Leah Purcell is the writer, director, and star of The Legend of Molly Johnson, playing a woman who must protect herself and her children from the harsh hazards of life in the 1890s Australian bush. While this is Purcell’s first narrative…
‘Emily the Criminal’ review: A smart and tightly woven crime thriller starring Aubrey Plaza
In Emily the Criminal, first-time writer/director John Patton Ford makes simultaneously crafting a tense thriller and insightful social commentary look easy with just the simplest of ingredients. At first glance, the film may seem a bit spare or unassuming, laying…
‘Summering’ review: A half-baked and muddled misfire for James Ponsoldt
Promising on paper, Summering is a frustrating film on almost every level. I went in with high hopes, as would anyone who loved James Ponsoldt’s previous modern classic of the coming-of-age genre, The Spectacular Now. In that and a handful of other independent…
‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ review: Big screen book adaptations must do what they can to survive
It feels odd to see a movie like Where the Crawdads Sing in the theater in 2022. Not necessarily in a bad way — this is just the kind of film that has “adapted from the best-selling novel” written all…
10 Brilliant Transgender Films Actually Made by Transgender People
Throughout most of Hollywood history, it has been usually taken for granted that transgender characters would be played by cisgender performers. Even in the most well-intentioned cases, these films can result in stereotypical and surface-level depictions of transgender people. In…
