Mike Leigh on Criterion

by Cláudio Alves

One of the Criterion Channel's newest and most enticing additions is a Mike Leigh collection that includes 11 of the director's films. His is a cinema of compassionate observation that finds beauty in the bleakest settings, the wildest characters, and most complicated psyches. From Thatcher-era social realism to lavish period pieces, passing through farcical character studies, we can find much variety in this director's oeuvre, though some things remain constant. For one, we have Leigh's social preoccupations, a humanistic mindset that bleeds into every aspect of his productions. For another, there's his methodology when working with actors…

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Horror Actressing: Fatma Mohamed in "In Fabric"

by Jason Adams

Dunno who's noticed but Twenty-Nineteen is making its last lap before it leaps, and so the time for taking stock of What Was is nigh now -- that is to say for the next several weeks of our "Great Moments in Horror Actressing" series I'm going to be looking back at my favorite female performances from horror films that I saw this past year. And what better way to start this project than with a film I saw at the start of the year when I reviewed it for Tribeca, one that's only now just being released, hitting screens on December 6th.

I speak of Peter Strickland's In Fabric, a bifurcated anthology-of-sorts that's strung together via one possessed red dress that ruins the lives of all those who come into contact with it...

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Tribeca: "In Fabric"

Jason Adams with another review from the Tribeca Film Festival.

There was a Twitter query going around last week asking in the wake of the new Avengers film what pop culture events we felt personally blessed to have lived through in our lives. Apparently some people feel this way about the Marvel movies, which, well, great for them. It's nice to be happy. Personally I like more lesbian sadomasochism and insect fetishism in my entertainment, so my answer to said query falls more in line with how I think we're live-time experiencing the birth of a genre genius with the writer-director Peter Strickland, who's gone three for three with Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy, and now In Fabric, his latest slow-motion psych-out beamed in from an alternate dimension.

In Fabric first introduces us to Sheila (a marvelously world-weary Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who swims through her bank job and a string of telephone-based blank dates with all the ease of any Strickland character, which is to say with little to no ease at all...

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Five From Tribeca 2019

by Jason Adams

The 2019 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, which runs from April 24th to May 5th, announced their Feature Film line-up this week -- you can check out the entire thing right here. Once again yours truly, along with a couple of familiar TFE faces, will be covering, and glancing through what I've got coming to me I can already feel the tips of my toes and fingers tingling with expectation. There are a ton of goodies again! So many, many goodies, actually... there are 103 movies already announced... oh my god it's a lot. So much. Okay okay before I start hyperventilating let's narrow this down. Here are the 5 films I'm most looking forward to right off the bat...

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Homecoming: Season 1

By Spencer Coile 

With the recent wave of bona fide movie stars making their way to television, it should come as no surprise that someone as prolific as Julia Roberts would do the same. Her extensive career has proven time and again that she can master multiple genres, complex characters, and still be the best part of any ensemble (looking at you, August: Osage County).

That is what makes her performance in Homecoming, the latest Amazon Prime series from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, all the more exciting. Based on the popular podcast that came before it, Roberts takes on the role of Heidi Bergman, previously played by Catherine Keener. Working for the Homecoming Transitional Support Center, Heidi’s job is to assimilate soldiers back into civilian life. However, unease and intrigue begins to set in, as Heidi soon realizes that her role is more sinister than she had initially thought...

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