle, which means it’s either sunny and glorious outside or rainy as all hell. Either way, it’s the perfect time to spend a Saturday in a dark movie theater watching  horror movies. And let’s be honest, probably drinking. That’s right, the annual BoneBat Comedy of Horrors film festival is once again upon us.

'Cold Storage' (2026) Movie Review

The new sci-fi horror comedy Cold Storage is an odd movie to talk about. There’s a good amount to recommend, and it’s pretty fun. However, that’s also the best thing you can say about it, that it’s “pretty fun,” there’s not much more to it. It’s fun, but never as fun as it could, or should be. There’s gore and body horror, but nothing particularly memorable or impactful. We get some laughs, but they’re more light chuckles than full-throated guffaws. This is a movie that you can watch, be moderately entertained by, and that leaves little more impression than that. And given the pieces involved, that feels like a missed opportunity.

'This Too Shall Pass' (2024) Movie Review

In 2019’s Harpoon, writer/director Rob Grant made a tense, violent, often hilarious horror movie that I called “a gory, savage black comedy potboiler” about three friends trapped on a boat and coming unraveled. For his next trick, he tackles something equally harrowing and metaphorically equivalent to being lost adrift at sea: adolescence. This Too Shall Pass is a funny, bittersweet, messy story of a time that’s, well, funny, bittersweet, and messy, even if the delivery system is at times a nostalgia overload.

SIFF 2025: 'She's The He' Capsule Review

To get close to a crush, seniors Alex (Nico Carney) and Ethan (Misha Osherovich) pretend to be trans, a dicey proposition for sure. Here’s the twist, for one of them, she’s never felt so comfortable, so herself. Realizing she is in fact trans, the movie follows the fallout from that revelation. 

'My Old Ass' (2024) Movie Review

If you could go back in time and offer advice to your younger self, what would you say? What wisdom would you impart? Invest in a particular stock early? Follow a certain career path? Maybe don’t eat that burrito you left sitting out overnight that one time? That’s the basic concept of My Old Ass, a gentle, moving, light sci-fi coming of age story from writer/director Megan Park (The Fallout). This feels like one of those movies that has the potential to become a generational touchstone. It’s lovely and earnest, deeply emotional, and achingly bittersweet in poignant ways.

'Bookworm' (2024) Movie Review

Do people still like movies where Elijah Wood walks around the New Zealand wilderness? Because there’s a great deal of that in Bookworm, the latest directorial effort from Ant Timpson (Come to Daddy). It may not be quite as epic as the Lord of the Rings movies, but it’s impossible for that landscape to not look incredible, and there’s plenty of adventure on this sweet, earnest journey of reconciliation between a long-estranged father and daughter, a journey that also happens to be something of a cryptid hunt.

'Chainsaws Were Singing' (2024) Movie Review

When you hear about a DIY Estonian horror-musical that took the filmmaker (Sander Maran served as director, writer, editor, cinematographer, songwriter, and probably more roles) a decade to make, you can’t help but be curious. And Chainsaws Were Singing is all of that and so, so much more. This is a bizarre, wild time that goes way, way out in the wilderness and is something fans of movies like Cannibals: The Musical and Hundreds of Beavers need to check out.

'Boy Kills World' (2024) Movie Review

You know the story well. In a dystopian world, the despotic siblings who rule with an iron fist murder a family who opposes them. The only survivor, a young boy, left deaf and mute by the experience, trains his entire life with a very stoned shaman for a mission of revenge with only the mental incarnation of his dead sister and his internal monologue, the voice of his favorite childhood video game, for company. Yeah, that old yarn, right?  And thus, we have Boy Kills World. 

SIFF 2023: 'Egghead & Twinkie' Capsule Review

Well, Egghead & Twinkie is freaking adorable. In Sarah Kambe Holland’s twee, lo-fi indie comedy, when trans-racial adoptee Twinkie comes out to her conservative parents it doesn’t go great. She sets out on a cross-country adventure with her nerdy bff Egghead to meet her online DJ crush.

'Polite Society' (2023) Movie Review

Young martial artist Ria (Priya Kansara) wants to be a professional stunt performer. Her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), has dreams of being an artist, though she’s dropped out of art school. Problem is, their Pakistani immigrant parents, while indulgent of the whims of their children, have aims of their own. When the directionless Lena agrees to an arranged marriage to too-good-to-be-true doctor Salim (Akshay Khanna) and his family who may or may not have a nefarious endgame—Ria has an overactive imagination and is prone to flights of wild fancy, so who’s to say what’s real—it’s up to the younger sister to save the day. Or maybe just ruin the Big Day.

