Tag: Film Review

Atlanta Film Festival, Documentaries, Female Filmmaker, Film Festivals, Film Reviews

ATLFF 2024: “Rape Play”

Year: 2024 Runtime: 82 minutes Writer/director: Gabriella Mykal Cast: Avalon Greenberg Call, Gabriella Mykal, Victoria Zajac, Mo Donegan By Brian Skutle Naming a documentary “Rape Play” (2024) makes Gabriella Mykal’s film feel more incendiary and potentially controversial than it is. Indeed, there is discussion of sexual violence, both real and fictional, that can be triggering to people. When one considers the subject matter of the … Continue reading ATLFF 2024: “Rape Play”

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Female Filmmakers, Female Writer, Feminism, Film Reviews, History, Reviews, Women in Film, World Cinema

Review: There’s Still Tomorrow

Year: 2023 Runtime: 118 minutes Directed by: Paola Cortellesi Written by: Paola Cortellesi, Furio Andreotti, Giulia Calenda Starring: Paola Cortellesi, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Giorgio Colangeli, Valerio Mastandrea, Vinicio Marchioni, Francesco Centorame, Yonv Joseph By Sarah Manvel This movie has been marketed a comedy, which is not strictly true. It was also an award-winning smash hit in its native Italy, breaking box office records, which is something … Continue reading Review: There’s Still Tomorrow

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Female Characters, Feminism, Film Reviews, Film Score, LGBTQ Cinema, LGBTQ Filmmakers, Reviews, sports, Women in Film

Review: Challengers

Year: 2024 Runtime: 131 minutes Directed by: Luca Guadagnino Written by: Justin Kuritzkes Starring: Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, Zendaya By Sarah Manvel Well, well, well. Luca Guadagnino is the best director about inhabiting a body that has sex currently working in American cinema. “Challengers” is in theory about tennis, but in reality it’s about three people and how they use their bodies to get what … Continue reading Review: Challengers

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Animated, Cascadia International Women's Film Festival, Female Characters, Female Filmmakers, Female Writer, Film Festivals, Reviews, World Cinema, Writers

Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival Review: Ama Gloria

Year: 2023 Runtime: 83 minutes Director/Writer: Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq Actors: Louise Mauroy-Panzani, Ilça Moreno Zego, Abnara Gomes Varela, Fredy Gomes Tavares, Arnaud Rebotini By Joan Amenn There is nothing like the intimacy of the love between a mother and child, even when the woman in question is not biologically the child’s mother. “Ama Gloria” is a beautifully shot character study of a remarkable woman, Gloria (Ilça … Continue reading Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival Review: Ama Gloria

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Directors, Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Female Filmmakers, Female Writer, Reviews, Women in Film, Writers

Review: Parachute

Year: 2023 Runtime: 97 minutes Director: Brittany Snow Writers: Becca Gleason, Brittany Snow Actors: Courtney Eaton, Francesca Reale, Thomas Mann, Dave Bautista, Joel McHale, Gina Rodriguez, Kid Cudi By Nadine Whitney “I want to be okay with me” – Riley Writer and director Brittany Snow’s debut feature “Parachute” is an intimate and impartial examination of the difficulty in dealing with persistent mental health issues and … Continue reading Review: Parachute

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Female Writer, Film Reviews, Horror

Film Review: The First Omen

Year: 2024 Runtime: 119 minutes Director: Arkasha Stevenson Writers: Arkasha Stevenson, Tim Smith, Keith Thomas, Ben Jacoby (Story By) Starring: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Bill Nighy, Sonia Braga, Nicole Sorace By Tom Moore On paper, “The First Omen” – a prequel to the 1973 horror classic “The Omen” – should’ve been another failed attempt at trying to revive a well-known horror IP. After all, … Continue reading Film Review: The First Omen

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Activism, Female Characters, Reviews, Women in Television

Review: Civil War

Year: 2024 Runtime: 109 minutes Director/Writer: Alex Garland Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Nick Offerman, Jefferson White, Nelson Lee, Evan Lai, Sonoya Mizuno By Morgan Roberts “Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice. We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what … Continue reading Review: Civil War

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Female Filmmakers, Film Reviews, Music, Reviews, Women in Film

Review: Back to Black

Year:2024 Runtime: 122 minutes Directed by: Sam Taylor-Johnson Written by: Matt Greenhalgh Starring: Jack O’Connell, Marisa Abela, Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan, Bronson Webb, Juliet Cowan By Sarah Manvel In 2009 writer Matt Greenhalgh and director Sam Taylor-Johnson collaborated on “Nowhere Boy,” which was about how John Lennon the young man became John Lennon the Beatle. Now in 2024 writer Matt Greenhalgh and director Sam Taylor-Johnson … Continue reading Review: Back to Black

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Directors, Female Characters, Hall of Fame, Retrospect Reviews, Reviews

Pre-Code April: It Happened One Night

Year: 1934 Runtime: 105 minutes Director: Frank Capra Writer: Robert Riskin, Samuel Hopkins Adams (based on his short story) Actors: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Jameson Thomas, Charles C. Wilson By Joan Amenn This film is the stuff of Hollywood legend. It was shot in just a few weeks with lead actors who did not even want to be on set. One of them … Continue reading Pre-Code April: It Happened One Night

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Animated, Female Filmmakers, Female Writer, Reviews

Animated April Review: Chicken for Linda!

Year: 2023 Runtime: 73 minutes Writers/Directors: Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach Actors: Mélinée Leclerc, Clotilde Hesme, Laetitia Dosch, Esteban, Patrick Pineau, Claudine Acs, Jean-Marie Fonbonne, Antoine Momey, Scarlett Cholleton, Alenza Dus, Anais Weller, Milan Cerisier, Nahil Mostefa, Pietro Sermonti, and Anna Parent By Joan Amenn If anyone were to say to me that animation is for children, this is one of the films I would show them … Continue reading Animated April Review: Chicken for Linda!

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