ScreenAnarchy: Reviews

Toronto 2026 Review: THE REMOTES, The Voices that Haunt the Night

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 10:00:00 -0500

Many of us (myself included) have come to rely on our smartphone apps maybe a little too much, especially ones that tell us where to go. Even in our own hometowns, we can turn to google maps or Mapquest to take us where we need to go, without paying attention to how we got there. We hear the voice say 'turn right' or 'go straight' and we absorb that. But that calming, assured voice could viewed as something deeper, and darker, if we don't understand where it comes from or how, and where, it is literally or metaphorically guiding us. Perhaps I'm getting too philosophical, but that seems to be much of the intention behind Filipino filmmaker John Torres's latest feature, The Remotes. This is not...

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Toronto 2026 Review: Singaporean Drama AH GIRL Elevated by Assured New Director and Astonishing Young Lead

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 22:35:00 -0500

The debut feature from Singaporean writer-director Ang Geck Geck Priscilla is a semi-autobiographical story of a family’s separation, as seen through the eyes of a seven year old girl. Struggling to fully understand the gravity of the situation, and what the future will hold for both herself and her younger sister, Ah Girl lilts gently from moments of drama and sadness to others of playfulness and joyful innocence. Shot in 4:3 ratio and anchored by an astonishing central performance from first time actress Ong Xuan Jing, Ah Girl announces the debut of an impressively assured new voice in Asian cinema. Since bowing at the International Film Festival Rotterdam last January, where Ang was awarded the Youth Jury Award, the film has received further recognition...

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Toronto 2026 Review: HA-CHAN, SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!, Beautiful, Vibrant Portrait of Loss and Romance

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:02:04 -0500

Rinko Kikuchi stars in filmmaker Josef Kubota Wladyka's beautiful, vibrant, quirky, weird, imaginative, and genuinely moving portrait of moving on from devastating loss.

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Toronto 2026 Review: FJORD, Palme D'Or Winner Finds Many Arthouse Audience Buttons to Push

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:02:09 -0500

Roger Ebert once described film as a “machine that generates empathy.” For writer-director Christian Mugiu, this is very much true. But what if that empathy was slyly and sharply weaponized into a provocation? Enter Fjord. In our increasingly globalized (and polarized) world, the opportunities for mis-communication, mis-understanding and social dogmas have never been more ripe for abuse. Fjord quietly, practically inevitably, goes for the jugular of the very arthouse audience that would be his core audience. This is Micheal Haneke kind of stuff, but filtered through the ‘eat the elite’ sensibilities of Ruben Östlund, with all the language barriers and procedural nightmares of Justine Triet’s Anatomy of A Fall. As all of these directors, including Mungiu (both for Fjord and 4 Months, 3...

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PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 Review: Second Time Isn't a Charm

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 22:12:10 -0500

When Practical Magic was released in 1998, no one probably thought it would become a special movie for a whole slew of teenage girls and young women. And not just because of witchery, black cats, and pointy hats, even though that’s always fun, unless you’re a woman in the 17th century Massachusetts. The real, practical magic was the fact that, in a pretty male-centered movie era, out came the film about sisterhood, where a romantic storyline was almost an afterthought, Sally and Gillian Owens were each other’s person years before Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang graced our screens, and there was an impressive message about reclaiming your “otherness” and going along with it inside it all. So, there was never a chance that, in the...

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THE UPRISING Review: Brooding Andrew Garfield Leads a Semi-Enthralling Medieval Epic

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:42:09 -0500

For a brief, not-quite-shining moment, Paul Greengrass’ (Captain Phillips, United 93, the Jason Bourne series) latest film, The Uprising, bore a subtitle added by studio marketers, “The Rise of Robin Hood,” only to remove it after howls of outrage from the Terminally Online. They claimed, not without justification or cause, that the Robin Hood mythos had been adapted and re-adapted so many times in every possible medium as to lose all relevance or, at a minimum, any possible novelty or freshness. Luckily for them and for any moviegoers venturing out of the oppressive heat into their local multiplex to see The Uprising, Greengrass’ film doesn’t retell the overly-familiar Robin Hood’s story for the 357th time, but instead focuses on a well-documented period in...

