"Opus" Is Fun But Doesn't Know Its Own Motivation
Mark Anthony Green was unable to connect all of the pieces in his debut feature film, leaving Opus as a middling entry in an already oversaturated genre.

A documentary about the "Ciénaga de Zapata" swamp in Cuba.
Mark Anthony Green was unable to connect all of the pieces in his debut feature film, leaving Opus as a middling entry in an already oversaturated genre.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman will be happiest if she marries a man with a good fortune, similar upbringing, matching attractiveness levels, and compatible politics.
Netflix’s new mystery thriller, The Marked Woman (released originally as La Desconocida), is confusing. More critically, though, it commits the worst mistake a movie can make: it’s boring. From Spanish director Gabe Ibáñez, the film squanders its premise at every turn, fills the story with unlikeable characters, and lacks emotional payoff.
What seems like such a simple story of survival is so much more than that—it’s a story of family, and of war, and of destruction. It’s painful to watch, but not in a bad way. It makes its audience reflect on their own actions, and in how they are complicit in the sufferings of others as the adults in this film are. Grave of the Fireflies does not hold back from being heartbreaking, and it shouldn’t. It tells a message that needs to be heard decades after the war, and a story that cannot be forgotten by history.
'Playing with Fire' was clearly a film made for a kid or tween-ish audience. Keeping that in mind, I thought 'Playing with Fire' was alright, though it did portray some harmful stereotypes.