The line separating Tom Hanks’ on- and off-screen personas has always been a little murky. That inimitable ability to split the difference between working-class Americana and American exceptionalism has long cemented Hanks as a national treasure. His behind-the-scenes work has also afforded him much of the same reputation–wherever an “important” [...]
Inviting “Nomadland” director Chloe Zhao to helm Marvel’s latest release, “Eternals,” may have seemed like an odd choice to some. But to those familiar with the studio’s well-documented habit of drafting indie darlings to the big leagues, Zhao’s inclusion was business as usual. In a movie full of surprises, perhaps [...]
“Catch the Fair One” isn’t here to make any friends. It’s coldly unceremonious and teeming with rage. Director Josef Kubota Wladkya’s sophomore feature spends every one of its 85 minutes on the razor’s edge of indignity and indifference. Early comparisons to “Taken,” generous as they may be, conjure memories of [...]
The food truck revolution, which started as a grassroots movement for struggling chefs and working-class families, is now a billion-dollar industry. Parades of trucks offering endless varieties of cuisines now pepper the streets of almost every major city, redefining our idea of the American melting pot. Intrigued by the intersection [...]
“The Wolf House,” a semi-fictionalized attempt to make some sense of the real-life atrocities of Colonia Dignidad, is singularly subjective, placing viewers inside the mind of a young girl named Maria who manages to escape the infamous Chilean-based cult and takes refuge in a dilapidated house nearby with two stolen [...]
For her 50th birthday, Bamby Salcedo thought it might be a good time to reflect. Bamby has lived enough for several lifetimes. From her beginnings in Guadalajara to her emergence as an internationally-recognized transgender activist, Bamby has no plans on slowing down anytime soon. Surrounded by the people who helped [...]
In his sprawling debut feature “Poderoso Victoria,” writer-director Raúl Ramón gives locomotive a whole new meaning. Set in the late 1930s, Ramón’s film centers around a small Guadalajaran community that bands together to build “un imposible tren de vapor.” During this period, a glut of American sanctions banned the Mexican [...]
Well on its way to becoming the most popular Netflix original of all time, the new series “Squid Game” wastes no time letting audiences know what’s on its mind. Cozying up to the wave of class-conscious releases from South Korean filmmakers like Bong Joon-ho–who went four for four at last [...]