The Film Print

Okja   (aka the second film in which Tilda Swinton plays feuding twins) is the latest film from popular South Korean director Bong Joon-ho. Following a young girl named Mija on a journey to find her beloved Super Pig from the hands of psychotic greedy corporate scumbags. If that sounds (no pun intended) ham-fisted and preachy, that's because it really is. Okja  starts out very cute and enjoyable in all the ways that I expected, the comparisons to Miyazaki are very apt and it's because of that tone that I started to really invest in the relationship between Mija and Okja. Once this film takes a turn into developing its narrative, it becomes extremely uneven. It's a commentary/satire on food corporations in the second act and seemingly a vegetarian propaganda film in the third act. I liked the film when it was playing more towards somewhat light-hearted satire, it was original and still had the fun quality that the first act had. The third act isn't necessarily bad b...

Baby Driver  is one of those movies that everyone has been looking forward to and hyping up for a long time, but I was a little more hesitant to embrace it for reasons that are still relatively unknown to me. And now that it's finally out, everyone is gushing over it and I think that it's simply just good. It's  The Driver ,  Theif , and  Drive  all wrapped up in a frenetic romantic dramedy action musical and while it may have familiar beats that it hits, it's frankly unlike most things out there. When this film thrusts into its action sequences, it's a lot of fun and the use of music is as legendary as you've been hearing it is but I was emphatically disappointed by how unmoved I was by the car chases which have been hyped as some of the best ever. They're certainly cool but they never got my heart racing, at least not until the third act which is smaller in scale but more effective because of that decision. Spacey, Foxx, Hamm (especially Hamm), and J...

You could run me over with your car, piss on my mangled body, light my house on fire, and I would only be slightly  less  offended than I am right now. The Book of Henry  is bad, like really fucking bad. But it's a different kind of "bad" than what you would expect for your average bad movie. It is so horribly and hilariously misguided in every sense of the word. Heavy and depressing subject matter such as child abuse, cancer, murder, and even suicide are discovered here but you can't do shit like that when the central tone of your film is fucking whimsical, like a classic 80's kids movie brand of whimsical. The acting is fine but I found each and every character to be either annoying or cartoonishly unrealistic. I already hate the uber-smart kid movie trope, but it's dialed up so extremely here that it made a good portion of this film totally unbearable. And don't even fucking get me started on how overplayed and grating Jacob Tremblay's cute kid...

The Bad Batch  is a film that I was really looking forward to in spite of the mixed reception I was hearing from the festival circuits. It had a bad ass trailer that oozed originality and entertainment and it also has Keanu Reeves who is one of my all-time favorite actors. I was a tad disappointed by Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature  A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night , but there was still enough for me to grasp onto within its culture and style blending for me to walk away saying I liked it.  The Bad Batch , however, is an entirely different beast. Because while I can deep down appreciate what Amirpour is going for with her American dream-seeking “narrative” but the way she goes about is not only lacking in nuance but it feels painfully monotonous, annoying, and, to put it bluntly, like a shitty student art film. If there’s one thing that could have saved this film, it would be that of a much better editor. There are so many pointlessly long moments in this film that...

Cars 3  holds the (dis)honor of being the first movie in 2017 where I genuinely struggled to stay awake. For basically the entire runtime I was on the lookout for two things: 1) Something either exhilarating or engrossing to grasp onto. 2) A reason for this movie's existence. And I didn't find either of those things. It's a really polished and good looking movie and if there's anything in it that is worth praising, it's Randy Newman's score. But none of that helped this final chapter overcome just how meandering and bland it really is. It's like a lesser version of every  Rocky  sequel except it's really just made to produce toys. Admittedly, this is a film that was made primarily for children but part of Pixar's whole coveted brand is that they make films that appeal equally to both children and adults on different levels. It most certainly doesn't help that this particular entry in the franchise deals with rather adult themes like aging and ...

Purley based on the advertising, I was afraid that  Megan Leavey  would be some uninspired Lifetime movie that somehow found its way onto the big screen. And to be honest, that's partially what it is but it's also a uniquely empathetic and tender war film that has one amazing central performance from Kate Mara. Deep down underneath, there's a powerful narrative about finding a purpose in life and a sense of belonging but it becomes buried under plenty of tired cliches and a rather flat, rushed, and unnecessary romance subplot. It's certainly very flawed but the positives just barely outweigh the negatives and it goes out on the satisfying heart-warming note that you would fully expect it to. Worth at least one Kleenex-required viewing.  (6.5/10)

The Mummy  is a film that should be shown and lectured about in film school. Because it's one of those incredibly rare cases where a film gets just about everything wrong. Every action sequence is too uninspired and flat to be exciting. Every jump scare is too obnoxious to be genuinely frightening. Every shot at humor is completely cringe-inducing and contradictive to the tone. The characters are textbook tropes. And the narrative is way too obsessed with setting up a greater connected universe that it forgets to be even remotely interesting or gripping. At least Sofia Boutella is really fantastic so it isn't the biggest waste of time. Would strongly recommend against seeing this while brilliant films such as Wonder Woman and It Comes at Night are playing in wide release.  (2.25/10)

