The Foxy Film Fan

The following review is spoiler-free! The new sci-fi horror film Possessor  is unlike anything I've ever seen. Borrowing elements from popular science fiction releases like Inception , Brandon Cronenberg's new movie twists the assassin/heist sci-fi plot into something revolting. Like a car crash, once you start watching you can't look away from every bit of gore and terror on screen.  IndieWire called Possessor  a "gory techno-thriller" and I couldn't agree more.  Possessor operates within strict rules and logic which establish an unwavering sense of realism. Its slow pacing and meticulous depiction of the daily grind of the average worker makes its universe feel lived in and real. The future Cronenberg shows us isn't sleek and chrome, its either pastel apartment complexes through a muddy gray lens or horrifically bright red. Despite its promotional imagery the horror of the movie is rarely visual. Instead Possessor  grabs hold of Stephen King's defini...

Embers (2015) Taking place in a post apocalyptic world in which a disease which makes creating and maintaining memories impossible, Embers  offers a glimpse into the lives of several different people who have their own ways of grappling with the harsh world in which they have no way of knowing who the people around them are. Interspersed between these glimpses into the lives of those too poor to afford a way to escape the disease, we are offered a look at the empty life of a young woman who lives in a shelter with her father, untouched by the disease but horribly bored with nothing to do but test her memory time and time again. With its fascinating premise, beautiful and meticulous camera shots, and slow atmospheric soundtrack, I really wanted to like Embers . Unfortunately, Embers  failed to hold my attention throughout the course of the film, as it wavered awkwardly from scenario to scenario and fell into the trap of repetition as married couples forget one another an...

Rogue One (2016) In previous releases in the Star Wars  franchise the audience has been subjected to witnessing the drama unfold within the Skywalker family, which was an entertaining (phenomenally so) experience, but felt distant and turned the audience into a sort of third party. Rogue One , however, transforms the audience into a part of the film through its fantastic and sometimes horrifying or grotesque cinematography. Rather than being given passing shots of city streets and the aliens which occupy the Star Wars universe, the camera weaves through crowded streets as though the audience is stumbling past these creatures first-hand when it isn't panning upwards to reveal intimidating shots of the massive spaceships soaring up above. This intimacy within Rogue One's  cinematography is closely tied to its plot as well, which focuses on the common people rather than the Skywalker family as previous releases did. While Star Wars  took audience members through a f...

Amy Adams in Arrival (2016) Denis Velleneuve has proven himself to be a competent and phenomenal director with films like Prisoners , Sicario , and Enemy  under his belt, and one can't help but feel as if they were all building up toward Arrival . Velleneuve is one of my favorite directors and you can expect reviews on his other work in the near future, especially after Arrival  left me longing to revisit his older films. That being said, his past filmography pales in comparison to the depth and power behind his newest release. On the surface, Arrival is little more than another story about humanity making first contact with aliens, but it is so much more. Arrival  examines, with a realistic scope and worldwide perspective, exactly how humanity would truly respond to contact being made with other life forms. It also displays in a far more accurate and realistic way, the fumbling awkward conversations which would take place as they attempt communication (bear in mind...