'I Am a Town': Film Review

Serving as a much-belated sequel to the 2007 Australian sleeper hit “Black Water,” director Andrew Traucki’s B-movie influenced follow-up, the blandly titled but effectively executed “Black Water: Abyss” is lean killer crocodile film that upgrades the appropriately lo-fi aesthetic of the original, replacing the expansive swamp setting with a claustrophobic cave descent.

Watch Video: 'Burnt Orange Heresy' Star Claes Bang On Why His Character Isn't a 'Psychopath or Maniac' (Exclusive)Berenice Hollis (Debicki) enters and sits in the back, and the two almost immediately lock eyes on each other. They don’t seem to know one another, but they soon will.

The salutary effect on Brits of the sunny Continent, with its heart-opening, upper-lip-loosening powers, has fueled a well-populated movie subgenre. Using the change of scenery to explore a father-son relationship, the Tuscany-set Made in Italy arrives as a less-than-memorable entry, peppering predictable dashes of romance and real estate into a neatly defined recipe.

Scott Crawford's documentary about Creem Magazine arrives as a breath of fresh air. Chronicling the too-brief lifespan of the music magazine whose boastful but true slogan provides the film's title, Creem: America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine will make you nostalgic for an era in which music journalism dared to be irreverent and wasn't constrained by the demands of corporate interests and babysitting publicists.

“Everyone, deep down, wants someone to love,” proclaims a smug bride-to-be (Amy Groening) in the opening minutes of Spinster during a meeting with caterer Gaby (Chelsea Peretti), the heroine of the film. “It’s why Shakespeare ended all of his comedies with a wedding!” And yet, as so many of us know, not everyone gets, or even wants, that particular flavor of happy ending.

For Kate Conklin, the fretful-but-smiling protagonist of I Used to Go Here, a visit to her old college campus, 15 years after graduation, is a step into a comforting cocoon — they don't call it alma mater for nothing. But that return to less complicated times is also mined with defeat, humiliation and pot-infused gummies, the catalysts of awakening in Kris Rey's low-key cringe comedy.

A movie bad enough for summer 2020 but far too unmemorable to actually serve as its mascot, Christian Sesma's Paydirt forces one to assume the writer/director sat down one morning to write his own Guy Ritchie-meets-Oceans caper, told himself, "hey, this is a breeze!" and got up before lunchtime having finished a script few other people would recognize as a movie at all.

Black,” according to its director and star, Beyoncé. (Or is that Beyoncé Knowles-Carter? She takes the last name for her director’s credit, but goes first-name only for her starring credit.)But it’s unlikely that too many fans will flock to Disney+ for altered semantics.

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticWho would have thought a romantic comedy on the pain of being different could become such ironic and timely viewing in a global pandemic? In “I Weirdo,” a kooky and innovative debut by Taiwanese writer-director Liao Ming-yi, a couple with OCD trying to fit in to so-called “normal” society now looks like social-distancing heroes in our Covid-hit, locked-down lives. Shot and edited by Liao using the iPhone XS Max, the production looks no less vibrant for it.

Richard Kuipers “A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic” casts a damning eye on the pernicious role alcohol plays in the working careers and social lives of Japanese men. Narrated by the innermost thoughts of a daughter during the 25 years she spends watching her father drink himself to death, Kenji Katagari’s second feature cleverly plays like a quirky little TV sitcom about an ordinary middle-class family before moving into darker territory.

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticImagine a Japanese version of “Pygmalion” in which the sculptor continues to caress slabs of marble even after Galatea has come to life. That is the unusual premise of “Romance Doll,” a marital drama in which a sex doll maker’s rapt obssession with his new prototype, leads to rejection of his human muse.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticA cigar is never just a cigar where Sigmund Freud is concerned.

Lisa Kennedy Four Vietnam vets reunite for a mission, one that will lean on their wartime exploits but also expose more than a few old tensions.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticSnarled loops of time travel have proved a surprisingly versatile and rewarding fantasy-cinema trope in recent years, from the big-budget likes of “Edge of Tomorrow” to such enterprising indies as “Predestination,” not to mention comedies (“Palm Springs”), horror (“Happy Death Day”), romance (“Before I Fall”) and more.

For a debut feature, writer-director Charlène Favier’s powerful coming-of-age sports drama Slalom couldn't come at a more timely moment.

truth and beauty, too, it’s safe to say that “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” finds a bit of both of those things.Also Read: 'Palm Springs' Film Review: Andy Samberg Puts an Indie Rom-Com Spin on 'Groundhog Day'The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, went to the Berlin and True/False Film Festivals and had a series of virtual screenings on July 8 to celebrate National Dive Bar Day, with a virtual rollout scheduled for July 10.

Guy Lodge Film CriticIn “Archive,” an isolated scientist methodically pursues an artificial-intelligence ideal, developing a sequence of human-android beings and recycling their various parts until the ultimate prototype is achieved.

"They say that when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. I wish it were that simple," says James, the main character, in his voiceover narration at the beginning of Volition.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticWhen you look at the face of Danny Trejo, you see the creases and hollows and pockmarks, the eye pouches like saddlebags, the badges of a life so well-worn that, at first, that’s just about all you see. Yet the more you look, the more you notice a paradox.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticBeing released during an epidemic lends additional if unintended frisson to “The Beach House,” a cryptic yet reasonably involving thriller in which vacationers find themselves under threat. The nature of that threat remains ambiguous, but in its partially-airborne inescapability, it definitely hits a note of creepy relevance.