Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong/bloody violence, pervasive language, sexual material, and drug use. It’s hard to imagine a single idea that director BenDavid Grabinski said “no” to while building his time-traveling, mob-infused comedy, Mike Nick & Nick & Nick & Alice. Even the … Read more
Pretty Lethal carries an R rating from the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for strong bloody violence and language, and that rating feels earned. Ever wondered what would happen if the grace of ballet met the chaos of a full-blown action movie? Not the elegant pirouettes you see on stage, but pirouettes that could take someone’s … Read more
Rating: PG-13 (according to the Motion Picture Association) for some language, suggestive material, and comedic violence. Ever wondered how far a parent might go just to get their kid into the “perfect” school? Not just filling out forms or nervously waiting for acceptance letters, but full-on rivalry, sabotage, and borderline ridiculous stunts. That’s the basic … Read more
Rating: The Gates is rated R by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for violence, language, some sexual references, and brief drug use. The film is essentially a tense overnight survival story set inside a hostile gated community, and its mature rating reflects both the physical danger and the social hostility woven throughout the narrative. Derek, … Read more
There’s something quietly unsettling about the idea of wanting to fit in so badly that you’d literally change who you are. That’s the strange, intriguing territory Amy Wang steps into with her feature debut Slanted. The film works as a teen-friendly introduction to body horror, but it’s really more interested in the emotional side of … Read more
It’s a testament to Stephen Lang’s range that in The Optimist, we readily accept him as a tall but otherwise ordinary elderly man. That’s quite a shift from the imposing physical presence he brought to films like Avatar and Don’t Breathe, where he seemed capable of carrying a refrigerator up the stairs without breaking a … Read more
With her second outing behind the camera, Maggie Gyllenhaal makes a dramatic leap in scale. After the intimate, quietly unsettling world of The Lost Daughter, she pivots toward something much larger and far stranger with The Bride. The shift isn’t subtle. Armed with a sizable budget and a screenplay of her own, Gyllenhaal attempts nothing … Read more