Introducing Kyle Gallner, Indie Prince of Screams

Into the Gallnerverse

Lists, ReviewsLauren RosaJune 16, 2025Kyle Gallner, Smile, Smile 2, Jennifer's Body, Scream, Strange Darling, The Passenger, Red Eye, Dinner in AmericaComment

IMFF '25: Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman: Depersonalization as Relief

Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman is a psychological horror at the level of identity, and part of a powerful wave of tense, feminist indie horror in South Asian cinema.

This Week in Screenings 6/13-6/19

This week in Austin screenings 6/13-6/19.

Community ScreeningsJames McDonaldJune 13, 2025Comment

Sharks, Boats, and Branded Innertubes: Dangerous Animals at Volente Beach

Dangerous Animals is director Sean Byrne’s newest film, coming ten years after his sophomore feature The Devil’s Candy.

Celine Song’s Materialists Searches for Meaning

In her follow-up to Past Lives, Celine Song crafts a visually polished rom-com that questions modern dating, ambition, and emotional connection—but struggles to ground its characters in real change.

ReviewsAlix MamminaJune 12, 2025dakota johnson, pedro pascal, chris evans, celine song, materialistsComment

Let’s (Not) Get Together

Neither movies or love are straightforward, which is why these kinds of romantic comedies tend to hit the hardest for me.

ReviewsMarian KansasJune 11, 2025Comment

Albert Murray as Key and Corrective to Sinners (2025)

In particular, Murray’s 1976 music criticism masterpiece, Stomping the Blues, makes the case for the syncretic spiritual power of the blues in a way that Coogler appears anxious to make: That there is a magic, a power, an incontrovertible life-giving energy to the blues not only as music but as a way of life.

AnalysisAkshaj TurebyluJune 10, 2025Sinners, Ryan Coogler, Albert MurrayComment

Film Notes: Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie to get lost in.

Film NotesJustin HarrisonJune 9, 2025pan's labyrinthComment

30 Years of Exotica: Holding up a Mirror to Emotional Isolation

Egoyan’s Exotica is fundamentally a story about grief, loneliness, and obsession. Although enduring loss is a universal experience, it is emotionally isolating.

This Week in Screenings 6/6-6/12

This week in Austin screenings 6/6-6/12.

Community ScreeningsJames McDonaldJune 6, 2025Comment

The Brutalist: Imperial Expression Through Architecture

Brutalist architecture and the immigrant experience are on the surface, but the film is truly about homesteading, occupation, and the space buildings take from nature and other people.

ReviewsDavid TeraokaJune 5, 2025The Brutalist, Adrien Brody, Brady Corbet, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Architecture, DramaComment

All That You Dream: Living in Oblivion

Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion (1995) is a dark satire of independent filmmaking that reveals within the nightmare of production lies the dream of creativity.

ReviewsPaul FeinsteinJune 4, 2025Tom DiCillo, Peter Dinklage, Steve BuscemiComment

“Don’t F* with Frendo” – Clown in a Cornfield, An Adaptation that Slashes

Killer clowns are so back! Based on the successful novel by Adam Cesare, Clown in a Cornfield has all the slasher tropes we know and love: killer opening scene, new town, dead mom, cute boy, questionable friend group. It plays the parts perfectly but is far from predictable as Frendo wreaks havoc on the remote town of Kettle Springs, Missouri.

ReviewsLauren RosaJune 3, 2025Clown in a CornfieldComment

Going Down (1983): A Portrait of Feral Persistence

Going Down, director Haydn Keenan’s scrappy DIY debut feature, is a feverish portrait of early 1980s Sydney and its chaotic punk underbelly.

ReviewsJessica BuieJune 2, 2025Going Down, Haydn KeenanComment

The Restoration of The Spook Who Sat By the Door: Interview with Doris Nomathandé Dixon & Mike Mashon

We spoke to Ivan Dixon’s daughter, Doris Nomathandé Dixon, and the former Head of the Moving Image Section at the Library of Congress, Mike Mashon, about their experiencing restoring The Spook Who Sat By the Door.

Final Destination Bloodlines Brings the Franchise Back to Life

Final Destination Bloodlines isn’t just another by-the-numbers franchise money-grabber, but one that’s willing to play around—and have a little fun—with the rules of the game.

Alix MamminaMay 30, 2025Comment

This Week in Screenings 5/30-6/5

This week in Austin screenings 5/30-6/5.

Community ScreeningsJames McDonaldMay 30, 2025Comment

Eddington Review: A big bite to chew, but what’s the point with no taste or smell?

Crisis can reveal peoples’ true colors, and that’s what Ari Aster examines to decent effect in his latest feature, Eddington.

CannesAndrew WestinMay 30, 2025cannes, eddington, ari aster, joaquin phoenix, pedro pascal, emma stone, austin butlerComment

AFS Doc Days '25: Where the Trees Bear Meat

Death is an inevitability, Alexis Franco affirms in his documentary Donde Los Árboles Dan Carne (Where the Trees Bear Meat). Shown during Austin Film Society’s annual Doc Days, Franco’s film is an intimately quiet portrait of the modern Argentine gaucho shaped by the slow destruction of climate change.

Reviews, Doc Days, Film FestsManny MaderaMay 29, 2025Where the Trees Bear Meat, Alexis Franco, Doc Days, AFS, documentaryComment

AFS Doc Days '25: Middletown

Regardless of your relationship with the 90s, you will feel nostalgic for your own youth while watching Middletown, the third directorial collaboration between spouses Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, following the lauded Boys State (2020) and Girls State (2024).

Reviews, Doc Days, Film FestsKathryn BaileyMay 29, 2025Middletown, Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, Doc Days, AFSComment

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