Cinema

​Flowers and weeds: Riegel’s ‘Dandelion’

July 18th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Writer-director Nicole Riegel’s sophomore feature “Dandelion” is now playing in theaters following a world premiere at South by Southwest in March. The movie stars KiKi Layne as the titular singer-songwriter, a young Cincinnati woman looking for artistic and personal fulfillment while holding down a sparsely attended three-night-a-week hotel bar performing gig and caring for her ailing mother. The film’s emphasis on tentative romance and the…

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​Triet Dissects the Life and Death of a Marriage in “Anatomy of a Fall”

January 18th, 2024

Now playing at the Fargo Theatre.

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Palme d’Or recipient “Anatomy of a Fall” is now enjoying an award-season victory tour, recently picking up Golden Globe wins for both screenplay and foreign language film as well as the National Board of Review’s prize for Best International Film. Oscar nominations should be forthcoming. Filmmaker Justine Triet, who wrote the script with partner and collaborator Arthur Harari, expertly uses the framework of…

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​Park’s double fantasy: ‘My Old Ass’

October 7th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

My Old Ass,” the title of Megan Park’s sophomore feature, probably didn’t do the movie any favors at the box office, but it is as spiky and forward as protagonist Elliott, an 18-year-old caught between adolescence and adulthood. Currently finishing up a theatrical run following a world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Park’s movie is a bittersweet coming of age tale that blends romance, melodrama, and even a touch of science…

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​Two in one: Fargeat applies ‘The Substance’

October 1st, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The epic ambitions of Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore feature “The Substance” are trumpeted by its whopping 141-minute running time, a length that may please body horror aficionados and exhaust the less patient. Demi Moore is brilliantly cast as Elisabeth Sparkle, a longtime media personality and aerobics segment host whose cruel boss (an absolutely repulsive Dennis Quaid) fires her in favor of a newer and younger ingénue. A devastated Elisabeth…

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​Wilcha Drops the Needle on ‘Flipside’

September 30th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Chris Wilcha’s excellent documentary “Flipside,” now available to rent on major streaming platforms following a successful run of film festival appearances, is essential viewing for Gen X pop culture hounds and any artists who have abandoned more creative projects than they have finished. Despite a thriving career as a director of television spots for major corporate clients, Wilcha confesses a familiar conundrum for so many film and media…

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​Sun, moon and stars: Baker orbits ‘Janet Planet’

September 16th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker makes an auspicious feature directorial debut with the bracing and stimulating coming-of-age story “Janet Planet.” Focusing on the microscopic details of a complex mother-daughter relationship, the movie is now available to rent on major streaming services following a theatrical run. Baker’s transition from the stage to the screen proves to be a best-of-both-worlds proposition; “Janet…

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​Say His Name: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’

September 9th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Thirty-six years is just a blink in eternity’s endless ocean of the afterlife, but as far as the Hollywood clock goes, it is a massive gulf. Lucky for us fans of Tim Burton’s original 1988 “Beetlejuice” that the key players from the classic horror-comedy decided to join the fun in what is certainly the filmmaker’s most enjoyable and satisfying movie in, well, a very long time. There is no shortage of chatter, both amateur and professional,…

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​Wang Comes of Age in ‘Didi’

September 4th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

In January, Sean Wang’s thoroughly satisfying feature directorial debut “Didi” premiered to plenty of buzz and acclaim at Sundance, where it collected the U.S. Dramatic category’s audience award and a special jury recognition for its ensemble. On a serious roll, Wang has been a busy filmmaker in recent months. His short documentary “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” received an Oscar nomination and screened in the 2024 Fargo Film Festival, which…

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​‘Blink Twice’ sees Kravitz on the other side of the camera

August 26th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Working from a screenplay she co-wrote with E.T. FeigenbaumZoë Kravitz adds a significant new line to her resume with feature directorial debut “Blink Twice." The gender-focused thriller opens with a trigger warning that tips audience members to the central issue ahead: disturbing depictions of sexual violence will challenge viewers who may have thought the trailer portended some kind of equally sinister satire of the filthy rich in the vein of…

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​Alvarez Tries to Light Up a Familiar Franchise in ‘Alien: Romulus’

August 20th, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Set between the events of the original 1979 “Alien” and its propulsive 1986 sequel “Aliens,” the latest installment in the long-running series is called “Alien: Romulus.” Uruguayan-born director and co-writer Fede Alvarez, no stranger to franchise filmmaking, understands Disney/Fox’s assignment: “Romulus” functions as a blend of standard genre beats and as a loose refresh of Ridley Scott’s classic. The result is a mostly…

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