Movie review by Greg Carlson The cinematic precocity of director Kane Parsons is quickly emerging as one of the year’s big moviemaking stories. The 20-year-old filmmaker’s “Backrooms,” an unsettling journey through the looking glass, has frequently been cited in tandem with Curry Barker’s recently released “Obsession.” Barker is Parson’s senior by six years, and according […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan gives longtime pal Martin Short the celebrity documentary treatment in new Netflix movie “Marty, Life Is Short.” With a half century of show business experience under his belt, Short continues to perform at the age of 76 on stage and in the successful Hulu series “Only Murders […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson The perpetually busy documentarian Morgan Neville profiles the perpetually busy producer Lorne Michaels in another of the moviemaker’s sturdy celebrity profiles. Following closely on the heels of nostalgia snapshot “Breakdown: 1975” and the Paul McCartney and Wings time capsule “Man on the Run,” “Lorne” attempts a career retrospective of the […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Issues of gender reside at the heart of Rory Kennedy’s entertaining documentary “Queen of Chess,” available on Netflix following a January world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. In the feature, Kennedy explores the remarkable career and achievements of the phenomenal Judit Polgár. The Hungarian’s staggering stat line should pique […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Leagues more entertaining than its logline and/or trailer might initially suggest, Renny Harlin’s “Deep Water” smartly avoids taking itself too seriously by fully embracing its delightfully trashy pedigree as a genre-bending mashup of classic disaster movie and shark attack chiller. Coming together under the big umbrella of the survival formula, […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Kristen Stewart’s critically well-received directorial debut should do better in its second life on digital streaming platforms and VOD than it did during the very limited theatrical release it received stateside at the tail of end of 2025. For physical media collectors overseas (as well as those in the United […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Veteran documentary filmmaker Marina Zenovich has chronicled a number of powerful men in entertainment, politics and popular culture, including Roman Polanski (twice), Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong, and Jerry Brown, so neither her most recent subject nor her methodological approach should surprise any viewers who have enjoyed her consistently […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson “Forbidden Fruits” practically begs for the grammarian’s old “which witch is which” query, given that Meredith Alloway’s wildly uneven feature directorial debut bounces from one genre to another and never quite finds a consistent tone or gear. The filmmaker’s game cast members, channeling the sensibilities of inspirations from “Heathers” to […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s third feature, a mashup of body horror, family melodrama, and AIDS allegory set in a grim and gray dystopia, fails to live up to the promise of wild debut “Raw” and Palme d’Or winner “Titane.” “Alpha” premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and now makes its […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson A number of critics and media outlets have already noted the variety of cinematic antecedents that have influenced writer-director Amy Wang’s movie “Slanted,” pointing out how the story of a frustrated teenager mashes “Mean Girls” with “The Substance” in a body horror package that misses the bullseye. Wang borrows peak […]