The German Autumn, some of the defining several months of Cold War Europe, occurred by no small coincidence during the initial release of Dario Argento’s stylish slash-terpiece, the original Suspiria. But the violence of the outside world was of no consequence or concern to Argento’s gory film world, wrapped up in the escapism and sensationalism of genre and formalism rather than sociopolitical subtexts and philosophical pedantry. It was either Jean-Luc Godard or Brian de Palma (or both) who once said…

If I could say anything of director Jim Hoskin’s feature length filmography thus far, it would be that I assume I’m not the only person who doesn’t know what to make of these bizarre concoctions. Where The Greasy Strangler seemed an obnoxious mush-mash of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! with grotesque John Waters trashiness, An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn appears to be a romantic comedy set on the outskirts of the Eraserhead universe. If the intent is…

In the ever increasingly difficult task of keeping science fiction fresh there are bound to be a few casualties. I did not expect director Alex Garland would disappoint with his follow up to 2014's Ex Machina, but Annihilation is the very definition of a sophomore slump. Much like another audacious but vacuous sci-fi outing, Inception, the film boasts dazzling visuals in service to a thin plot that's lacking any semblance of an emotional core. A cool concept is squandered in…

In an age where the highest grossing movies center on costumed vigilantes committing acts of violence and destruction outside and above the law for the sake of some utilitarian homeostasis (that, ironically, becomes more cosmically unstable each episode), it’s about time a filmmaker put the vigilante under the gun to reckon with the karma they’ve accrued. I know, I know, we’ve had some deconstructionist superhero movies in the last decade, but they’ve always maintained the premise that despite all of…