Film Reviews

What Tribeca Tells Us About Movies: Everybody Wants to be Healed

Best films and biggest lessons from Tribeca Film Festival 2023

Smoking Tigers Poster

via Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca Film Festival took place in New York City from June 7th to 18th. With celebratory ceremonies, fascinating film premieres, and even the announcement of the upcoming De Niro Con — it was a jampacked two weeks for filmmakers and film lovers alike.

All over the city, fans scrambled to access rush screenings, catch a glimpse of their favorite actors strutting along makeshift sidewalk red carpets, and spot said celebs at popular downtown eateries and bars. Honestly, this is what living in New York is generally like, with celebrity events and premieres happening every day. But for two weeks, the excitement was concentrated in Tribeca.

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Film Reviews

“The Lesson” Review: Killing Your Darlings — And Your Heroes, Too

This Oedipal odyssey says, “Never meet your idols, just steal from them”

Daryl McCormack in The Lesson

via Bleecker Street

Spoiler alert: This review contains spoilers for the film The Lesson

A friend — another writer, because we masochists have to stick together — tells me she’s not worried about her novel. This is a different tune than she’d been singing all year as she works on this mammoth project that every writer dreads, yet flirts with: writing her first book.

What’s changed? I ask. Turns out — she tells me — all the writers she’s researched say the same thing: you’re doomed to write a bad book in your twenties, then either bury it and never look at it again or completely rewrite it years later. But the bad first novel is crucial. It means you’ve had the discipline face the screen for months, even years. It means you’ve written a book. But a bad first novel removes the agony of showing it to anyone.

Of course, there are exceptions. But for most writers, the first book won’t be a masterpiece. It’s a jumping-off point — a dock at the edge of a pond.

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Film Reviews

“Cold Copy” Review: Tracee Ellis Ross’s Magnetic Personality Buoys Flaccid Film Noir

Like Mia Scott, I would also do anything for Tracee Ellis Ross

Tracee Ellis Ross and Bel Powley

via Tribeca Film Festival

When you think of Tracee Ellis Ross, you think of her big hair (shoutout to Pattern Beauty) and her big smile. You might even think of her mother, Diana Ross, although Tracee’s one of the rare, iconic nepo babies who has managed to forge a spectacular career separate from her famous parent.

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Film Reviews

'The Adults' Review: 'Succession' for Theatre Kids

A very Sentimental Indie Drama for ex-theatre kids who used to make their parents watch their made up performances

Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, and Sophia Lillis in The Adults

via Tribeca Film Festival

“Wait, is he the actor in Molly’s Game?” I ask myself as I watch Michael Cera in The Adults as he obnoxiously wins a poker game — making enemies of everyone at the table.

Turns out, he was in Molly’s Game. In his role as Player X, Cera says "I don't like playing poker ... I like destroying lives." I think of this as I watch Cera on screen in The Adults, demonstrating his dangerous competitive streak in each poker game he plays. Like Tom Cruise is known for running in his movies, will Cera soon be known for playing Poker? We're getting there.

Currently, Michael Cera is best known for his role in Superbad. And for his turn to the theatre. The latter is why he is so fitting for his role as Eric in The Adults.

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Film Reviews

'Maggie Moore(s)' Review: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, and Not Much Else

An easy to watch dark crime comedy? Or an offbeat rom-com for Hamm and Fey?

Jon Hamm and Tina Fey in Maggie Moore(s)

via Tribeca Film Festival

Everybody loves a juicy murder mystery. The True Crime boom proves it. So does the spectacular success of shows like Dahmer, Only Murders in the Building, and Peacock’s latest… Based on a True Story.

SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers for Maggie Moore(s)

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Film Reviews

“The Line” Review: White on White Violence — Alex Wolff and Austin Abrams In a Portrait of Privilege

Ethan Berger's fraternity feature starring Alex Wolff, Halle Bailey, and Austin Abrams is of the most memorable films from Tribeca Film Festival 2023

The Line

via Tribeca Film Festival

In The Line — the latest film by Ethan Berger, starring Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, Halle Bailey, Austin Abrams, Angus Cloud, Scoot McNairy, John Malkovich, Bo Mitchell, and Denise Richards — a group of fraternity brothers experience a turbulent pledge season.

SPOILER ALERT: THE FOLLOWING INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR THE FILM THE LINE

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