The Film Stage

A film with a few solid laughs and crowd-pleasing moments, Death of a Unicorn never quite pushes the envelope as far as it could or should. Landing somewhere between a traditional horror comedy and a Succession-lite satire, Alex Scharfman’s debut...

Falling somewhere between a horror film and dark comedy about wellness crazes, The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick is, like director Pete Ohs’ previous Jethica, a film that suggests watching a play within a movie. Both features...

A return to form for Jay Duplass, who’s also making his solo-directing debut, The Baltimorons is a charming throwback to the low-budget indies he directed with his brother Mark. Written and starring burly stand-up comedian Michael Strassner, the Baltimore-set film...

We’ve had Looney Tunes for nearly a century. Leon Schlesinger produced their first short Sinkin’ in the Bathtub alongside animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising in 1930. Almost 100 years later, the only Looney Tunes feature films (outside of theatrically...

Back at New Directors/New Films in 2019, I was struck by Philippe Lesage’s deeply moving, boldly structured coming-of-age tale Genesis, ultimately naming it one of my top 10 films of its respective year. Half-a-decade later the Quebecois filmmaker has finally...

While it’s been very difficult of late to figure out what Martin Scorsese will follow Killers of the Flower Moon (already a couple years out from its Cannes premiere), today brings some of the closest confirmation of where he’ll head...

A big swing and nearly a miss, Chad Hartigan’s The Threesome is not without its charms even as it can overstay its welcome. A rom-com that offers a more serious tone for characters either in a state of arrested development...

Directed by Rodney Ascher, best known for his horror-focused documentaries Room 237 and The Nightmare, Ghost Boy approaches its subject Martin Pistorius from, at times, the same perspective of his last feature A Glitch in the Matrix: locked in an...

After Sean Baker’s sex work dramedy Anora won top honors at the Oscars last week, a Japanese landmark feature from Roman Porno master director Noboru Tanaka exploring the profession has been restored and is getting a U.S. release. The Oldest...

A snapshot of the most exciting voices working in American and international cinema today––and with a strong focus on newcomers––the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look festival returns this week, taking place March 12-16.  As always, the festival brings together...