Rachelle Vinberg, Nina Moran, Ardelia Lovelace, and Ajani Russell in Skate Kitchen Skate Kitchen Review – Treading the boards
Female Filmmakers · Film · Review

Skate Kitchen Review – Treading the boards

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The way that Crystal Moselle shoots skateboarding feels a lot like anybody else would shoot flying. It is loose and liberating, the camera gliding alongside as they perform, humanity captured in the shared joy of movement. The drama of Skate Kitchen comes in the fact that this promise is not one held up by society. While the skate park should itself be a meritocratic space, your skill on the board legitimizing your right to ride, it is not immune from the prejudices that consume the rest of society.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in A Star is Born A Star is Born Review – The depths and the shallows
Film · Review

A Star is Born Review – The depths and the shallows

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In a cinemagoing landscape where the definition of spectacle has narrowed down to superhero antics — whether they be performed by Avengers, Jedi, or The Rock — A Star is Born arrives to remind us that something don’t gotta be huge to feel huge. There’s something in its two hour fifteen running time that quietly cements it in the tradition of the epic.

Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in A Simple Favour A Simple Favour Review – Complicated exercise
Film · Review

A Simple Favour Review – Complicated exercise

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In basically the first scene of A Simple Favour Anna Kendrick’s character explains that the sequence of events leading up to her best friend’s disappearance happened on their kids’ school’s World Food Day. We then cut to a flashback, the banner in the classroom reads Ethnic Food Day. And so it becomes clear that, even when tasked with directing what on the outset appears to be a serious and sexy mystery thriller, his primary tendency is always going to lean towards comedy.

Constance Wu, Nico Santos, and Awkwafina in Crazy Rich Asians Crazy Rich Asians Review – Conspicuous consumption
Film · POC Filmmakers

Crazy Rich Asians Review – Conspicuous consumption

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There is nothing more powerful in this world than a determined Michelle Yeoh. In the prologue to this film, arriving rain drenched to some fancy London hotel whose staff refuse to acknowledge her reservation, you wonder how these men are not rendered dead under her gaze. She has a better way to exact revenge though, and one phone call to her husband finds the hotel brought out from under them. She owns it now.