Movie reviews of Hope Madden

Dickey’s a treasure, and one filmmakers are finally, truly recognizing. Her finest moment might have been Max Walker-Silverman’s lyrical A Love Song, but Dale Dickey delivers no matter the role. Review

The story beats also lack the freshness of the best Pixar has to offer. Still, a first-contact film that retails a childlike wonder about what lies beyond the stars without resenting what waits at home is a rare thing. Review

28 Days Later remains one of the scariest films ever made. Circling back to see how humanity’s getting along a generation later is interesting, sometimes gorgeous, awfully bloody, and frequently very sweet. It’s just not very scary. Review

Conjuring both Pumpkinhead and A Nightmare on Elm St. sets a very high bar for an indie horror flick, and Eye for an Eye can’t deliver on that promise. Review

Materialists isn’t perfect, and to a degree, Song submits too much to formula. But the way she works within those confines is often magical. Review

Whatever its flaws, once How to Train Your Dragon is airborne, it’s pure cinema. Review

It’s a weird one, though, and certainly entertaining. Shimotsu can’t quite pull it all off, but it’s fun even as it falls apart. Review

Each story boasts a quick, engaging, violent narrative that adds a bit of fun to the canon. Review

The colorful shell feels pretty empty, but sometimes pretty colors are enough. Review

It’s a slow burn, a movie that communicates dread brilliantly with its cinematography and pacing. Review

The biggest let down is the updated script, which can’t match the original in terms of the delightfully, delicately human writing. But the contrast between the alien and natural world makes this a natural fit for the leap to live action, and the charming lawlessness of the story is as much fun today as it was in 2002. Review

Pee-wee as Himself is revelatory, nostalgic, glorious viewing for Pee-wee fans. Review

There’s a bleak beauty to it all that recalls Liam Gavin’s genre masterpiece, A Dark Song. The Surrender never reaches those heights, but Max knows how to ground the supernatural in relatable reality and wonders which is worse. Review

Bloodlines delivers as fresh an idea within the bounds of the mythology as you could ask for. Review

The scares are too telegraphed and borrowed to amount to much. Worse still are plot holes so deep and wide you could lose a combine. Review

Until Dawnis not a complete waste of time. Sandberg doesn’t skimp on bloodshed, and the cast really elevates the material. It’s no classic, but it offers a bit of bloody fun. Review

Skiles looks past knee jerk, self-congratulatory action in favor of context, his camera lingering on the blight of old suburbia. In this unglamorous world of perms and coupons, polyester and bus passes, two losers that life passed by just try to do one good thing. The humble simplicity is surprisingly moving. Review

The pace is slow, the performances stilted to match the dialog, and the resolution is nonexistent. The Shrouds has a grotesquely beautiful dreamlike quality, and it teems with notions both weird and fascinating. It just can’t pull that pull it all together into an entertaining whole. Review

Clarke opens strong and her cast keeps you guessing and engaged for as long as they can, but in the end, it feels as if she clung too closely to tales we already know. That can’t erase the mounting dread and nightmare imagery, though. Review

The FX are bad. The Raiders of the Lost Ark moment is silly. But in terms of reconsidering exorcism tropes, Shadow of God has some big ideas. They don’t entirely work, but at least it’s novel. Review

It’s scary. It’s sexy. The action slaps. It’s funny when it needs to be, sad just as often. It looks and sounds incredible. And there’s a cameo from Buddy F. Guy, in case you needed a little authenticity. Review

Filmmaker and cast investment pays off. Dead Mail is clever, intriguing and wholly satisfying little thriller. Review

Yang struggles with the dramatic needs of his character while Tran has trouble with the comedic, but there’s charm in the mess. Ahn conjures a bubbly, romantic confection and maybe that’s needed right now. Review

The Amateur is no masterpiece. But it is a nice change of pace. Review