'The Lure' (2015) Movie Review

I know that there are droves of Rocky Horror Picture Show devotees out there, but while that cult classic has a place in my heart, for my money there is no movie musical more bat-shit crazy than the 1980 Cannon Films joint The Apple. Thank you, Menahem Golan, you magnificent, lunatic bastard. It easily ranks in my top ten films of all time, no question.

'The Blackcoat's Daughter' (2015) Movie Review

There are things that writer/director Oz Perkins’ (who acted in one of my all-time favorites, Not Another Teen Movie, and also happens to be the son of Psycho’s Anthony Perkins) horror thriller, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, does well. And other things it does not.

'The Blackcoat's Daughter' Trailer Makes Me Wish I Liked The Movie More

I still can’t believe this movie hasn’t come out yet. Last May, I saw thriller The Blackcoat’s Daughter at the Seattle International Film Festival. Before that, it made the other festival stops, including a premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, where it debuted as February. It feels like it’s been on the way forever, but it’s finally set to come out and A24 released a fantastic new trailer.

'If There's A Hell Below' (2016) Movie Review

When an ambitious young journalist tracks down what he hopes will be a career-launching story, he falls into a world of high-stakes political intrigue. Such is the set up of Nathan Williams’ gorgeous, filmed-in-Washington, shot-on-a-shoestring debut feature, If There’s a Hell Below.

Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Sci-Fi Body Horror 'Evolution' Delivers A Surreal, Disturbing U.S. Trailer

Married to well-known filmic provocateur Gaspar Noe, and serving as producer, editor, and writer on the likes of I Stand Alone and Enter the Void, French filmmaker Lucile Hadzihalilovic is no stranger to challenging, transgressive cinema. But she’s also a director, turning in her own savage, subversive movies, and her latest, Evolution—a movie I love—just dropped a haunting new trailer.

'Ovarian Psycos' (2016) Movie Review

In the mood for a documentary about a radical feminist bike collective made up entirely of women of color? You should be. Directed by Janna Sokolowski and Kate Brumbull-LaValle, Ovarian Psycos looks at the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade, a group of Latina women in East Los Angles who use their monthly bike rides as a launching platform for activism, empowerment, and connection.

SIFF 2016: 'Cameraperson' (2016) Capsule Review

Documentary collage as autobiography is an intriguing narrative premise. In Cameraperson, Kirsten Johnson uses footage from the acclaimed films she’s photographed over the years (including Citizenfour, The Invisible War, The Oath, and many more) to construct a cinematic memoir.

Top 10 Movies Of SIFF 2016

Yesterday the Seattle International Film Festival announced its award winners, both those selected by a jury and those voted on by the audience. I’m sure they’re lovely movies, but as usual, I have little interest in watching most of them. My tastes tend to run in different directions, and with that in mind, here are my favorites of SIFF 2016, in no particular order except that in which they occurred to me. They’re all excellent and you should check out every last one when you have the chance.

SIFF 2016: 'Under The Shadow' (2016) Movie Review

As if living in a war-torn city in the aftermath of an uprising and having to regularly head to the basement because bombs are dropping all around isn’t terrifying enough, what do you do when a mysterious evil haunts you and your child? That sucks, and it’s also what happens to Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her young daughter, Dorsa (Avin Manshadi), in Babak Anvaris’ excellent new Iranian horror film Under the Shadow, which just screened at SIFF.

SIFF 2016: 'The Night Stalker' (2016) Capsule Review

Richard Ramirez was a terrifying serial killer who raped and murdered his way through the mid-1980s and was fond of talking about Satan, evil, and the like. In writer/director Megan Griffiths’ new movie, The Night Stalker, Lou Diamond Phillips turns in a decently skin-crawling version of notorious killer, but the rest of movie is shrug worthy at best.

SIFF 2016: 'The Land' (2016) Capsule Review

I have a soft spot for skate rats on film, and it doesn’t hurt when the surrounding movie is as good as Steven Caple Jr.’s directorial debut, The Land.

SIFF 2016: 'Hunt For The Wilderpeople' (2016) Capsule Review

Before he dives deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Thor: Ragnarok, director Taika Waititi is back at SIFF with the off-kilter, hilarious, and heartwarming Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

SIFF 2016: 'The Pistol Shrimps' (2016) Movie Review

A documentary about a rag-tag group of comedians, actresses, writers, and other women playing in a Los Angeles recreational basketball league sounds like a lark, right? Like it may be an entertaining momentary distraction, but not much more. While director Brent Hodge’s (A Brony Tale, I Am Chris Farley) The Pistol Shrimps is very much that, it’s also sweet and heartfelt, in addition to being funny as shit.

SIFF 2016: 'The Bodyguard' (2016) Movie Review

Sammo Hung is a damn living legend. The 64-year-old martial artist and actor has been churning out hits since the 1960s, working with fellow badasses like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and the Shaw Brothers; and helming, starring in, and doing stunts and fight choreography for hundreds of films. His first directorial feature since 1997, The Bodyguard (also known as My Beloved Bodyguard), just made its North American premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival.

SIFF 2016: 'Evolution' (2015) Capsule Review

Gaspar Noe may be the face of New French Extremity, but his wife, Lucile Hadzihalilovic, is no stranger to savage, transgressive films. Playing a part in the likes of I Stand Alone (as producer) and Enter the Void (as a writer), her second directorial effort, Evolution, bows at the Seattle International Film Festival, and delivers her own surreal, unsettling cinematic nightmare.

SIFF 2016: 'WTF?!' Shorts

Short films are a notoriously tricky form. For every fantastic offering, you have to wade through a sea of less-than-stellar dreck. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Seattle International Film Festival runs their annual shorts program, and while the WTF segment has its share of problems, it was, by and large, a strong collection. And every title on the docket certainly lives up to the moniker.

SIFF 2016: 'The Final Master' (2015) Movie Review

Xu Haofeng’s The Final Master, making its North American debut at the Seattle International Film Festival, is a throwback to classic wuxia films in every sense. A story fraught with ambition, loyalty, and betrayal, it wears the scope and aesthetic texture of its predecessors. Set in China of the 1930s, there are familiar themes of old versus new, changing times and tides, increasing western encroachment, and impending war.

SIFF 2016: 'The Eyes Of My Mother' (2016) Capsule Review

The Eyes of My Mother is beautiful to look at. First time feature director Nicolas Pesce cut his teeth helming music videos, and the stark black-and-white photography, framing, and depth of field are the film’s greatest strengths.

SIFF 2016: 'Alone' (2015) Movie Review

When a photographer witnesses a horrendous crime on the rooftop of a nearby building, he attempts to take a picture of the event. The assailants see him, hunt him down, and bludgeon him do death with a hammer in his own low-rent studio. And that’s just the jumping off point for South Korean director Park Hong-min’s (A Fish) twisted, nightmarish thriller, Alone, which makes its North American debut at the Seattle International Film Festival.

SIFF 2016: 'The Blackcoat's Daughter' (2015) Capsule Review

There are things that writer/director Oz Perkins’ (who acted in one of my all-time favorites, Not Another Teen Movie) horror thriller, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, does well. And things it does not.