As with many festivals, but especially Fantasia, a kind of analysis paralysis can creep in with even the most intrepid critic. What do you cover? What’s worth looking at and talking about? What can be paired together for snappy festival dispatches? Even (or especially) amid the Montreal-based fest’s genre brief, there’s a lot of variety

It may be about time, or perhaps far too soon, to craft a movie that explores the realities of living through Summer 2020. Regardless, director Ari Aster’s pugnacious and genre-pliant “Eddington” is here, and it offers up the best approximation of the unique hell of that time.  Bristling with natural ease, Joaquin Phoenix plays Joe

At the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, no honorary award is more prestigious than the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, bestowed annually on an individual who has made significant contributions to the art of filmmaking.  Stellan Skarsgård, who received the Crystal Globe at this year’s festival, most certainly fits that description,

The world’s largest genre film festival, Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival is one of the most exciting, not to mention lengthy (it typically runs two, sometimes nearly three weeks), fests in the calendar year. It’s one of my favorites, despite (or perhaps because) of the relative obscurity of its catalog: Here is where you get

Of the films competing for the Crystal Globe at the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, only one—Soheil Beiraghi’s “Bidad,” the title of which translates to “Outcry”—was kept secret until shortly before the start of the festival.  That’s because Beiraghi’s independently produced fourth feature, about an aspiring singer who defies a government ban prohibiting women

The opening of “Ballard” drops us into the action, calling to mind the brooding in medias res that kicked off the hit Idris Elba series “Luther.” Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q) is at the tail end of a grueling case, already at odds with her colleagues over her refusal to back down or be silenced.

Ed. Note: This interview was originally published on MovieMom.com in April 2012 and is being republished here in honor of Michael Madsen. Michael Madsen is a favorite actor of writer/director Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Volume One). He appeared in Thelma & Louise and on the television series “24.” And he is a published poet, about to release his

The temperatures are rising, which means it’s time to stay indoors and watch a movie! (Or the last season of “Squid Game,” I guess.) When you’ve worked your way through this list of the best TV shows so far this year, or if you just want to watch a movie, come back to this list

Season 1 of Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” ended with Dream (Tom Sturridge) finally apprehending The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) and reasserting control over The Dreaming. With the Dream Vortex—a rare and catastrophic disturbance in the fabric of The Dreaming—stabilized, the collapse of the barriers between the dreaming and waking worlds was prevented. Just