From left to right: Elliot Gould, Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, and Dyan Cannon star respectively as Ted, Carol, Bob, and Alice in director Paul Mazursky’s radical relationship dramedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Retro Review / Personal Essay by Ren
The beautiful thing that Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice highlights about polyamory is the necessity of radical honesty in relationships.
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Actor and screenwriter Brea Grant stars in Lucky
Review by Seth Troyer
What at first appears to be a typical slasher quickly becomes a film that feels immediately personal for not only Grant but for all of the women involved in its production.
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Review by Aster Gilbert
At its best, Can’t Get You Out of My Head is a timely indictment of neoliberal centrism. The analysis presented across these six episodes, however messy, are essential. Where the series leaves off is where we now stand, facing down the barrel of a gun.
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Review by Etan weisfogel
Always and Forever takes the trilogy’s idealized fantasy world to a whole new level. The film’s message—that, despite life not going exactly as planned, it’s possible to adjust and adapt, to ride out the storm without giving up one’s goals or dreams—actually functions as something of an accidental allegory for the way COVID waylaid so many people’s lives.
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Review by Michael O’Malley
Earwig and the Witch faithfully converts hand-drawn imagery into computer animation while retaining none of the spirit of the former. It’s mind-boggling to think that Studio Ghibli could allow such a disaster to be released, and it’s absolutely no fun to report that this is a wretched failure. But it is one.
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Denzel Washington and Jared Leto star in director John Lee Hancock’s The Little Things
Review by Crue Smith
As I’ve read a handful of reviews and first impressions from critics, I kept coming across statements, that said something to the effect of “The Little Things is nothing more than a cliché cop drama, that doesn’t really have any aspects that sets this film apart from previous genre installments.” However, Hancock reliance on genre conventions isn’t the reason the film doesn’t hold up.
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Review by Seth Troyer
The post apocalypse genre, as of late, has become associated with young adult page turners. While this film showcases young characters yearning for a better life, Mare has far more to do with films like Tarkovsky's Stalker than it does The Hunger Games. This directorial debut from Nicholas Ashe Bateman is a feast for the eyes, mind, and heart.
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Gabriel Cañas stars in director Jorge Olguín’s La Casa
Review by Reid Ramsey
Did you happen to miss out on visiting any haunted houses this past Halloween due to COVID? Fear not – a new Chilean horror film named La Casa is here to transport you back to that feeling of fear and claustrophobia. Unfortunately, beyond its concept, La Casa does not offer much else for viewers.
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Review / Personal Essay by Paige Taylor
It is important to showcase the grim reality of the cross that women bear, but the only solution we can offer is to lose every bit of your soul to grief and rage, die at the hands of abusers, and allow our judicial system to handle the rest?
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Jayne Mansfield stars in director Frank Tashlin’s Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Retro Review by Joseph Bullock
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? blazes past with a somewhat miraculous triviality. Outside of its dazzling pastel colours and elaborate visual design, many great qualities elevate it to the territory of genius screen comedy.
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‘Da 5 Bloods’ directed by Spike Lee and distributed by Netflix
Compiled by Cinematary Staff and Contributors
I won’t spend too much time with the usual “this year has been crazy” and other qualifiers and just say that 2020 has been a lot. Focusing solely on the movie output for the year was a tough task due to multiple factors and I’m happy that we had such a willing group of staff members and participants of the podcast or writing section that chimed in with their favorites from 2020.
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Retro Review by Miranda Barnewall
I loved watching these three together and being able to see this other side of Browning’s career that I wasn’t quite aware of before.
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Review by Logan Kenny
Mank is a film that frequently soaks itself in booze stains and nihilistic prophesying, alters conventional historical reports of his relationship with Orson Welles, and has managed to piss off the majority of the people who’ve seen it in some way or another. It is a messy, almost malignant tribute to the broken profiteering racket of the classic film industry and all the backstabbing, melancholy and destruction that comes with any form of success in its waters.
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Stranger Things star Joe Keery stars in director Eugene Kotlarenho’s Spree
Review by Crue Smith
By far the strongest aspect about Spree is its cinematic style and aesthetic, primary Kotlarenho’s editing sensibilities. The many points of view from the cast of characters are shown through GoPros, smartphone live streams, and Youtube videos, as well as cop car dash- and traffic-cameras. Compared to most of the other found-footage films, Spree has much more of a personal vision and Kotlarenho elevates this gimmick into a unique cinematic experience.
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Review by Ash Baker and Cam Watson
The movie Hillbilly Elegy is not about Appalachia, is not about injustice. It is not even about a family. Hillbilly Elegy is about poor J.D. Vance, a white boy who had to work hard.
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Retro Review by Seth Troyer
Bakshi and others attempted many different combinations to legitimize adult animation, but in hindsight, Martin Rosen’s 1982 film, The Plague Dogs sticks out from the rest. The film may indeed offer talking animals, but it refuses to pander to younger audiences. It displays gritty realism, yet its scenes of bloody violence never seem thrown in for simple horror thrills. It is an undeniably emotional experience that will shock adult viewers and children alike.
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Melanie Mayron and Anita Skinner star in director Claudie Weill’s Girlfriends
Retro Review by Miranda Barnewall
I adore Girlfriends; the premise itself would hook me, but it's also executed very well. There is not enough art that realistically explores the tensions or breakups of female friendships. While Anne and Susan’s relationship survives at the end, the mini conflicts and struggles that occur throughout the film are a result of the drastic shift in their relationship. It's reassuring to see these conflicts play out on screen and to know this is something many women grapple with in their own lives.
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Festival Coverage by Andrew Swafford and Jessica Carr
Well, it was certainly a weird year to have a Horror Festival considering it feels like 2020 itself has been a living nightmare. I really do appreciate all the hard work that the Knoxville Horror Fest team put into making this year’s festival feel safe. They hosted all of the evening features at the Parkway Drive-in in Maryville and created two different tracks for daytime festival goers knowing that theater space was going to be at a limited capacity. Also, all theater attendees were required to wear masks at all times, which was really comforting to me.
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Festival Coverage by Logan Kenny and Joseph Bullock
For twelve days in October, the BFI London Film Festival screened over 50 feature films from around the world. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic – and the United States’s response – all of the films featured here were viewed on their virtual platform rather than in person. Cinematary writers Logan Kenny and Joseph Bullock were both able to “attend” the festival and here present writing on 10 features from 8 different countries.
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Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbot star in director Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor
Review by Jessica Carr
With its amazing visuals and effective storytelling, I think Possessor is able to create a riveting cinematic experience. It isn’t a comfortable one by any means, but it’s definitely something you feel viscerally.
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