For the first chunk of Sophy Romvari's semi-autobiographical debut feature, it's not entirely clear what shape the story will take. It's introduced by a woman filming a cute seaside town, with a line or two of voice-over (presumably spoken by her) indicating that in
"What you call fashion is really just making art out of life it fucking self."
"We don't want your money. We want your transcendence."
"All we have is time."
"Them twins burnin’. They been burnin’."
With this, I'm caught up.
A baker's dozen of my thoughts.
"She told you Warsaw was the most romantic city in Poland? Not, like, Kraków?"
"This is what you do. You give people the gift of giving a shit about you."
Following the staggering success of Avatar in 2009, Sam Worthington disappeared into a labyrinth of anonymous thrillers and franchise starters (well, attempted franchise starters) and a few romance films. Most have been long since forgotten trash that he failed to elevate. Some did better than others at the box office,
Five films, five locations, four different languages.
Welcome to a new recurring feature! I'm at the theater just about every week of the year, frequently doubling or tripling up to make the most of each trip to the multiplex. Given this blog is a passion project, other areas of my life sometimes take precedent over
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"Never underestimate the internet prowess of a man who’s spent decades Googling himself."
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"Do not ignore any anomalies."
Pop Culture Maniacs
Forbidden Fruits starts as a riff on Mean Girls, but set in a mall (somehow still thriving in 2026) at a store halfway between Forever 21 and Nordstrom, called "Forever Eden". The "Plastics" are replaced by the "Fruits", Apple (Lili Reinhart), Cherry (Victoria Pedretti)
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At the center of The Drama is a provocation: what if just before getting married to the love of your life, you discovered something that completely changed your perception of who they are? If they told you something so shocking that it threatened to upend not just the engagement, but
Pop Culture Maniacs
Bursting onto the scene with a strong voice, a distinct style, and a fresh tale is a fantastic way to get yourself noticed. But if your follow up repeats (or even deepens) the same beats and style, you risk pigeonholing yourself as a certain kind of director. Some are perfectly
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"WHO...THE FUCK...ARE YOU???"
Festivals
While I highly value New Hampshire Film Festival for its parallel film tracks, presenting tons of viewing options each day (and repeated chances to catch many), I value Boston Underground Film Festival for the personal connections. That it (almost) all takes place in a single room, the historic Brattle Theater,
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"I'm wrong about everything. And everything is wrong.
The Oscars
It's a bizarre feeling for my two favorite1 movies of the year to be duking it out over the big night's top honors. While the past few years have seen quite a few of my top ten nominated for Best Picture, my favorite has never been
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"I would prefer not to."
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"Don't be scared of the dark. Be scared of the silence."
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"The pleasure you give / the pain that you bring / I'll take it all, Ray / for you are my king"