Director Trey Edward Shults’ debut film  Krisha  was one of the most criminally underseen gems from last year and the sheer level of talent he displayed in that film was powerful enough for me to be looking forward to any and all of his future projects. Now he’s re-teaming with everyone’s favorite indie distributor A24 for his follow-up project  It Comes at Night , and if this film proves anything, it’s that Shults isn’t fucking around and he’s here to stay because he has made one of the most singularly spellbinding pieces of horror cinema I’ve seen this decade. It Comes at Night  isn’t necessarily a horror film per say, but rather a hellishly intense psychological thriller/family thriller. It’s a very slow burn but that only adds to its effect. This is a film that slowly creeped its way into my psyche and has now left it scarred and shaken for eternity. This is not a film that will scare you quite like something like  The Conjuring  or  The ...

1) Logan Lucky (Release Date: August 18th) Steven Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors of all time and his return after a four-year hiatus from filmmaking, Logan Lucky, looks like we are going to see him recapture the glory of his Ocean's Eleven days. Boasting an absolutely stellar cast, a white trash Ocean's  concept, and a new intriguing technique for the independent film releasing strategy, Logan Lucky is guaranteed to be a late summer blast. 2) Good Time (Release Date: August 11th) Josh and Ben Safdie are the most intriguing names in the independent film industry in this day and age. With under-the-radar masterclasses like Daddy Longlegs and Heaven Knows What , they've more than proven themselves to be this generation's John Cassavettes. Their films evoke a very painfully real atmosphere and they always bring the best OSTs with them. Good Time looks like more of the same and with an astounding cast and some fresh hype from the Cannes Film Festival, i...

A sympathetic and sobering Dardenne-esque docudrama that takes a raw fly-on-the-wall approach to a community that has gotten very little cinematic attention. Menashe is about as authentic as it gets. Though it may be far from a perfect film, Director Joshua Z. Weinstein does a great job at making our lovable main character's struggle within his world feel almost universal. He's a bit of an oddball for his community but he loves his son more than anything in the world and will do anything to keep the things he truly cares about in life in balance. This film has such a strong sense of identity and I would easily recommend to those who appreciate a bittersweet sense of realism. A24 just keeps killing it. (8/10) (Look for this when it releases in theaters on July 28th)

On initial viewing, I found Michael Mann's  Blackhat  to be a fairly boring, nonsensical, and hollow film. But I was also a different type of cinephile at that time. So I went into this viewing of the newly televised FX directors cut not only expecting something different but I went in far more open-minded, and in all honesty, it worked out for the better. This cut of the film has more of a significant and more coherent flow and progression to the narrative and thanks to a few key scenes, the emotional connection amongst the characters is significantly stronger bringing the core theme of connection to a stronger front. And on a stylistic level, the movie was more thrilling and entertaining to watch this time. Mann is still a god when it comes to shooting action sequences on digital and here, it's practically seamless. In terms of problems, the same ones still stand for me. The dialogue is so thick in hacking and tech jargon that it forgets how to be genuinely engrossing w...

Rough Night is neither as bad as a lot of people are saying it looks nor is it as good as I had hoped it would be as a big fan of "Broad City" (the creators of which were behind this movie) but the brand of humor that the show boosts is very present there but it isn't top tier stuff. My biggest positive is the cast, I'm a big fan of everyone here and I thought they all worked very well off of one another and made the movie more entertaining and likable throughout. Overall, this movie is nothing special and to be honest, I probably won't remember too much of it by the end of the summer but it's a pretty fun, raunchy, and easy way to spend 100 minutes at a theater at matinee price. Some will most definitely not take to this movie but for what it's trying to be in its simplest form, it succeeds just enough to warrant a recommendation. It's pretty hit and miss but I can safely say I enjoyed my time watching it. (6.75/10)

"It's not about what they deserve, it's about what you believe.” It’s definitely no secret that I’m a big fan of the WB/DC cinematic universe so far with "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman" being some of my favorite superhero films of the past decade (admittedly, "Suicide Squad" was a nasty misfire). One of the best things in BvS was the introduction to Gal Gadot’s stunning no-bullshit take on Wonder Woman and from the instant she appeared and completely showed-up the two titular characters in the glorious climax of that film, I couldn’t wait for what I hoped would be an amazing solo venture. Tonight, I finally got to see such a film but it isn’t just a special day because of this, it is a special day because today is my mom’s birthday and I brought her to the screening with me tonight to celebrate because her being a lifelong fan of the character basically means she’s earned seeing this movie early way more than I have. It brings ...

The Film Print was created so that I could spread awareness for all kinds of film in smaller areas of the United States and Canada. I'm from a smaller town where small independent films don't necessarily succeed whenever they play here and I would like to see that change. I believe it is our mission to help small films reach small areas in the country so that we can all share in our enjoyment in every kind of film, no matter our location. Thank you for visiting the site and I hope you enjoy my writing and continue to explore many different kinds of films. -Mikey B.