The Film Stage

Fantasia Review: Black Eyed Susan Confronts the Limitations of Humanity
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As the world flattens with new technologies to reveal how tragedies we used to only hear about now and then are actually everyday occurrences, we become inured to those horrors as a means to cope. It’s gotten to the point...
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Stream David Lynch and Chrystabell’s New Album Cellophane Memories
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David Lynch might never make another film (he could have; Netflix said no) or transcendental television project (he could have; Netflix said no) but the lead-up to his new album has been a verdant moment for true-blue fans who can...
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Posterized August 2024: Trap, Red Island, Alien: Romulus & More
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Videogame IP, a remake, and a children’s film: August’s blockbuster titles don’t really need marketing help. So, Borderlands (August 9), The Crow (August 23), and Harold and the Purple Crayon (August 2) go heavy on the Photoshop to slap something...
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NYC Weekend Watch: Eyes Wide Shut on 35mm
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NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. Roxy CinemaFidelio, our four-film program with Chapo Trap House’s Movie Mindset, begins this Saturday with Eyes Wide Shut on 35mm, which plays again on Sunday. Museum of the Moving Image70mm...
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Trap Review: M. Night Shyamalan’s Best-Engineered Work Since The Village
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Likely the burden of precedent never lifts from M. Night Shyamalan, whose name became noun, adjective, and verb more-or-less the moment The Sixth Sense landed with shockwaves a quarter-century ago. As certain narratives about his career (twist endings, Newsweek covers)...
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Dìdi (弟弟) Director Sean Wang on Resisting Nostalgia, Marketing Battles, and Why First-Time Directors Need Patience
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It wouldn’t have been Sundance without at least a handful of coming-of-age stories. Sean Wang’s audience award winner Dìdi (弟弟) proves that, with a new perspective, there are still emotions to be mined from a tried-and-true formula. Exploring the everyday life of...
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15 Films to See in August
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As the summer movie season comes to a close, August brings a shockingly stacked slate of offerings, topped by a film that is sure to age like a fine classic in years to come. Elsewhere we have accomplished debuts, action...
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Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door Set for Centerpiece of 62nd New York Film Festival
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After just wrapping production a few months ago, Pedro Almodóvar is already putting the finishing touches on his next feature. Following Venice Film Festival’s announcement of a world premiere for The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton,...
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Coup! Review: Peter Sarsgaard Leads a Class Comedy Less Thrilling Than Biting
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Let’s talk about the pandemic for a moment. No, not the COVID-19 Pandemic. The pandemic that, 100 years ago, killed millions and shuttered the United States for a time: the Great Flu of 1918. The virus infected roughly one-third of...
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Fantasia Review: The Code Finds Dasha Nekrasova and Peter Vack Pushing Through the Chaos of Modern Life
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Ahead of its world premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, The Code announced itself with several red flags. Set during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2021 with a synopsis throwing around terms like “cancel culture,” it stars Dasha Nekrasova and Peter...
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