Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

February 3, 2025

RIVER PHAN

XFRANKSUN / CC BY-SA 4.0
Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov star in Anora, Sean Baker’s film about a sex worker who goes by Ani who marries the son of a Russian oligarch and is thrust into an unfamiliar world.

Anora is a dazzling picture of how escapism won’t save you, but it may not be Sean Baker’s strongest

By RIVER PHAN | November 16, 2024

BRIARCLIFF ENTERTAINMENT / CC BY 4.0
Sebastian Stan plays Donald Trump in Ali Abbasi’s latest film The Apprentice.

Even as its star in The Apprentice, Donald Trump is still outshined by Roy Cohn

By RIVER PHAN | November 7, 2024

KAREL CHLADEK / CC BY 2.0
Phan contends that Coppola's heavy investment in Megalopolis does not prevent it from being a disaster and that stripped of all the controversy, it fails to make a lasting impression.

Megalopolis is overwhelmingly sincere but not that great

By RIVER PHAN | October 9, 2024

CHARLES HATHAWAY / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Set in California in the 2000s , Sean Wang’s debut film ‘Didi’ paints a nostalgic yet resonant portrait of growing up.

Didi is a truly endearing Asian American coming-of-age portrait that’s for everyone

By RIVER PHAN | September 15, 2024

GAGE SKIDMORE / CC BY-SA 2.0
Kristin Stewart stars as Lou, a reclusive young woman who becomes absorbed in an all-consuming relationship with a bodybuilder and goes to great lengths for her.

Love Lies Bleeding is fast fun but is only superficially subversive

By RIVER PHAN | April 8, 2024

DICK THOMAS JOHNSON / CC BY 2.0
The film Perfect Days stars Koji Yakusho as a Japanese bathroom cleaner who appreciates the small joys in life.

In Perfect Days, we face life’s vulnerabilities through the comfort of routine

By RIVER PHAN | March 3, 2024

CITY.AND.COLOR / CC BY 2.0
All of Us Strangers deals with themes of grief and loneliness, as a screenwriter living alone in London gets a chance for closure when he discovers his long-dead parents alive in his childhood home, the same age and unchanged from when he lost them.

Inconsolable loneliness becomes oddly comforting in All of Us Strangers

By RIVER PHAN | January 31, 2024

UNIVERSET3 / CC BY-NC 3.0
In the second season of Invincible, we see the aftermath of Mark Grayson’s brutal confrontation with his father at the end of the first season.

How the first four episodes of Invincible's second season tackle the fear of becoming exactly like your dad

By RIVER PHAN | January 22, 2024

BANTRANIC / CC BY-NC 3.0
The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie follows a night security guard at an abandoned pizzeria as he tries to survive its murderous haunted animatronics.

The Five Nights at Freddy’s film is enjoyable but still plagued by predictability

By RIVER PHAN | November 14, 2023

ALBERTO BUSCATO VAZQUEZ /  CC BY-SA 4.0
It Lives Inside is a horror movie which draws on Indian mythology.

The skeleton of potential in It Lives Inside

By RIVER PHAN | October 9, 2023

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