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 […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Before she takes the stage of the Dolby Theatre on March 15 to collect her Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work in “Hamnet,” Jessie Buckley will find a few new fans as she transforms into the title monster in writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” Buckley’s […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson The great documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras had to work diligently to convince Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh to be the subject of one of her films. Most accounts and reviews of “Cover-Up,” the movie that would eventually be born from a collaboration between Poitras and co-director Mark Obenhaus, describe the […]