8 years ago
All posts by Monica Castillo
Richard Linklater, Maleness, and America
Monica Castillo looks at "Everybody Wants Some!!" and the dearth of female-driven coming-of-age American films.
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To Stream Or Not To Stream
Monica Castillo on how record distribution deals at Sundance may change how we watch movies.
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Sundance Review: “Mistress America”
After the black and white meanderings of a directionless Brooklyn waif in Frances Ha, director Noah Baumbach and actress Greta Gerwig have teamed up once again, for something equally as quirky and wonderful (in color this time). In Mistress America we meet Tra...
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Sundance Review: “The Hunting Ground”
As the graduation processional plays bombastically in the background, dozens of young college hopefuls and families open that fateful letter. Tears of joys and squeals of delight are a brief moment of carefree excitement; elated reactions quickly tempered by w...
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Sundance Review: “Western”
Part of Sundance’s U.S. Documentary Competition, Western is a tale of two cities. One, Eagle Pass, lies north of the Rio Grande, a small Texan town with a big Latino population that specializes in the cattle industry. Her sister city south of the border, Piedr...
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“It’s All So Quiet”
It’s a snapshot of pastoral life: the isolation, the hard work, the repetition, the lack of tech wrappings, and the rushed schedules. It’s All So Quiet is a perfect title to a less-than-rosy picture of a modern-day farmer. Helmer (Jeroen Willems) is a rough ma...
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“The Interview”
Well, this is awkward. I saw a movie before I was supposed to, and now it’s a movie that isn’t coming out. I got an early screening invite from a fellow critic that might have been one of the last public screenings of a $40 million comedy starring big name act...
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“Free the Nipple”
After watching Free the Nipple, I’m left with many questions. This pseudo-documentary claims to "Free the Nipple," yet blurs out several instances of topless demonstrations. Why would it do that? Is it just a documentary of pure reenactments or a fictionalized...
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“She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry”
Texas women are pissed. The echoing chants outside the state capital in Austin could tell you so. In those halls, Texan women’s right to an abortion was about to become severely restricted to all but a few facilities in one of the largest states in the nation ...
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“Jessabelle”
The premise is familiar: a tragic accident leaves its lone survivor physically and emotionally vulnerable. In this case, Jessabelle is sent to recover with her estranged, erratic father back home in the bayous of Louisiana, but something about the old house is...
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