New Yorker
This week, I’m reviewing “Paintings of Cole,” which I didn’t like, because the press screening was all the way uptown, and there were huge delays on the J train.
The movie, which was written and directed by Steven Kern, who also stars, tells the story of a young man named Cole, who is tasked with bringing down the Italian Mob. Cole uses his paintings to send secret messages to the police, which pisses me off, because in grad school I wrote a short story with basically that exact idea. And I failed the grad-school class, but Mr. Kern is getting early Oscar buzz. Justice? Not in this life.
A bizarro Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots movie will soon be available to stream for all Amazon Prime subscribers, and it's worth a watch.
Lorcan Finnegan's sci-fi psychological thriller Vivarium is not only managing to turn heads, but it's seriously creeping folks out, too.
Considering the internet's taste in movies, I am now cautious about Vivarium. Just browsing their "reviews" tells me they haven't watched a decent horror movie either.
"[Writer-director Riley] Stearns manages to capture quite accurately the almost cult-like mentality that exists in dojos, especially from the point-of-view of newcomers. Dudes grappling half-naked in the locker room before class? Sounds right. Comparing and taking way too much pride in the colours of the belts? Too real."
