Cinefiles: Movie Reviews

RT - 🍅 88% My Score - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ So, at this point, I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that Yorgos Lanthimos, however brilliant he is, really pushes the boundaries of normal: The Lobster, Poor Things, just to name a few. It's safe to say that before I started watching Bugonia , I had no clue what this movie was going to be about, but I knew that I was in for a wild ride. Sure enough, my boy Yorgos did not disappoint! Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Emma Stone), and Best Adapted Screenplay, Bugonia boasts a stellar cast with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons leading the way. ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** Based on the South Korean short film Save the Green Planet!  (2003), the story follows Teddy Gatz (Plemons) and his autistic cousin Don (played by Aidan Delbis), who believes that Big Pharma CEO Michelle Fuller (Stone) is an extraterrestrial from an alien race known as Andromedans whose sole purpose is to take over planet earth and destroy it. We ...

  RT - 🍅 95% My Score - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Who knew that a Netflix movie about logging would move me? I'll be honest: I had very low expectations for this movie. Sure, I knew that the cinematography was going to be brilliant (and it was). But, I expected this to be nothing more than a vehicle for beautiful scenery of the American Northwest.  What I watched instead was a beautiful tale of love, loss, and a man's journey through pain and torture as he tries to find his way out of the dark wilderness of grief. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Original Song, and Best Adapted Screenplay , the film is a timeless piece of Americana that will leave you in awe of the scope of the scenery, and in the emotional depth of the tragically beautiful performances by the entire cast. The film's main protagonist, Robert Grainier, is marvelously portrayed by Joel Edgerton. Edgerton gives life to a role that doesn't have much to go on. From the outside, h...

The nominees have been officially announced for the upcoming 2026 Academy Awards. The ceremony took place at 8:30am, and the nominees were announced by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman. There were a total of 201 films that were up for nomination this year, and I'm sure that the blogs and internet channels will be buzzing about the snubs and frontrunners. They even added a brand new category to the Oscar nominations: Best Casting. The Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 15th, starting at 7:00pm with Conan O'Brien returning as host after a successful hosting job last year. See the full list of nominees below: BEST PICTURE F1 Bugonia Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle After Another The Secret Agent Sentimental Value Sinners Train Dreams BEST DIRECTOR Chloe Zhao - Hamnet Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value Ryan Coogler - Sinners BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Timothee Chalamet - Marty Supreme Le...

Every year, I watch the Oscars. For me, along with the Super Bowl and the Tony Awards, the Oscars are a must-watch event. I don't know why. On the inside, the value of a movie isn't about how many nominations it gets during the awards season. It's about how it makes you feel. That is art is about.  Also, I know that the Oscars are not about what movie is actually the better movie. It's about how well the movie campaigns for itself. Production companies spend millions of dollars to ensure that their film gets on "the shortlist".  Still, every year I find myself watching and waiting in anticipation to see which movie gets the awards, and every year I find myself getting worked up about the films that won versus the ones that didn't. With the exception of a few, I have always been disappointed in what the Academy chooses as their winner, ESPECIALLY when it comes to the category of Best Picture. And with that, here is a list of the Best Picture winners from th...

It is unfair to say that Elevated Horror  is a new term, or even a new idea, because elevated horror films have been around for well over 50 years now. I would rather call it more of a trending term in the horror movie zeitgeist. At least for me, I wasn't aware of the term until this past year. However, it perfectly describes the trend that is happening in the horror movie genre today. For those that are unfamiliar with the term, "elevated horror" is a horror movie subgenre that is categorized by the use of complex themes, artistic style, emotional depth, and a heavier focus on the craftsmanship of making the film instead of relying on graphic content: blood, gore, sex, etc.  Now, most horror movie fans would say that any good horror movie that's worth its weight in blood already does that. There is a lot of debate as to which horror movies would be considered a part of this category. For example: in the film In A Violent Nature (2024), the film uses a unique style of...

***SPOILERS AHEAD*** Who knew that a movie about Ping Pong would make for one of the most exciting movies of 2025?  In one of his first solo ventures following the "amicable" departure from his brother Benny, Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme is a fast-paced, roller coaster of emotions that is sure to delight critics and audiences alike. Starring Timothee Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Fran Drescher, "Mr. Wonderful" Kevin O'Leary (from Shark Tank fame), and Tyler the Creator, this film will make you laugh, cry, cringe, and cheer. It's hard to define what genre this film falls under, which is probably the point. Similar to how it is unfair to call Rocky a simple sports film, this film is far more than just a movie about table tennis.  Set in 1952 New York City, Marty Supreme tells the story of young shoe salesman Marty Mauser, who dreams of proving himself to be the greatest Table Tennis player in the world, which would bring more attention to th...