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12 ANGRY MEN 4K Review: Crackling Legal Thriller, Trapped in a Single Room

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:32:06 -0500

Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, and Martin Balsam star in Sidney Lumet's feature film debut, now in 4K from The Criterion Collection.

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BLACK ZOMBIE Review: Engaging, Insightful Work of Cultural Criticism

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:02:01 -0500

If Xavier Burgin's Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror is the equivalent of a survey course you might take freshman year at college, Maya Annik Bedward's Black Zombie is the kind of class you take junior year that makes you consider going to grad school for this stuff. The film begins, as many of these documentaries about film do, with a montage of moments (spanning the 1920s to the 2020s) that attempt to convince you why you should care about this particular cultural history and its place in the pop culture landscape today. Interspersed with these clips are several talking heads that give previews of the ideas the rest of the movie will delve into: Zombies raise "questions about autonomy and agency," zombies are...

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ON A STRING Review: A Comedy Where Everyone Is a Judge and No One Is Very Happy

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:02:11 -0500

Isabel Hagen directs and stars in "a convincing picture of an unforgiving New York," also starring Dylan Baker, Eric Bogosian, Frederick Weller, and Jamie Lee.

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HOPE Review: Pure Entertainment, Yet Little Beyond That

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:02:12 -0500

Na Hong-jin directed; Hwang Jung-min, Hoyeon, and Zo In-sung star, with Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander, and Michael Fassbender.

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DON'T PLAY WITH FIRE Review: Good for Nothing Punks

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:02:11 -0500

Tsui Hark's remarkable third feature stars Lo Lieh, Lin Chen-chi, Albert Au, Che Biu-law, and Lung Tin-sang.

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FrightFest 2026 Review: ODDITIES, Adrienne Barbeau Gets the Wicked, Substantial Horror Role She Deserves

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:00:07 -0500

When two self-destructive best friends accidentally kill their drug dealer, they have to flee town. Stopping at a roadside antique shop, they quickly discover that the older woman running the place isn't as sweet as she seems.

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FrightFest 2026 Review: HOME BODIES, Sibling Tension Rises in a Smart Home Trap

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:00:00 -0500

Two children, raised in total isolation by an automated house, begin to confront the mysteries of their existence after an enigmatic stranger arrives from outside.

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RAISE THE TITANIC Review: Solid Adventure Film Now Has a Worthy Home Video Release

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:02:01 -0500

Also from Imprint Films: Joe Don Baker in 'Framed' on Blu-ray.

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DEAR YOU Review: Chinese Box Office Dark Horse, Built on Sincerity

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 10:02:10 -0500

For the Chinese film market, this year seems to be a great year for low-budget films. Unlike the recent low-budget box-office hit and "global sensation" Niu Lai, which has been compared to the Chinese version of The Room, Dear You is a strong low-budget film that wins over audiences through sincere storytelling. Released in China in April this year, Dear You is a dialect film spoken mainly in Teochew. It was initially released only in the Guangdong region, where Teoswa people live, but its strong word of mouth quickly attracted audiences from across the country. It is now the second highest-grossing film in the Chinese market in 2026, and has also made its way overseas, with its official North American release on September 4. Dear...

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BY ANY MEANS Review: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Commands an Entertaining, Yet Derivative Civil Rights Thriller

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 09:02:09 -0500

Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II star in Elegance Bratton's civil rights historical crime thriller.

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ONSLAUGHT Review: Much Ado About Murder

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:00:28 -0500

A former soldier scarred by battlefield trauma fights to protect her home and her young daughter when three genetically enhanced killing machines escape from a lab and descend upon her remote desert trailer park in Adam Wingard’s semi-slasher, Onslaught. Celeste (Adria Arjona) is not doing great. Her time in the trenches really did a number on her psyche, breaking up her marriage and leading her to hide away in the nowheresville that is a Moriarty, New Mexico mobile home park where she splits her time between target practice and harassing the residents over their late rent payments. Meanwhile, a nearby secret research facility houses mad scientist, Dr. Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens), conducting human experiments designed to create the perfect soldier, an unstoppable killing machine with...

