Search


maddwolf95
- 7 days ago
- 2 min
In the Earth film review
★★★ Directed by #BenWheatley Written by #BenWheatley Starring #JoelFry #ElloraTorchia #ReeceShearsmith #HayleySquires Film Review by Hope Madden If there’s one Ben Wheatley film people don’t seem to like, it’s 2013’s A Field in England. That film feels a lot like an experiment made with limited resources about strained friendship and hallucinogenic substances. Wheatley’s latest, In the Earth, is a lockdown film—a kind of experiment made with limited resources about strained f

maddwolf95
- Apr 8
- 2 min
Voyagers film review
★★★ Directed by #NeilBurger Written by #NeilBurger Starring #TyeSheridan #LilyRoseDepp #ColinFarrell Film Review by Hope Madden If you have ever wondered what Lord of the Flies might look like in space, Neil Burger thinks like you. The generally mediocre director (The Upside, Limitless, Divergent, etc.) follows a manned vessel in search of the next planet we can ruin. Or not. Maybe our better natures will win out. Voyagers is the journey toward that new home. The crew doesn’t

maddwolf95
- Apr 7
- 2 min
Slalom film review
★★★★ Directed by #CharleneFavier Writtenby #CharleneFavier #AntoineLacomblez #MarieTalon Starring #NoeeAbita #JeremieRenier Film Review by Hope Madden As her camera races down the mountains of Val-d’Isère, writer/director Charlène Favier depicts both thrill and isolation in equal measure. It’s a tone that fits more than just the competitive Alpine skiing that sits at the center of her latest film Slalom. The breathless and somewhat terrifying imagery is a perfect characteriza

maddwolf95
- Mar 31
- 2 min
Funny Face film review
★★★★ Directed by #TimSutton Written by #TimSutton Starring #CosmoJarvis #DelaMaskienyar Film Review by Hope Madden Though writer/director Tim Sutton’s latest is more a collection of images and moments than a strictly plotted narrative, the story that unfolds is kind of a bittersweet wonder. An isolated youngish man (Cosmo Jarvis) rails against the impending destruction of his neighborhood, a community he haunts wearing a happy Halloween mask. An act of kindness at a nearby co

maddwolf95
- Mar 25
- 2 min
Making Monsters film review
★★★ Directed by #JustinHardin #RobBrunner Written by #JustinHardin Starring #AlanaElmer #TimLoden Film Review by Hope Madden Call me superficial, but I really enjoy those old school, pre-credit scares in horror films. (I am also a sucker for post-credit stingers, if I’m being totally honest.) Done well, they set a tone, freak you out, and make you simultaneously afraid to watch the rest of the film and unwilling to turn away. Writer/co-director Justin Harding knows this, obvi

maddwolf95
- Mar 24
- 2 min
Nobody film review
★★★ Directed by #IlyaNaishuller Written by #DerekKolstad Starring #BobOdenkirk #AlekseySerebryakov Film Review by Hope Madden On the surface, this film feels really familiar. Nobody was written by Derek Kolstad, which should surprise, well, nobody. Kolstad wrote 2014’s John Wick. I assume you’ve seen it: a humble widower is moved to reignite his highly trained assassin’s nature when his dog is in jeopardy. Kolstad’s next project? Acolyte. What’s that about, I wonder? Accordin

maddwolf95
- Mar 18
- 2 min
Wojnarowicz film review
★★★★ Directed by #ChrisMcKim Film Review by Hope Madden Maybe you don’t know who David Wojnarowicz is. Maybe you have no idea how to pronounce his name. It might be safer to butcher the provocative late artist’s last name (voy-nah-ROYH-vitch) than to read the title of director Chris McKim’s documentary aloud—Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F**ker. It doesn’t really matter what you call it as long as you see it. The film primarily uses Wojnarowicz’s own recordings, photos and pai

maddwolf95
- Mar 18
- 2 min
The Courier film review
★★★ Directed by #DominicCooke Written by #TomOConnor Starring #BenedictCumberbatch #MerabNinidze Film Review by Hope Madden Your regular Joe Schmo can do anything. He can save the world. He can even learn to love ballet. Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) was a garden variety salesman in England in 1960, right about the time a highly decorated Soviet leader and member of Khruschev’s inner circle found a clever way to announce to the right people in the West that he wanted

maddwolf95
- Mar 17
- 2 min
Slaxx film review
★★★ Directed by #ElzaKephart Written by #PatriciaGomez #ElzaKephart Starring #RomaneDenis #BrettDonahue #SeharBhojani Film Review by Hope Madden Does anybody remember those old Shrink to fit only you 501 jeans ads? They are creepier now. Absurdism meets consumerism in co-writer/director Elza Kephart’s bloody comedy, Slaxx. Brightly lit and colorful CCC clothing store—offering high priced garments that are sustainably sourced without sweatshops, GMOs, or any other unsightly th

maddwolf95
- Mar 11
- 2 min
The Last Right film review
★★ Directed by #AoifeCrehan Written by #AoifeCrehan Starring #MichielHuisman #SamuelBottomley #NaimhAlgar Film Review by Hope Madden A few months back, Jamie Dornan and Emily Blunt stupefied us all (well, the dozen or so of us who saw Wild Mountain Thyme) with an Irish romance about as authentic as a Shamrock Shake. Writer/director Aoife Crehan’s The Last Right takes us back to the Emerald Isle to see if there’s any romance or magic left. Oh, there is? Well, fine then. Dutch

