Karen Mason | Film Festival Today

Film Review: Entertaining “Circus of Books” Tells the Strange Tale of Accidental Pornographers

April 22, 2020

OUTshine LGBTQ Film Festival Review: “My Fiona” Delivers an Earnest and Mindful Depiction of Grief and Loss
By Robin C. Farrell
April 27, 2021
My Fiona (Kelly Walker, 2021) 3½ out of 4 stars. Content Warning: Suicide, Death, Grief Grief is an intensely complex topic that can be both universal and specific. It’s a subject that those struggling with recent loss crave and avoid, borne from an urge to find meaning and stifle the overwhelming pain. Kelly Walker’s feature-film debut, My Fiona, depicts all of this and more, weaving an incredibly fluid and moving tale. ... >>
Film Review: “Together Together” Offers a Moving Study of Loneliness
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
April 23, 2021
Together Together (Nikole Beckwith, 2021) 3 out of 4 stars. In the gentle, sweet Together Together, Ed Helms (Tag) plays Matt, a single fortysomething man who hires a woman to be a surrogate mother for the child he wishes to have. She is Anna (Patti Harrison), a 26-year-old working in a coffee shop who harbors once-and-future aspirations for education and beyond. As they each navigate the complexities of what they initially considered a purely ... >>
Film Review: Environmental Doc “8 Billion Angels” Uncovers the Hard Truth Behind the Biggest Problem Facing the Earth Today … Humans
By Matt Patti
April 22, 2021
8 Billion Angels (Victor Velle, 2019) 2½ out of 4 stars. If you were to ask anyone around the world what the largest issue facing the Earth is today, many would make the case for environmental issues being at the top of that list. If you were to also ask what the leading contributor to our environment’s decline is, most would likely blame pollution. However, I’d bet that few people would realize off the top of their head that the biggest factor ... >>
Film Review: “Sensation” Is Impressive in Its Presentation, Even If It Comes with a Few Flaws
By Adam Vaughn
April 15, 2021
Sensation (Martin Grof, 2021) 3 out of 4 stars. Martin Grof (Excursion) returns to the director’s chair with his second feature film, one that clearly comes across as clever and captivating, even if it takes until its finale to do so. Nevertheless, Sensation is thought-provoking, visually compelling in every way, and leads the viewer to a truly mesmerizing climax. It tells the story of Andrew Cooper (Eugene Simon, Kill Ben Lyk), a postman ... >>
Film Review: “Beast Beast” Examines the Teenage Experience with Fresh Eyes
By Hannah Tran
April 15, 2021
Beast Beast (Danny Madden, 2021) 3 out of 4 stars. Danny Madden’s coming-of-age Sundance drama, Beast Beast, like many other films of its genre, aims to paint a truthful representation of teen culture in modern America. But unlike many of those other films, Madden’s story chooses to display the problems these characters face less through the lens of typical high-school-movie pressures and more through the painfully current anxieties regarding ... >>

Film Review: “Cerebrum” Weaves a Complex Thriller That Only Goes So Far
In >> Adam Vaughn, Breaking, Film Reviews, Spotlight
Film Review: In “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” Family Wins
In >> Breaking, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Reviews, Spotlight
Film Review: “The Outside Story” Is Charming, but Muddled
In >> Breaking, Film Reviews, Robin C. Farrell, Spotlight
Film Review: “The Virtuoso” Is Strong in Atmosphere and Weak in Plot
In >> Breaking, Film Reviews, Heidi Shepler, Spotlight

Film Review: “The Odds”
March 8, 2021
Bravo! A Herculean effort to deliver a highly original two-character horror movie. You want to ...>>
Film Review: “Nomadland”
March 7, 2021
NOMADLAND’s star and producer is two-time Best Actress winner, Frances McDormand. She was given the ...>>
Film Review: “Wonder Woman 1984”
December 30, 2020
What happen to Wonder Woman? She is a supporting character not given much to do. What happened to ...>>
Film Review: “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
October 24, 2020
It’s Baron Cohen’s commitment to the character and no wink to the audience that still captivates. ...>>