The True/False documentary film festival is like Disneyland for non-fiction filmmaking. For one weekend every year, the small college town of Columbia, Missouri becomes a magical place where anything is possible. Renowned filmmakers rub elbows with college students, bartenders and farmers. High...

After approximately 77 days of hyperventilating Twitter reaction reviews and 76 days of people complaining about hyperventilating Twitter reaction reviews, the 2020 Sundance Film Festival has drawn to a close. You, the Crooked Marquee reader, are of course well-versed in the festival’s...

MOVIES:Black BearBoys StateDream HorseEmaThe FatherThe GloriasHerselfHis HouseJumboKajillionaireMinariMiss AmericanaNever Rarely Sometimes AlwaysNine DaysPossessorRelicSpreeSummertimeTeslaTimeUncle FrankWendyZola Day 1: Thursday, Jan. 23 Gird your loins (if you have them; I do not presume to...

At this point, the “Help, I’m trapped in a time loop!” premise has become a Hollywood staple — don’t forget that we have not one, but two Happy Death Day movies out there to enjoy. The concept has become prevalent for good reason, as it presents an easy-to-understand structure combined...

Kajillionaire is writer-director Miranda July’s first feature film in nine years, and while it’s set in the present day, you’d be forgiven for thinking the movie is a lost film from over 20 years ago. So much of the ‘90s indie film aesthetic can be seen here: Characters are dressed mostly...

Christmas-themed horror movies have become a thriving subgenre in recent years, providing micro-budget horror filmmakers with easy subject matter and plenty of options for pun-friendly titles. So why shouldn’t Valentine’s Day get the same holiday horror treatment? Writer-director Scott Jeffrey...

Horror filmmakers love to build stories filled with outrageous furnishings, but any lasting power their movies have is due to how hard they strike a core, internal fear. The Night House is a movie that, like the mazes referenced in the film’s plot, has a lot of dead ends and wild turns, but at...

If nothing else, the low-key Canadian drama The Rest of Us makes a surprisingly strong case for Heather Graham as a dramatic actor. Graham is affecting and understated as children’s-book author Cami, whose life is thrown into mild chaos when her ex-husband dies suddenly. Cami lives a peaceful...

Worth begins with a lighthearted, dynamic, Aaron Sorkin-esque scene that sees lawyer Ken Feinberg (Michael Keaton) introducing his class to the world of life insurance and class-action lawsuits. He assigns each student a role in a hypothetical scenario wherein a man’s life must be compensated...

I never had a TV set in my room when I was growing up, so I’d have to sneak past my parents’ bedroom door, creep down the thickly carpeted stairs, and quietly settle into the ugly plaid couch in the family room (in New Jersey) or the basement (in Nebraska) when I had trouble sleeping. There...

In 1977, NASA scientists put out the word that they'd be recording greetings from people from around the world and sending them (the recordings) into space to welcome any potential aliens who happened by. That announcement is the jumping-off point for Troop Zero, an utterly delightful family comedy...

There are no legal skirmishes in Ford v Ferrari. The battles between the automakers take place in boardrooms, racetracks, and other places where men have car-measuring contests. Directed by James Mangold, who brought similar confidence to Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma, this is a smooth,...

You'd be forgiven for thinking The Lighthouse is a comedy when the first two things that happen are Robert Pattinson bumping his head and swearing and Willem Dafoe farting. But while those and a handful of other humorous moments and outlandish events do make this a nutty affair, the sophomore...

Tell Me Who I Am (on Netflix) belongs to the category of documentaries that are better enjoyed the less you know ahead of time. Netflix is a great home for these, as the 24/7 availability and near-zero cost make it easy to give it a look when a friend texts you saying, "You HAVE to watch this!"...

The attention-grabbing pitch for Jojo Rabbit — a little German boy near the end of World War II has an imaginary friend, and it’s Hitler — is ultimately secondary in importance to the film’s more serious, sentimental themes. That the film, adapted and directed by Taiki Waititi from...