Calvary: The Killing of a Country Priest
Director John Michael McDonagh's Calvary lays out its stark premise in a brilliant opening scene.
View ArticleSin City: A Dame to Kill For –Three and Half More Stories from the Naked City
Like its predecessor, "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" flits between multiple tales of greed, lust, and murder, with each story connected at the margins to the others.
View ArticleThe Trip to Italy: Coogan and Brydon Are Living La Dolce Vita
If the prospect of dueling Michael Caine imitations amid picture postcard scenery sounds charming, you may find this film to be the perfect and unassuming late-summer diversion.
View ArticleCondition Critical: "Code Black" at the Webster Film Series
Ryan McGarry’s sobering debut feature goes inside the controlled chaos of the ER of Los Angeles County General Hospital, a public facility that serves an enormous population of uninsured Californians.
View ArticleThe Drop: Tom Hardy (and His New Accent) Settle into Dennis Lehane’s...
Adapted by crime novelist Dennis Lehane from one of his own stories, "The Drop" is an engrossing tale of dirty deeds and dirtier secrets.
View ArticleVirtual Hell: The Zero Theorem at the Webster Film Series
Terry Gilliam's latest work finds the director playing to his strengths: coal-black humor, brassy cultural criticism, and inimitable near-future design.
View ArticleThe Boxtrolls: Down, Down to Goblin Town
"The Boxtrolls" is a wonder to behold, dense with exquisite detail and droll touches that create an enveloping, almost tactile world.
View ArticleGone Girl: Whatever Happened to Amazing Amy?
It’s a story older than Othello, but given Fincher’s filmography (Se7en, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), it’s hardly shocking that not everything is as it seems.
View ArticleKill the Messenger: The Perils of Airing America’s Dirty Laundry
On the whole, the film's value lies not in its formal qualities but in the light is directs on a dark, ugly corner of American history---and on the man who was destroyed for pointing to it.
View ArticleThe Green Prince: Israel’s Unlikely Eyes Inside Hamas
The tale of Mosab Hassan Yousef is so sensational that it could have been plucked from the pages of an espionage potboiler.
View ArticleBirdman: Michael Keaton Stages a High-Flying Comeback
Despite the savage jabs it makes at show business—especially at actors’ bottomless craving for validation—"Birdman" never seems mean-spirited.
View ArticleNightcrawler: Jake Gyllenhaall Prowls L.A. in Search of Blood
Viewers who need to root for a noble figure will likely find "Nightcrawler" repellent, but for others the film will captivate.
View ArticleInterstellar: The Wormhole Has Turned
Using the raw, familiar elements of the sci-fi genre, "Interstellar," creates an exhilarating—and often terrifying—experience.
View Article“Growing Up and Other Lies” at SLIFF 2014: Taking the Long Way Down
This film's comic sensibility is colloquial, acidic, and slightly absurd, recalling the early works of Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith.
View Article“The Liberator” at SLIFF 2014: A Glorious Revolutionary
Avelo and St. Louis native screenwriter Timothy J. Sexton are plainly focused on creating a Latin American version of that cinematic chestnut, the Oscar-bait historical prestige epic.
View ArticleTalking to Josh Arnold, St. Louis Native and Co-writer and Star of “The...
We chatted with the comedian, writer, and St. Louis native (whom you may know better from his much-loved "Bob and Tom Show") about his new film, which opens tonight at SLIFF.
View ArticleThe Real Deal: An Interview with Documentarian Doug Pray
Pray's new film, "Levitated Mass," screens this Sunday at the St. Louis International Film Festival, which is bestowing the filmmaker with this year's Contemporary Cinema Award.
View ArticleSLIFF Documentary Takes an Unflinching Look at the History of the Black Image...
Thomas Allen Harris’ newest documentary, "Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and The Emergence of a People," is many things: poignant, honest, and, at times, downright painful to watch.
View ArticlePoint and Shoot: Matthew Goes Marching Off to War
"Point and Shoot," provides valuable context for one man's personal evolution and his choices, turning an American footnote to the Arab Spring into a deeply human story.
View ArticleThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies—To the Victor Go the Spoils
Beyond serving up pure fantasy spectacle and some Tolkienist pandering, Battle primarily concerns the distorting effects of wealth and the power it represents.
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