Movie reviews of Alex Brannan

Rebel Moon is overloaded with stiff backstory and hollow characters. Review

Haigh shoots it all with gorgeous warmth and deliberation. And the performances carry it all through to the end in spite of the narrative flaws. Review

It all comes together surprisingly fittingly, so long as one doesn’t search for subtlety in places other than Kamiki’s wonderful performance. Review

Anatomy of a Fall is packed with emotional density, cutting dialogue, and fantastic performances. Review

Paul King and his production team also conjure up one or two nicely decorated sets, and the costume design from Lindy Hemming is more colorful than most of what the script can offer. Taken as a whole, though, Wonka is less than remarkable. Review

The Boy and the Heron is a stunning achievement, both visually and emotionally. It’s one of Miyazaki’s best. Review

As is usually the case, Fincher crafts an exceedingly watchable film in The Killer. Review

More than anything else, it acts as a fitting swan song for John Kramer, with Bell giving a lovely, subdued performance that elevates the character beyond what the franchise can ultimately contend with. Review

Part of the problem here is that the film is more interested in breadth than depth. Still, there is plenty for the NBA fan to to enjoy here. Review

Although evidently well-meaning, the film never overcomes these cliches, despite evocative performances from Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay. Review

All of it is standard for the territory. And none of it amounts to anything all that novel or compelling. Review

It shows a major step up in Yamaguchi’s filmmaking abilities and is bursting at the seams with creativity and charm. Review

Hormonal though it is, the comedy renders the psychoanalytic, at best, farcical. Meanwhile, the characters, quirky though they are, deliver deadpan punchlines with a tonal energy that grows tiresome the longer the film continues. Review

Ridley, to her credit, manages to add personality and nuance to both ends of this spectrum. Review

The film attempts to understand why people were willing to believe stories like Michelle’s and get caught up in the paranoia. It is far from exhaustive, but it covers the ground it does tread well. Review

When the film reaches its high stakes final moments, it feels as though there was more the story could have unpacked in lieu of the muddled plot it does traverse. Review

The subject matter here is certainly worthy of exploration, but such serious subject matter being relegated to an unsatisfying twist ending makes the message ring hollow. Review

Humor is subjective, and if a nearly two-hour live-action Looney Tunes cartoon is something you’re after you will probably find this endlessly amusing. Review

While the emotional tradeoffs are explored with an effectively dour grounding — and Greer channels the emotional weight of it all with aplomb — the film does not break new ground in the genre. Review

The quality of the talking head interviews is apparent, and they shed plenty of light on the production of the disgraced special. All the while, the doc maintains a light humor that goes beyond merely pointing at the special and laughing. Review

This world-building points to the cleverness of the film. The script innocently mocks wellness culture and technology dependence. Review

Shin Kamen Rider is a light and at times exciting action film. It may be the weakest of this series of Shin films (Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman being the others). But it still manages to strike a tone that balances cheese and sincerity effectively. Review

The film does not drag or feel thin, as Fessenden takes pains to unearth the turmoil that results from Charley’s condition and flesh out the small town at the center of his rampage. Review

This driving thematic arc could be mapped onto any number of real-world analogues, but I ultimately feel the film functions better as a genre exercise than as a social allegory. Review