Hammer to Nail

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...

(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...

(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...

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...

(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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

(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...