Hammer to Nail

The 2025 Oak Cliff Film Festival Wraps an EPIC Fest!
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As a film journalist, I often get the opportunity to attend some pretty amazing, smaller film festivals. My attendance used to be much more frequent, sometimes to the point of having to choose one fest over another but, those days...
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THIS IS SPINAL TAP
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(Check out Chris Reeds’s This is Spinal Tap movie review, it’s in theaters now celebrating it’s 41st birthday. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Born in 1947 to legendary comedian, actor, and filmmaker Carl Reiner (1922-2020), Rob...
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THE CURBSIDE CRITERION: BRAZIL
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(Here at Hammer to Nail are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films of yesteryear that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week Brad Cook gets caught up...
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2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA Trailer: Oscar-Winner Mstyslav Chernev Returns with a Devastating Document of Ukraine’s Battlefront
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After taking home the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov returns with another harrowing vision of the ongoing War in Ukraine with his newest documentary, 2000 Meters to Andriivka. The Ukrainian-born director and war correspondent...
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40 ACRES
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(Check out Chris Reeds’s 40 Acres movie review, it’s in theaters now. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.) Director R.T. Thorne’s feature debut, 40 Acres, has a lot going for it, most notably the lead performance...
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BOYS GO TO JUPITER Trailer: Slackers and Aliens Unite in Julian Glander’s Animated Coming-of-Age Adventure
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Animator and 3D artist Julian Glander tackles contemporary slackerism in the age of capitalism in his fantastical feature debut, Boys Go To Jupiter. A standout at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, it follows a teenager in suburban Florida trying to make...
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CLOUD Trailer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa is Back with a Nail-Biting Tale of Greed & Revenge
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They say the path to success means making a few enemies. Tokyo man Yoshii (Masaki Sude) learns that in one of the most chilling ways in writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s latest thriller, Cloud. Kurosawa, who thrilled cinephiles with nailbiters such as...
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SENTIMENTAL VALUE Trailer: Renate Reinsve is at Odds with Stellan Skarsgård in Joachim Trier’s Cannes Sensation
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Four years after stunning the world with her Cannes-winning, breakout performance in The Worst Person in the World, Renate Reinsve and director Joachim Trier reunite for their newest collaboration, Sentimental Value. The film made waves at the Cannes Film Festival,...
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APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS Trailer: Petra Costa Documents Evangelicalism’s Rise in Brazilian Politics
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Following her 2019 Oscar-nominated documentary The Edge of Democracy, director Petra Costa continues to examine Brazil’s rocky politics in her newest film, Apocalypse in the Tropics. Having premiered on the festival circuit last year before America entered its second term...
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THE CURBSIDE CRITERION: HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING
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(We here at Hammer to Nail are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films of yesteryear that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week Brad Cook pops in...
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