Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) - Movie Review

It’s been a while since a film last caught my attention purely on the basis of its cast. Like, beyond anything to actually do with the film’s contents, I knew I had to check this one out in the cinemas based purely on who’s in it. I admittedly don’t know everyone here; I hadn’t even heard of Industry or Generation before doing my usual Googling, so I didn’t know Myha’la Herrold or Chase Sui Wonders (although, credit where it’s due, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for them from now on). Everyone else, though? Not only is it cool just seeing this cast in a new movie on its own, but holy shit, the specific casting is downright brilliant.

Shiva Baby (2021) - Movie Review

This film hurts to watch. Not in the sense that it’s bad (far from it, as I’ll get into), but because it is an incredibly visceral representation of an equally visceral reaction to stressful social situations. Or, for quite a lot of people out there (myself included), social situations in general. It’s one of the shorter films I’ve looked at this year (about 78 minutes including credits), and its premise is a seemingly simply one. It involves college student Danielle (Rachel Sennott) attending shiva, along with her extensive extended family, and just happening to bump into Max (Danny Deferrari)… who is also her sugar daddy. Cue the panic.

The Assistant (2020) - Movie Review

Films like this have the capacity to sneak up on you if you’re not careful. Ostensibly, nothing really happens in it, at least by the metric most films are measured by. It covers a single work shift of Jane, an assistant at a film studio. Over the course of its 80-minute-and-change running time, we see her do menial office work like getting coffees and fixing the printer, and there’s no substantial character change that takes place; this isn’t the kind of movie that ends with a big rousing moment for our heroine when she decides to pursue a better career or hooks up with her dream guy or anything like that. But within that framing, and anchored by Julia Garner’s performance as Jane, this film is fucking terrifying.