Written by Michael Clawson "Melodrama gives way to domestic horror in Nicholas Ray’s phenomenal “Bigger Than Life,” a movie of feverish, boldly menacing visual style. Like Sam Fuller’s “The Naked Kiss,” the film points ahead to David Lynch’s surrealist suburban … Continue reading.
Category: Michael Clawson
Most Anticipated Films of 2025
Our Drink in the Movies team has compiled a comprehensive piece that provides a shared look at each of our top 10 most anticipated films of 2025. All selections are currently scheduled for a 2025 release and/or in post-production.… Continue reading.
Armand
Written by Michael Clawson "“Armand” also defies credibility for unusually simple reasons. For instance, the parents and staff take long breaks from the main discussion at hand for no apparent reason other than to linger in the school’s shadowy corridors … Continue reading.
Blitz
Written by Michael Clawson "“Blitz” is a film that’s easy to take for granted. A World War II thriller and melodrama from Steve McQueen, it is by most measures highly conventional, and with its handsome period recreation of 1940s London, … Continue reading.
VIFF 2024: Measures for a Funeral
Written by Michael Clawson "“Measures for a Funeral,” arrives as her most ambitious work to date, and as a culmination of her collaborations with actress Deragh Campbell. More than just a leap in scale over her previous work, “Measures” suggests..."… Continue reading.
VIFF 2024: Dream Team
Written by Michael Clawson "Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn’s “Dream Team” is what you might call a “vibes” movie. A sparkly, sun-dappled, and pleasurably silly riff on crime drama, it melds erotica and absurdism through a plot that’s digressive and … Continue reading.
VIFF 2024: Black Dog
Written by Michael Clawson "A film of expansive visual power, of so many rolling desert vistas and desolate townscapes coated in metallic gray, “Black Dog” depicts the transformation of rural China in recent decades through the washed-out aesthetic of..."… Continue reading.
Red Rooms (Les Chambres rouges)
Written by Michael Clawson "...its context is grim, its mood shudderingly cold. Mixing tense courtroom drama with a morbid cyber-thriller in the vein of Olivier Assayas’ “Demonlover,” “Red Rooms” exerts a grip through unnerving ambiguity."… Continue reading.
Pictures of Ghosts
Written by Michael Clawson "Richly assembled and stirringly personal, “Pictures” is culled from a wide swath of source material, including everything from silent era reels and vintage stills, to Mendonça Filho’s own home videos, clips from his filmography, and..."… Continue reading.
Last Summer
Written by Michael Clawson "In her first film since 2014’s “Abuse of Weakness,” French director Catherine Breillat largely forgoes the graphic extremes of her most scandalous inquiries into female sexuality and desire. In other words, there’s..."… Continue reading.