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FALL 2: DEADPOINT Review: Oops!...They Did It Again

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:32:08 -0500

Harriet Slater, Arsema Thomas, Tom Brittney, Virginia Gardner, and Grace Caroline Currey star. The Spierig Brothers directed.

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THE PAPER S2 Review: Inappropriate Workplace Relationships Made Funny

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:32:04 -0500

Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, Tim Key, and Oscar Nuñez reprise their roles in the faux-doc comedy series, debuting on Peacock TV.

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MAYDAY Review: Behind Enemy Lines, Beyond Rescue, Can't We All Just Get Along?

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:12 -0500

Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh star as a downed U.S. pilot and an ex-KGB agent, respectively, in a hapless Apple TV comic adventure.

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CHRONOVISOR Review: Book Detective Becomes Something More

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 11:02:11 -0500

Jack Auen and Kevin Walker's cerebral debut is about the greatest story never told.

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FrightFest 2026 Review: ITHAQUA, A Chilling Western Gothic Nightmare

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Set in a harsh 1821 Canadian winter, the folk horror film Ithaqua follows the starving residents of an isolated fur-trading fort as they turn against each other and face a primordial, hunger-inducing creature.

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BLUE SUNSHINE Remains a Hair-Raising Genre-Bender

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:02:10 -0500

Synapse Films brings two cult classic horror films home on 4K UHD.

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FILIPIÑANA Review: Rafael Manuel's Feature Redefines Must-See Filmmaking

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:02:09 -0500

There’s a moment in writer-director Rafael Manuel’s often brilliant, always enthralling feature debut, Filipiñana, an expansion of his award-winning 2021 short, where Clara (Carmen Castellanos), the American-born-and-raised niece of a wealthy Filipino businessman, Renato (Carlitos Siguion-Reyna), refuses to bend — or rather, break — the rules and accept a penalty in an otherwise meaningless game of golf. Her personal, pink-clad caddie, Ina (Isabel Sicat), chides Clara for the latter's intransigence. Ina reminds Clara that her uncle regularly “bends” the rules (cheats), as do the other elites at the golf resort where the game unfolds. For Clara, it’s a momentary, perhaps all-too-brief, moment of moral and ethical clarity: She recognizes the social, political, and cultural stratification of the golf club and resort as a...

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FrightFest 2026 Review: In Korea-Set Horror NERVOUS, Sara Bolger Loses the Ability to Hear Men

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:10:00 -0500

The opening film at this year’s Tubi Frightfest London, Nervous is an ambitious psychological thriller set in the South Korean countryside. Irish actress Sarah Bolger reunites with director Abner Pastoll after the success of 2019’s A Good Woman is Hard to Find, which closed the same festival that year, to spin the unnerving tale of a woman who accompanies her Korean husband back to his homeland, in a desperate effort to save their failing marriage, only to lose the ability to hear men. Moving into an empty and isolated house in the countryside, far from the urban sprawl of Seoul, Sarah (Bolger) and Sungsoo (Sungsoo Yune, Smugglers) experience a series of strange and unsettling events. First their furniture has not been delivered, then they...

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THE DOG STARS Review: Offensive and Intermittently Fun, but Mostly Just Forgettable

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:02:09 -0500

Ridley Scott directs Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, and Allison Janney in his post-apocalyptic adventure.

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COLONY Review: Radical, Exciting Zombie Thriller

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:02:12 -0500

Director Yeon Song-ho ('Train to Busan') breaks all the rules. Gianna Jun and Koo Kyo-hwan star.

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BUDDY Review: Cringe Comedy Transforms Into Absurdist Horror

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:02:11 -0500

Casper Kelly directs Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Keegan-Michael Key, Jamie King, Michael Shannon and Topher Grace in a horror comedy.

