Vanilla | Film Festival Today

Film Review: There’s Nothing Ordinary About This “Vanilla”

April 27, 2020

Film Review: “Los Hermanos/The Brothers” Is Beautiful, Sad and Joyous All at Once
By Robin C. Farrell
May 13, 2021
Los Hermanos/The Brothers (Marcia Jarmel/Ken Schneider, 2020) 4 out of 4 stars. Los Hermanos/The Brothers is a highly emotional ride. Especially coming to us after the global experience of lockdown and isolation, the themes of familial bonds and the lengths to which artists and creatives will go to maintain connection and collaborate over great distances are all the more potent. The film tells the personal story of virtuoso Afro-Cuban musicians ... >>
Film Review: “When Today Ends” Is Powerful, Emotionally Gripping and a Film Everyone Needs to See at Least Once
By Adam Vaughn
May 13, 2021
When Today Ends (Michael Leoni, 2021) 3½ out of 4 stars. One of many topics that have arisen in our millennial is the ever-growing awareness of mental health and suicide prevention through pop culture and media. This generation is extraordinarily sensitive to the effects of bullying, toxic masculinity, standards for women and negativity towards the LGBQT+ community. Michael Leoni’s When Today Ends captures these elements through the most ... >>
Film Review: “High Ground” Is Exquisite and Devastating
By Heidi Shepler
May 13, 2021
High Ground (Stephen Johnson, 2020) 3½ out of 4 stars. History is framed in a series of intensely personal tragedies and missed opportunities for humanity in Stephen Johnson’s High Ground. The first question in any period drama about imperialism with sympathetic white characters must be: to what degree does this film fall into the White Savior trap? And while the film isn’t perfect, Travis (Simon Baker, Here and Now), a white Australian man, is ... >>
Film Review: “The Water Man” Deftly Blends Realism and Fantasy
By Robin C. Farrell
May 7, 2021
The Water Man (David Oyelowo, 2020) 3 out of 4 stars. Between the new family in town, the somewhat-haunted forest, a local legend, one dying parent, an estranged relationship with the other, and running away from home, one might expect The Water Man to feel like a bundle of strewn-together clichés. Instead, David Oyelowo’s directorial feature debut is a well-paced and cohesive expedition into that strange and wondrous place where imagination ... >>
Film Review: “Paper Spiders” Offers a Moving Study of Mental Illness
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
May 6, 2021
Paper Spiders (Inon Shampanier, 2020) 3 out of 4 stars. Melanie is about to complete a successful high-school career, graduating as salutatorian and probably destined to get into her dream school, USC. That’s where her father went, and since his death a few years prior she has thought of little else than to follow in his footsteps. She and her mother, Dawn, have a close bond, though it would be nice if the latter weren’t so controlling to those ... >>

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. ...>>