Putin and the Presidents (2023)

Coverage from the Austin Film Festival, highlighting some panels and films that emphasized the importance of diverse and inclusive storytelling.

Meander, released in 2021, is a French gory horror film featuring a woman trapped in small spaces as she fights for her life, paralleling real pandemic life.

The Gates, John Burr’s new thriller film, is a disturbingly realistic portrayal of three Black twenty-somethings - Derek (Mason Gooding), Kevin (Algee Smith), and Tyon (Keith Powers), as they accidentally take a wrong turn into a gated community that’s more like a modern-day sundown town. The three friends witness a variety of crimes in their new surroundings, including an attempted homicide and an attempted rape. As they attempt to alert the authorities and do the right thing, they are thwarted at every turn by the worst horror stories of American conservatism - racist white suburbanites, reckless gun violence, corrupt police, religious mania, and a megalomaniacal pastor. 

'The Invisible Man' triumphs in tension even as it drops the ball on genuine surprise for the audience.

Taika Waititi and the cast of Thor: Love and Thunder have been hyping up the gayness of this movie, and while there are queer characters, it's not quite the representation we were hoping for.

This Netflix TV series is perfect for animal lovers as it is centered on human-dog bonding.