AwardsWatch - sxsw review

‘Joy Ride’ review: Adele Lim’s hilariously raunchy and sex-positive Asian diaspora comedy pushes buttons and boundaries | SXSW

Kevin L. Lee March 18, 2023

Joy Ride begins with relaxing music and shots of white people enjoying the outdoors at a town called White Hills. We then quickly find a... Read More

‘Wild Life’ review: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin explore love and conservationism in effective climate change doc | SXSW

Abe Friedtanzer March 17, 2023

People have been sounding the alarm for years on climate change, and it’s often hard to figure out what to do to help prevent or... Read More

‘Tetris’ review: Iconic video game origin story gets fun, Cold War thriller treatment and a winning Taron Egerton | SXSW

Kevin L. Lee March 16, 2023

In journalism, it’s never just the story. There’s also the story behind how it got published, how the people behind the scenes worked to get... Read More

‘Upon Entry’ review: Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez present a tense look at the abusive powers of immigration authority | SXSW

Kevin L. Lee March 16, 2023

It’s one thing to be asked questions about your background, to make sure all information is in line and to ensure everything is in order... Read More

‘Evil Dead Rise’ review: Lee Cronin reanimates the classic horror franchise with a gleefully gruesome performance from Lily Sullivan | SXSW

Ryan McQuade March 16, 2023

It all started with a book that shouldn’t have been opened and human curiosity. Young people find this ancient artifact (Necronomicon) that oozes with sinister... Read More

‘Cora Bora’ review: Megan Stalter is a captivating, comedic wrecking ball in Hannah Pearl Utt’s hilarious and poignant comedy | SXSW

Abe Friedtanzer March 15, 2023

The music that Cora (Megan Stalter) plays isn’t particularly pleasant on the ears. With lyrics like “get out of my house” and “dreams are stupid... Read More

‘If You Were the Last’ review: Zoë Chao and Anthony Mackie give gravity some levity as stranded astronauts in an out-of-this-world comedy | SXSW

Abe Friedtanzer March 14, 2023

When do you really know that the world is ending, and it’s okay to do something completely out of character with irreversible consequences? There’s no... Read More

‘Problemista’ review: Julio Torres’s inventive immigration satire finds him bonded with an extra kooky Tilda Swinton | SXSW

Ryan McQuade March 14, 2023

When we first meet Alejandro at a young age in Problemista, he is dreaming of a world beyond the one that we live in. His... Read More

‘Self Reliance’ review: Jake Johnson’s spoof on high concept game show premise plays it a bit too safe | SXSW

Kevin L. Lee March 13, 2023

Right before we were about to see Jake Johnson’s feature length directorial debut Self Reliance at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, he came on stage... Read More

‘I Used to Be Funny’ review: Rachel Sennott is spectacular in Ally Pankiw’s confrontation of comedy and trauma | SXSW

Abe Friedtanzer March 13, 2023

How do comedians deal with PTSD? Typically, it’s to tell jokes to mask or subvert the trauma, but that doesn’t necessarily make the pain go... Read More

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