The BoneBat Comedy Of Horrors Film Festival Is Almost A Damn Teenager!

This is the place where I was going to make a crack about how it’s spring and of course what we really want to do is spend a beautiful weekend day sitting in the dark watching horror movies with a bunch of like-minded weirdos. But the weather in Seattle has been utter trash, so you don’t have anything better to do than attend the BoneBat Comedy of Horrors Film Festival.

'She Came From The Woods' (2023) Movie Review

Ah, summer camp, where generations of teens have gone to learn outdoor skills, fall in love, lose their virginity, and subsequently be murdered by either psychotic killers or supernatural forces beyond their control. Or, in the case of Erik Bloomquist’s horror-comedy, She Came from the Woods, both. 

'Mad Cats' (2023) Movie Review

A lazy, layabout slacker, a missing brother, and a pack of anthropomorphized cats bent on executing sketchy pet shop owners. That’s the basic premise of writer/director Reiki Tsuno’s Mad Cats. This inherently strange tale mixes banger martial arts throwdowns, kinetic gun play, a weirdo mystery, and “forbidden catnip from ancient times.” The result is chaotic and odd, with an off-kilter approach that balances comedy, melodrama, action, and ambition.

The Bone Bat Comedy Of Horrors Film Festival Returns For 2022, Weird And Wild As Ever

Well, it’s that time of year again in Seattle. Spring is in full swing, the weather’s getting better, so what other decision is there than to spend a (potentially) gorgeous day inside in a dark-ass movie theater watching horror movies? If that sounds like a damn fine time, the Bone Bat Comedy of Horrors film festival is back for their first in-person gathering since, you know, the world came to a screeching halt…for some reason that escapes me at the moment. (Just kidding, it was a global plague.)

'Licorice Pizza' (2021) Movie Review

As a whole, I’m not entirely certain what Licorice Pizza, the new 70s-set coming-of-age film from Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread), amounts to. Pieces are absolutely magical, full of joy and whimsy. Others…are a bit more problematic, at best; downright cringe-inducing at worst. It watches like a movie where the filmmaker has zero checks and balances, able to indulge any and every flight of fancy with no oversight. Which is both a good and bad thing by turns. This freedom allows PTA to indulge himself; the flipside of that is, of course, overindulgence. 

'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent' Trailer: Nicolas Cage Plays Nicolas Cage In Most Nicolas Cage Movie Ever

Are you ready for the most Nicolas Cage movie that Nicolas Cage ever Nicolas Cage-d? If that sentence seems awesome instead of like gibberish, you may be ready for the first trailer for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

'Lady Of The Manor' (2021) Movie Review

After being branded a sex offender, stoner slacker Hannah (Melanie Lynskey) gets a job as a live-in tour guide at a historical southern estate. One that happens to be haunted by the ghost of the home’s original inhabitant, the prim, proper Lady Wadsworth (Judy Greer). The two women, one living, one dead, become unlikely pals. Such is the premise of Lady of the Manor, the feature directorial debut from prolific actor and former Apple spokesperson Justin Long, who costars, and his brother, Christian Long. If that sounds funny, don’t worry, it isn’t.

Fantasia 2021: 'Sweetie, You Won't Believe It' Movie Review

Three friends, a van full of inflatable sex dolls, and a fishing trip gone very, very wrong. What about a quartet of inept killers and a mysterious one-eyed man with a brutal vendetta? All wrapped in a bloody, violent, patently ridiculous, near-slapstick package? If that sounds like a fine time, add Yernar Nurgaliyev’s Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It to your mist-see list. 

'Werewolves Within' (2021) Movie Review

Don’t you hate it when you move to a small town for work and it turns out there are werewolves on the loose? Yeah, that sucks. Unless you’re watching Werewolves Within, the latest from director Josh Ruben (Scare Me). An adaptation of a video game I’ve never heard of, Ruben and writer Mishna Wolff mix scares and laughs in a way that many attempts to do so fail to achieve. Playing like a horror whodunnit, the result is something akin to a lycanthrope take on Clue or Agatha Christie with monsters. (Literal monsters, not the metaphorical human variety, though the film has plenty of those as well.) It’s one of the most fun, entertaining movies to come out this year, and easily a top-tier video game movie.