crime | Film Festival Today

Series Review: “The Silence” Is a Grim but Defiant Portrait of Human Trafficking

January 18, 2023

Film Review: Electrifying Mother-Daughter Mystery of “Missing” Lights up the Screen

January 13, 2023

Film Review: “The Black Phone” Comes A-Creepy Calling

June 23, 2022

Film Review: Outrageous Dark Comedy “The Estate” Is Anchored by Exceptional Performances

October 21, 2021

Film Review: “The Gateway” Succeeds in Telling an Engaging Story, Even If It Is Risk-Free

September 1, 2021

Cinequest Review: “Echoes of Violence” Is Simple but Effective in Its Delivery of Cinematic Storytelling

March 30, 2021

Film Review: Thought-Provoking Thriller “Flinch” Examines a Dreadful Dilemma in the Life of a Young Hitman

January 14, 2021

Film Review: “Honest Thief” Is a Fun Ride with an Overly Familiar Destination

October 15, 2020

Film Review: Though a Cookie-Cutter Genre Film, “Paydirt” Still Delivers Some Fresh Action, Comedy, and Thrills

August 6, 2020

Film Review: “The Tax Collector” Provides an Interesting Look inside L.A. Latinx Gang Culture, but Elsewhere Falls in Debt

August 6, 2020

Film Review: “STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Offers Delightful Homage
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
May 12, 2023
STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Davis Guggenheim, 2023) 3½ out of 4 stars. Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim has made many fine documentaries, including the 2006 Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth, a justly celebrated examination of the perils of climate change, featuring former Vice President Al Gore. Despite those credentials, he also directed the 2010 Waiting for Superman, a movie which committed the egregious sin of blaming the problems plaguing ... >>
Film Review: “Anxious Nation” Offers Fine Cinematic Therapy
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
May 5, 2023
Anxious Nation (Laura Morton/Vanessa Roth, 2022) 3 out of 4 stars. In the new documentary Anxious Nation, directors Laura Morton (a best-selling author making her feature-film debut) and Vanessa Roth (Mary J Blige’s My Life) explore the many different ways in which children and young adults suffer from anxiety in our modern world. Morton is herself a partial subject, since her daughter, Sevey, is one such teenager. But the movie covers a ... >>
Film Review: “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” Achieves Comedy Without Romance
By Hannah Tran
May 5, 2023
What’s Love Got to Do with It? (Shekhar Kapur, 2023) 2½ out of 4 stars. The cover’s classic rom-com trappings may suggest a by-the-numbers romance, but Indian director Shekar Kapur’s What’s Love Got to Do with It? bites off a bit more, asking its title’s central question in regard to the larger topic of arranged, or assisted, marriages in modern Britain. When Zoe, a thirty-something documentarian, finds out her neighbor and lifelong friend Kaz ... >>
Film Review: In Compelling “Imagining the Indian,” Native American Mascots Must Go
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
April 4, 2023
Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting (Aviva Kempner/Ben West, 2021) 3 out of 4 stars. Sports teams serve an important function in the modern world, sublimating societal aggression into something more benign than actual martial conflict. That’s the idea of their purpose, anyway, even if fans occasionally have other notions (I see you, European soccer enthusiasts). Within that universe, team mascots help rally the ... >>
Series Review: “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” Offers Insight and Inspiration
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
April 2, 2023
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Lana Wilson, 2023) 3 out of 4 stars. The two-part documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, from director Lana Wilson (Miss Americana), is both a fan’s dream and a solid, in-depth look at the actor’s life and career. Following Brooke Shields from infancy to the present, the series (if we can call it that with so few episodes) examines the highs and lows of a very public existence. One may envy celebrities their wealth ... >>