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ERASER 4K UHD Review: High-Octane Action Has More Depth with Details in Special Features

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:02:11 -0500

Director Chuck Russell directed thrillers and enjoyed a steady following. The focus of his directing is often on a strong main character protecting someone or having a sense of humor from transformation. One example of a main character trying to keep someone safe is the setup of The Scorpion King (2002). An example of someone transforming into something else is The Mask (1994). Russell’s style was to keep the attention on the main hero whether they possessed good qualities or bad. Both of those elements show up in Eraser, the 1996 thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Eraser), Vanessa Williams (as Lee Cullens), and James Cannes (as DeGuerin) which is now available on 4K UHD. The credits roll with paperwork linked to crime scenes and issues...

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Locarno 2026 Review: THE RIVERBANK Turns Queer Desire Into a Defiant Neo-Noir

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:02:09 -0500

Brazilian filmmakers Enock Carvalho and Matheus Farias make an atmospheric feature debut with a slow-burning queer neo-noir that pits intimacy and solidarity against the murderous politics of the militarized religious right.

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Locarno 2026 Review: DESTROY ALL GIRLS, Freewheeling Skate-Punk Rebellion, With an Expiration Date

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:02:02 -0500

Erin Vassilopoulos' sophomore feature is a retro-styled skate odyssey whose authentic subcultural energy invigorates a familiar story.

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Locarno 2026 Review: ROMA ELASTICA Cannibalizes the Myth of the Movie Star in a Delirious Cinephile Phantasmagoria

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:02:01 -0500

Marion Cotillard stars in Bertrand Mandico's a surrealistic tribute to golden age actresses, celluloid cinema and Italian culture.

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Locarno 2026 Review: BLOODY TENNIS Serves Up a Blood-Soaked Sports-Horror Satire

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:07:10 -0500

Nikias Chryssos serves up a blood-soaked, darkly funny sports horror in which an elite tennis academy trains its aspiring champions through ritualized brutality.

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INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER Review: Non-Essential Entry Over-Promises and Under-Delivers

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 20:02:08 -0500

After an all-too-brief, barely noticed three-year hiatus, the highly profitable Insidious series returns with its sixth and unfortunately, far-from-final entry, Insidious: Out of the Further. Co-created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell as a counter to the graphic, ultra-violent blood-and-gore Saw series they originated in 2004, Insidious and its follow-ups featured a more traditional, supernatural set-up. Instead of the usual supernatural entry, however, Insidious kept the haunts, but instead of ghosts or demons haunting a specific location (i.e., a house), they haunted the human characters themselves. The premise alone contributed a generally suffocating sense of claustrophobia: Fleeing a haunted house, the standard go-to escape for supernatural stories, didn’t matter anymore. The unhappy, restless ghosts and/or the parasitic demons had to be met and...

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JACOB'S LADDER: The Haunting Nightmare Comes Home on 4K UHD

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:17:04 -0500

'Jacob's Ladder' and 'The Devil's Rejects' get the Lionsgate Limited treatment with new 4K releases.

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HOT SPOT Review: Memorable Visuals, But Not Enough Story or Noomi Rapace

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:32:02 -0500

Andrzej Konopka and Noomi Rapace star in director Agnieszka Smoczyńska's sci-fi thriller.

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DER FAN Returns with a 4K Restoration Vengeance

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:00:00 -0500

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard hushed whispers of the subversive German thriller, Der Fan. Written and directed by the late West German provocateur Eckhart Schmidt, this film was never banned formally, more so shunned due to both its content and the onscreen depiction of its 16-year-old teenage star, Désirée Nosbusch, as well as least one other likely teenage girl. You probably have a sense of what I’m about to write, and damn, do I have mixed feelings writing about this film. In the last year, we’ve discovered a massive global problem with pedophilia and trafficking of children, particularly of young girls. And I’ve just seen the new 4K restoration of this 1982 film in all its full-frontal audacity. There are few actual...

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John Woo's BULLET IN THE HEAD Gets a Beautiful 4K Release from Imprint Asia

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:02:11 -0500

John Woo's classic 'Bullet in the Head' and the horror film 'Face to Face' are new from Imprint Asia.

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MUTINY Review: Statham Hews to Formula in Human Trafficking Thriller

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:47:05 -0500

Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, and Adrian Lester star in the action thriller, directed by Jean-François Richet.

