The Untamed (2017; Amat Escalante) GRADE: C+ By Daniel Barnes Here comes more dreary provocation from Heli director Escalante. This time around, Escalante offers an intriguing but no less deadening blend of sexually charged sci-fi and kitchen-sink social drama. Impressive newcomer Ruth Ramos stars as Alejandra, the flustered […]
April and the Extraordinary World (2016; Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes Pure enjoyment, but then I’ve always been in the bag for humanist sci-fi, lizards wearing robot armor, unusual and meticulous production design, and adventure stories where one of the heroes is a […]
Strange Days (1995; Kathryn Bigelow) GRADE: C By Daniel Barnes One of the fascinating and unfortunate things about director Kathryn Bigelow is her natural and often exploitative appropriation of the male gaze. As I wrote in this 2010 SN&R column on Bigelow, “Her great cinematic obsession is the […]