maddwolf95
- Mar 11
- 2 min
Come True film review
★★★ Directed by #AnthonyScottBurns Written by #AnthonyScottBurns Starring #JuliaSarahStone #LandonLiboiron Film Review by Hope Madden There are elements of Anthony Scott Burns’s sci fi horror Come True that put you in mind of early David Cronenberg, although what Canadian filmmaker hasn’t been inspired by the master? Like Cronenberg, Burns sets his unnerving tale amid the humming florescents, beeping machines and grainy medical equipment displays of an institution—someplace h

maddwolf95
- Mar 9
- 2 min
Antigone film review
★★★★ Directed by #SophieDeraspe Written by #SopheDeraspe Starring #NehameRicci #RawadElZein Film Review by Hope Madden Any deep dive into the day-to-day realities of asylum seekers and the racism they face can end in horror (His House) or tragedy. Sophie Deraspe’s Antigone takes the second path, obviously. Though the story is thoroughly updated, Deraspe keeps the ancient Greek names for her Algerian family living in Quebec. Antigone (Nahéma Ricco) also retains the strength an

maddwolf95
- Mar 3
- 2 min
Son film review
★★★ Directed by #IvanKavanagh Written by #IvanKavanagh Starring #AndiMatichak #EmileHirsch Film Review by Hope Madden Back in 2014, Irish filmmaker Ivan Kavanagh wondered what to do about a dad who may be his son’s only salvation, or may be his one true danger. Canal had a lot going for it—it looked creepy, performances were solid, and it wasn’t afraid to bang up its cast. It just couldn’t quite make the leap from good to great. Same goes for the filmmaker’s latest, Son. We o

maddwolf95
- Mar 3
- 2 min
Raya and the Last Dragon film review
★★★ Directed by #DonHall #CarlosLopezEstrada #PaulBriggs #JohnRipa Written by #QuiNguyen #AdeleLim #PaulBriggs #DonHall #CarlosLopezEstrada #KielMurray #JohnRipa #DeanWellins Starring #Awkwafina #KellyMarieTran Film Review by Hope Madden and George Wolf Disney was looking to do something different. Well, it’s still a princess, unfortunately, so not that different. But Raya and the Last Dragon marks an impressive step forward in a number of ways. Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) opens

maddwolf95
- Mar 2
- 2 min
Dementer film review
★★★ Directed by #ChadCrawfordKinkle Written by #ChadCrawfordKinkle Starring #KatieGroshong #StephanieKinkle #LarryFessenden Authenticity is certainly the main differentiator between Chad Crawford Kinkle’s latest horror and others of the genre. It’s been eight years since the filmmaker released his underseen backwoods gem Jug Face. He once again pits a tenacious female against the unrelenting pressure of an unholy presence, but Kinkle has a more personal kind of dread in store

maddwolf95
- Feb 26
- 2 min
Tom and Jerry film review
★ Directed by #TimStory Written by #KevinCostello Starring #ChloeGraceMoretz #MichaelPena Film Review by Hope Madden Scooby-Doo is having a moment. The franchise got its first wide release feature film last year, and the brains of the Mystery, Inc. outfit, Velma, just nabbed her own spin off show. Why not dig deep and reintroduce us to other cartoon favorites? Tom and Jerry make their case for relevance with a live action/animation hybrid by director Tim Story (Ride Along, Ba

maddwolf95
- Feb 24
- 2 min
The Vigil film review
★★★★ Directed by #KeithThomas Written by #KeithThomas Starring #DaveDavis #LynnCohen Film Review by Hope Madden For the garden variety movie viewer (myself included), it can be hard to get comfortable with the idea of spending a bunch of time alone in a room with a corpse, even if that’s your job. We always expect to see a figure sit up under that drawn sheet. When done well, movies that pick that particular scab can be incredibly effective. Keith Thomas’s The Vigil is one su

maddwolf95
- Feb 24
- 2 min
Cherry film review
★★★ Directed by #AnthonyRusso #JoeRusso Written by #AngelaRussoOtstot #JessicaGoldberg #NicoWalker Starring #TomHolland Film Review by Hope Madden Ohio is trying to kill Tom Holland. Last year we lured this sweety pie to Knockemstiff with the sole purpose of, well, knocking him stiff in Antonio Campos’s big screen adaptation of Donald Pollack’s novel The Devil All the Time. And now Cleveland. Filmmakers and brothers Joe and Anthony Russo—both fans of The Land, having filmed m

maddwolf95
- Feb 23
- 2 min
Wrong Turn film review
★★★ Directed by #MikePNelson Written by #MikePNelson Starring #CharlotteVega #BillSage #MatthewModine Film Review by Hope Madden Writer/director Mark P. Nelson is kind of fixated on the social rifts in America. His 2018 film Domestics followed the aftermath of an apocalypse intentionally deployed by a ruling class looking to thin the herd. The smaller herds only fracture into groups of radicalized, violent maniacs, though, and even your white bread nuclear family types are th
{"items":["607ecb4b18de7d00577c7988","6076e4b357e9050015517ae0","606ef7b29d99b900158f1bab","606e1553fa9a040015767026","6064a90efdafc800157b9a22","605c86c4d5a7790015b26eda","605b2d3d25bff8001632b982","6053b9da08886a006d61368a","6052989b0112ef0015fa4341","6051fa1f8ad99e00416ae976","604a5d6ad6151100410d9c88","604a5cb1de93720015e549f8","60477b298e2673001501fb7a","604017e5f8dbea006dd7749c","603fcd67a6d890001586e445","603e3eb1d1872f00154af781","60391a179a353e0015d04e91","60366fc36c2cbb00151d8c9e","60366e115f0d7e0041ea40f8","60353f07420dc400572fcadd"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":1060,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"value":"rgba(153, 153, 153, 0.75)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":1060,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":1060,"galleryWidth":1092,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}