Peter Simonischek | Film Festival Today

“Toni Erdmann” Plays the Long Game and Wins

February 6, 2017

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: “Future People: The Family of Donor 5114″ Proves Metaphysically Profound
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
April 10, 2021
Future People: The Family of Donor 5114 (Michael Rothman, 2021) 3 out of 4 stars. Imagine you are minding your business as a freshly minted teen and you receive a Facebook message from someone claiming to be your half-sister. Not only that, but there are more siblings where she came from. Sure, you always knew your mom used a sperm donor to conceive, but the details of the faceless dad, much less the possibility of other children emerging ... >>
What to See at the (Virtual) 2021 Annapolis Film Festival
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
April 8, 2021
It looks like we are not yet out of the global coronavirus pandemic (please remember to get vaccinated!), and so we enter its second year with a continuation of the virtual versions of film festivals that evolved over the course of 2020. Last year, the Annapolis Film Festival had to quickly convert itself from a live event to an online one (hardly alone in that quick transformation), but now the 2021 fest, which runs April 8-18, returns with a ... >>
Interview with “Phobias” Star Leonardo Nam
By Matt Patti
March 29, 2021
I recently had the pleasure of speaking via phone with actor Leonardo Nam about his work in Phobias (which I previously reviewed). In the film, five people with specific, extreme fears are gathered at a government testing facility where a lunatic doctor attempts to weaponize their fright. Nam plays Johnny, one of the patients at the facility, who is diagnosed with “robophobia”: the fear of robots, drones, robotic materials and, most prevalent in ... >>

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. ...>>