The story of a guy named Yura from the Minsk suburbs, who loves sucking locally-flavored soapy beer, staggers in search of work and tearfully sings while playing his guitar: "Chemistry, chemistry, you little wait for me and remember me." Having accidentally appeared on an opposition rally dispersed by police, Yura meets an activist of the "Beaver Youth" movement, which exists due to Western grants, and steals a cell phone from their office. And it falls into history, and more precisely, into the field of state interests of the Belarusian state. First, an American spy, and then A.G. Lukashenko himself, begin calling Yura. As a result, “Beaver” nominates a homeless president who has become the next owner of the ill-fated mobile phone, and Yura returns to his “little one,” drinking unbearable domestic beer and watching stupid TV shows.
Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion is a fan-favorite, as are some of the more science fiction angled movies like 28 Days Later or World War Z. I recently watched the 1995 Wolfgang Peterson-directed movie, Outbreak for the first time, which is currently available on Netflix.
"Black Widow" has strong female characters but sidelines its title character and serves as a launchpad for her successor, Florence Pugh's Yelena.
Baggage’s experimental mixed formats visualized a woman’s brave inner journey of visiting the museum of her fragmented memories.
'Bodies Bodies Bodies', the latest from indie powerhouse studio A24, is a great time. Full of dark comedy laughs, great performances, and genuine scares, it's a perfect addition to modern slasher classics.
When diverse representation is featured on-screen, it oftentimes comes with strings attached that undermine the message they were trying to send. This can be attributed to the fact that behind-the-screen, the industry primarily does not reflect the breadth of diverse difference that is present in daily life. That’s why when something as powerful and authentic as Minari comes along, it is both incredibly wonderful and needs a large audience to witness it.
I write for a diversity-focused film review blog, so I’ll be honest: I really wanted to like Pretty Lethal. Starring Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Avantika, and Millicent Simmonds, Amazon Prime’s new thriller seemed like it would be a girl power movie about dancers with a horror action twist. Sort of a Suspiria for teens. But with shallow and unlikeable characters, a confusing plot, an overreliance on violence, and cringey dialogue, any fun the movie started out with was quickly lost. What was left was a faint echo of greater horror movies about dancers made before.