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TONY Review: Linklaterian Warmth Wafts in on a Summer Breeze in Matt Johnson's Bourdain Biopic

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:32:04 -0500

Canadian prankster Matt Johnson grows up in a delightful coming-of-age origins story of Anthony Bourdain.

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IT ENDS Review: Striking a Deep Chord

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:02:12 -0500

Alexander Ullom's existential thriller stars Mitchell Cole, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Phinehas Yoon.

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FRANZ Review: Embracing an Incomplete Life

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:02:11 -0500

Director Agnieszka Holland's film is a biopic of the iconic Franz Kafka, portrayed by Idan Weiss.

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THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE Review: Wholesome Family Adventure Movie Will Make You Look Up From Your Phones and Into the Real World

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 13:02:01 -0500

Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy star in Ben Gregor's magical children's film.

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COYOTE VS. ACME Review: Retribution for a Long-delayed Comedy

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:02:01 -0500

What rescues 'Coyote vs. Acme' is the filmmakers' respect and appreciation for the Warners heritage.

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SAFE 4K Review: Making Ourselves Sick

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:02:11 -0500

Directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, it's an extremely good movie I'd like to never watch again.

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MANHUNTER: THE FINAL CUT Review: Michael Mann's Masterpiece Receives a Much Anticipated 4k Upgrade

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 14:02:02 -0500

[For now, at least, a lucky, privileged few can catch Manhunter: The Final Cut, StudioCanal’s 4k restoration of filmmaker Michael Mann’s masterpiece, as it tours arthouses, rep houses, and other assorted houses around the country.] Released in the summer of 1986 to critical disapproval and audience disinterest, filmmaker Michael Mann’s Manhunter, the first — and inarguably best — adaptation of Thomas Harris’s bestselling 1981 novel, “Red Dragon," almost immediately saw a turn in its fortunes. VHS renters discovered and gloried in Manhunter’s hallucinatory mix of frequent Mann collaborator Dante Spinotti’s neon-drenched visuals; The Reds and Michel Rubini's moody, synth-flavored soundtrack; and grimly compelling subject matter: The pursuit of Tom Noonan’s terrifying, if still all-too-human, family killer, Francis Dollarhyde, by a desperate FBI and the...

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Sylvester Stallone's DAYLIGHT Finally Sees the Light of Day on 4K UHD

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:02:10 -0500

Plus more action releases on 4K from Kino Lorber: 'K2,' 'Enter the Ninja,' 'Revenge of the Ninja,' 'Ninja III: The Domination,' 'Runaway Train.'

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THE BIRTHDAY PARTY Review: Willem Dafoe Cuts Imposing Figure as Tyrannical Greek Oligarch

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:02:09 -0500

When Patrikios (Christos Stergioglou), onetime/longtime physician to Marcos Timoleon (Willem Dafoe), an Aristotle Onassis-inspired Greek titan of industry and all-around oligarch, casually suggests the latter’s resemblance behavior-wise to Marlon Brando’s title character in The Godfather, Marcos laughs, instead suggesting the voracious, flesh-eating shark in Jaws as a better comparison to how he lives and comports himself on the private island that doubles as Marcos's personal fiefdom. Both, it turns out, aptly describe the autocratic, imperious Marcos and his plans for his family over an all-expenses-paid weekend celebration. There’s no half-man, half-bull Minotaur or an actual labryinth in The Birthday Party, writer-director Miguel Ángel Jiménez's (Window to the Sea) adaptation of Panos Karnezis’s well-regarded 2007 novel, but there is Marcos: a self-made man, a...

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THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING Review: Crime and Comedy Collide in Oklahoma

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:07:12 -0500

Matthew McConaughey stars in the new film by Andrew Patterson ('The Vast of Night'), introducing Angelina LookingGlass and featuring Kurt Russell.

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Now Streaming: REACHER Returns

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:17:11 -0500

Alan Ritchson reprises the role of Lee Child's itinerant justice warrior, this time in Philadelphia.

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