dwayne johnson | Film Festival Today

Film Review: “Red Notice” Doesn’t Deliver the Thrills It Suggests

November 11, 2021

Film Review: “Jumanji: The Next Level” Delivers the Same but the Hilarity Remains

December 12, 2019

Film Review: “Skyscraper” Collapses Upon Its Own Contrived Weight

July 12, 2018

Film Review: Sincerity Between Man and Ape Barely Survives Contrivances of “Rampage”

April 11, 2018

Film Review: Set Your Sites Low, and “Baywatch” Mostly Entertains

May 25, 2017

Fast? Furious? “The Fate of the Furious” Bores and Irritates

April 14, 2017

In “Moana,” Disney Offers a Powerful and Delightful Fantasy of Female Derring-Do

December 1, 2016

Film Review: Central Intelligence

June 22, 2016

Film Review: “The Worst Ones” Offers Raw, Emotional Complexity
By Hannah Tran
March 24, 2023
The Worst Ones (Lise Akoka/Romane Gueret, 2023) 3 out of 4 stars. Laid out in a gripping opening sequence of “auditions,” The Worst Ones follows four teens from a poor neighborhood in France after they are cast in a film by Belgian director Gabriel, who gives them roles that amplify their reputation as troubled kids. The title is a phrase we hear early on when one of the child performers asks why the crew wanted to cast “the worst ones.” It’s a ... >>
SXSW Interview with “Fancy Dance” Director Erica Tremblay
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
March 17, 2023
Director Erica Tremblay’s Fancy Dance premiered at Sundance 2023 (where I reviewed it), and tells the story of Jax (Lily Gladstone) and her niece, Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) as they simultaneously look for Roki’s missing mother, Tawi, while evading officials from Child Protective Services on their way to an annual powwow. Tremblay hails from the Seneca-Cayuga nation in which the story takes place, and the film is filled with authentic details ... >>
SXSW Interview with “Queendom” Director Agniia Galdanova and Producer Igor Myakotin
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
March 16, 2023
Director Agniia Galdanova’s new documentary, Queendom, just premiered at SXSW 2023 (where I reviewed it). It follows transgender Russian performance artist and activist Gena (known as Gena Marvin on social media) from Magadan in Russia’s Far East, where she grew up, to Moscow and beyond as she struggles against her country’s prejudices and growing crackdown on dissent. I sat down with Galdanova and her producer, Igor Myakotin, at the festival. ... >>
XR Beats from SXSW 2023
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
March 15, 2023
VR, AR, MR … XR … so many acronyms to describe a form of enhanced reality that is very much still in flux in this now-third decade of the 21st century. Many film and technology festivals have, for at least about 10 years now, been showcasing the state of the art as its stands in the very moment. SXSW has now rebranded the section devoted to such work the “XR Experience” exhibition. Here at the 2023 festival, I had an opportunity to walk ... >>
SXSW Review: “If You Were the Last” Goes from Lost to Saved in a Lovely Final Act
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
March 13, 2023
If You Were the Last (Kristian Mercado, 2023) 3 out of 4 stars. If You Were the Last, from director Kristian Mercado and writer Angela Bourassa—both making their feature-film debuts—is the rare kind of film that turns tired clichés into something surprisingly fresh, reinventing itself in the final act to become something quite lovely. Depending on one’s tolerance for rom-com tropes foregrounded in what is essentially a two-person chamber ... >>