Marshall Shaffer Thoughts on a Biden-Era Cinema Jan 20th, 2021As the new president takes the oath, we wonder: what films indicated the kind of leader America would look for in this new era?
Marshall Shaffer Miss Congeniality at 20: Still Sandra Bullock’s Crowning Glory Dec 21st, 2020When ‘Miss Congeniality’ hit theaters 20 years ago, it was marketed as a broad, goofy, makeover comedy. But there’s much more happening under...
Marshall Shaffer The Box Office Has Never Moved Past August 13, 2010 Aug 11th, 2020 You probably are not giving much thought to either The Expendables, an Avengers-style roundup of action stars with AARP cards, or Eat Pray Love, a...
Marshall Shaffer How Greta Gerwig’s Little Women Rejects A False Cinematic Choice Apr 6th, 2020 “Jo, captivated, watches type being set,” observes Greta Gerwig of her protagonist in the final pages of her screenplay for Little Women. It’s...
Marshall Shaffer Review: Run This Town Mar 3rd, 2020 Ricky Tollman’s Run This Town begins in a bout of stylistic frenzy that defines the ambitions, if not the overall tone, of his film quite well. A...
Marshall Shaffer Marshall Shaffer Says Don't Forget: Los Reyes Dec 23rd, 2019 The year had no shortage of talking animal movies — and might have even hit a nadir with the atrocious Lion King remake where Disney asked us to...
Marshall Shaffer Marshall Shaffer Says Don't Forget: Jawline Dec 23rd, 2019 Influencer culture is derided at worst, misunderstood at best in 2019. Thankfully there are filmmakers like Liza Mandelup out there documenting it...
Marshall Shaffer Review: Feast of the Epiphany Dec 4th, 2019 When I heard that Feast of the Epiphany, the inaugural feature film from the publication Reverse Shot, melded documentary and fiction, I assumed it...
Marshall Shaffer Review: Queen of Hearts Nov 19th, 2019 Society tends not to bat an eyelid at intergenerational relationships so long as the elder member of the pairing is a man. Even as unease mounts...
Marshall Shaffer Review: Temblores Nov 17th, 2019 In Guatemalan writer/director Jayro Bustamante’s feature debut, Ixcanul (2016), the filmmaker shone a light on how an indigenous community around...
Marshall Shaffer TIFF Report: Keeping the Faith Sep 12th, 2019The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) felt unusually heavy with films concerning religion and its followers. Of the more than 30 films...
Marshall Shaffer Fantasia 2019 Report: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime Jul 31st, 2019“A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens,” wrote Dostoyevsky, “but by how it treats its criminals.” Genre...
Marshall Shaffer Fantasia 2019 Report: At the Mercy of the Programmers Jul 23rd, 2019For someone as obsessively Type A as me, the lead-up to a film festival as compact and curated as Fantasia can prove quite nerve-wracking. As an...
Marshall Shaffer What To Expect at Fantasia Festival 2019 Jul 11th, 2019Is there such a thing as too much genre cinema? If so, then it would likely occur at Montreal’s Fantasia Festival, an over-three week long...
Marshall Shaffer Tribeca Report: Here Comes Generation Z May 6th, 2019The Ringer declared last summer that the moment of horror is now here: "Millennial" is no longer a synonym for “young person.” The new cohort,...