Movie review by Greg Carlson One of several powerful films included in the upcoming 2021 North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival — screening virtually from April 11 through April 25 — director Shannon Kring’s “End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock” looks at recent history through the eyes of several committed and passionate […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Memories of 1980s and 1990s video store culture will draw viewers of a certain age to “The Last Blockbuster,” Taylor Morden’s breezy, goofy documentary on the king of the corporate movie renting business. Long since destroyed by on-demand ease and streaming subscriptions, there was a time when millions “made it […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson An engrossing portrait that takes viewers deep into the world of marijuana farming in Northern California’s Humboldt County, “Freeland” rumbles along on the strength of a lovely central performance by Krisha Fairchild as Devi, a one-time hippie and last-woman-standing from the idealistic commune of the title. Fairchild, who played the […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Filmmaker Sabrina Doyle’s “Lorelei” aims for hardscrabble, working-class romance. Good onscreen chemistry between Jena Malone and Pablo Schreiber lifts the filmmaker’s debut feature out of traps set by occasionally mundane dialogue and predictable complications. Tonal and stylistic swings trade off between grim realism and dreamy expressionism. Savvy viewers will be […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Filmmaker and activist Iara Lee’s “Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse” ventures into the sites and surroundings of the abandoned Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, introducing an assortment of “stalkers” drawn to the growing popularity of this upside-down variant on eco-tourism. Lee incorporates excellent, pre-disaster archival footage that emphasizes a constructed, utopian, […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Rodney Ascher’s previous two nonfiction features, “Room 237” and “The Nightmare,” played out like the cinematic equivalent of staying up late with friends to swap scary stories, conspiracy theories, and the kind of half-remembered word-of-mouth urban legends that have only grown more potent in the internet age. The filmmaker’s new […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Maite Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent” is currently enjoying some award season love, with late January recognition from the National Board of Review in the Foreign Language Film group and steady buzz as a possible feature documentary Oscar contender and/or inclusion in the International Feature category as the official entry from […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson New Zealand filmmaker Roseanne Liang teams up with Chloe Grace Moretz for B-movie madness in “Shadow in the Cloud.” An utterly ridiculous creature feature set aboard a bomber en route from Auckland to Samoa in 1943, Liang’s film must be approached with a healthy suspension of disbelief and monster-positive open-mindedness. […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Following a 2019 premiere in the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival, director Kantemir Balagov’s second feature has made the Oscar shortlist as Russia’s entry for Best International Feature Film. A historical drama photographed in a palette of unexpectedly vibrant hues that expands well beyond the desaturated […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Even without the dark shadow of the pandemic, economic instability looms large in “Nomadland,” Chloe Zhao’s third feature. Already an award season favorite sure to pick up steam en route to multiple Oscar nominations, Zhao’s film affirms the moviemaker’s auteur bona fides ahead of her leap into the higher financial […]