Screen Reviews

Our writers scour the globe, rewind endless tapes, and press pause as many times as it takes to bring you the ultimate collection of film, broadcast, and streaming visual content to feed your endless appetite for movies.

Best of Film 2023

Best of Film 2023

Screen Reviews

For Lily and Generoso, 2023 was a fantastic year at the cinema! They select and review their ten favorite films, six supplemental features, and one extraordinary repertory release seen at microcinemas, archives, and festivals.

Messiah of Evil

Messiah of Evil

Screen Reviews

The curious and often-neglected horror masterwork Messiah of Evil is again reborn in a terrific new Blu-ray from Radiance Films.

The Toxic Avenger Collection

The Toxic Avenger Collection

Screen Reviews

A four-volume collection of Troma’s popular hero films, The Toxic Avenger Collection gives you all the Toxie you could ever want — and even a little Kevin Bacon.

Dio: Dreamers Never Die

Dio: Dreamers Never Die

Screen Reviews

Carl F. Gauze reviews Dreamers Never Die, the loving documentary on the career of rocker extraordinaire Ronnie James Dio.

Borsalino

Borsalino

Screen Reviews

Starting with small-time jobs, two gangsters take over all the crime in Marseilles in this well-paced and entertaining French film. Carl F. Gauze reviews the freshly released Arrow Video Blu-ray edition of Borsalino (1970).

Weird Science

Weird Science

Screen Reviews

Two teenage boys build a sexy computer girlfriend with an 8-bit computer… you know the story. Carl F. Gauze reviews Weird Science (1985), in a new 4K UHD Blu-ray release from Arrow Films.

City of the Living Dead

City of the Living Dead

Screen Reviews

Cauldron Films’ new UHD/Blu-ray release of Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead (1980) preserves one of the best Italian horror films, according to Phil Bailey.

Broken Mirrors

Broken Mirrors

Screen Reviews

Marleen Gorris’s first theatrical feature is a potent feminist look at the easily disposable lives of sex workers in Amsterdam. Phil Bailey reviews Broken Mirrors.

The Highest of Stakes

The Highest of Stakes

Screen Reviews

Peer into the topsy-turvey world of cryptocurrency, a place where you can make your own money and decide what it’s worth just by waving your hand. Carl F. Gauze reviews The Highest of Stakes by Patrick Moreau and Grant Peelle.

Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian

Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian

Screen Reviews

A pair of silent comedies from forgotten “silk hat comedian” Raymond Griffith are now available for rediscovery on Blu-ray. Phil Bailey reviews Paths to Paradise and You’d Be Surprised, from Undercrank Productions and the Library of Congress, with musical scores by Ben Model.

Invaders From Mars

Invaders From Mars

Screen Reviews

A child discovers an alien spaceship in the woods, and it terrorizes the town. Carl F. Gauze reviews a restored Invaders from Mars, from Ignite Films.

Yakuza Graveyard

Yakuza Graveyard

Screen Reviews

Phil Bailey reviews the gritty, influential Yakuza Graveyard, released on a new Blu-ray from Radiance Films.

A Question of Silence

A Question of Silence

Screen Reviews

Marleen Gorris’s feminist classic A Question of Silence (1982) receives a long overdue North American home video release from Cult Epics. Phil Bailey reviews.

Red Sun

Red Sun

Screen Reviews

Obscure German counter-culture thriller Red Sun defies genre expectations with its fairy-tale take on feminist ritual murder. Phil Bailey reviews the 1970 Rudolf Thome film.

Scarlet

Scarlet

Screen Reviews

Director Pietro Marcello follows up his heralded adaptation of Jack London’s Martin Eden with Scarlet, a bold reimagining of Aleksandr Grin’s classic 1923 novel, Scarlet Sails. Lily and Generoso review Marcello’s exceptional contemporary take on this beloved fairy tale.

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Best of Film 2023

Best of Film 2023

Screen Reviews

For Lily and Generoso, 2023 was a fantastic year at the cinema! They select and review their ten favorite films, six supplemental features, and one extraordinary repertory release seen at microcinemas, archives, and festivals.

Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco

Event Reviews

This fall, Ani DiFranco brought new Righteous Babe labelmate Kristen Ford to Iowa City, where Jeremy Glazier enjoyed an incredible evening of artistry.

Garage Sale Vinyl: Ian Hunter

Garage Sale Vinyl: Ian Hunter

Garage Sale Vinyl

This week Christopher Long grabs a bag of bargain vinyl from a flea market in Mount Dora, Florida — including You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic, the classic 1979 LP from Ian Hunter.

Archive Archaeology

Archive Archaeology

Archive Archaeology

Bob Pomeroy gets into four Radio Rarities from producer Zev Feldman for Record Store Day with great jazz recordings from Wes Montgomery, Les McCann, Cal Tjader, and Ahmad Jamal.

Archive Archaeology: Phil Alvin

Archive Archaeology: Phil Alvin

Archive Archaeology

Bob Pomeroy digs into Un “Sung Stories” (1986, Liberation Hall), Blasters’ frontman Phil Alvin’s American Roots collaboration with Sun Ra and his Arkestra, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and New Orleans saxman Lee Allen.

A Darker Shade of Noir

A Darker Shade of Noir

Print Reviews

Roi J. Tamkin reviews A Darker Shade of Noir, fifteen new stories from women writers completely familiar with the horrors of owning a body in a patriarchal society, edited by Joyce Carol Oates.

Garage Sale Vinyl: The Time

Garage Sale Vinyl: The Time

Garage Sale Vinyl

Feeling funky this week, Christopher Long gets his groove on while discovering a well-cared-for used vinyl copy of one of his all-time R&B faves: Ice Cream Castle, the classic 1984 LP from The Time, for just a couple of bucks.

Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

Interviews

During AFI Fest 2023, Lily and Generoso interviewed director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, whose impressive debut feature, City of Wind, carefully examines the juxtaposition between the identity of place and tradition against the powers of modernity in contemporary Mongolia.