After Suicide Squad failed with DC fans, with its weird plot and “Hot Topic” aesthetic, many fans left the theaters with a new love for Harley Quinn, the zany, loveable anti-hero, while others were disappointed in her portrayal. Easily the best part of the 2016 film, the fan-favorite left a lot to be desired and many women wanted her character explored more. Thankfully, this fourth-wall-breaking character is getting well-earned praise and spinoffs. Her adult cartoon tv show Harley Quinn premiered in 2019. So, when DC announced that...

The LodgeDirected by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala Out February 7 The Lodge is a terrifying nightmare, that plays like a disturbingly twist on The Parent Trap. From the directors of Goodnight Mommy, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s, The Lodge follows a family who retreat to their remote cabin over the winter holidays for some quality time together. When the father (Richard Armitage) has to go back for work, he leaves his children, Aidan (IT’s Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) with his new girlfriend, Grace (Riley Keough). Trapped in the lodge by...

Attending the Sundance Film Festival is a great way to check out what’s going to be relevant for the coming year. This trip I watched twelve films in four days. Sounds like a lot, but with 118 feature films screening at Sundance this year, I barely scratched the surface of all that was being offered. Here is a guide to a few key films that we think will make an important mark on our culture this year.   Never Rarely Sometimes AlwaysDirected & Written by Eliza Hittman With...

I first saw Sophia Lillis onscreen as Beverly Marsh in Stephen King’s film adaptation of IT. The performance resulted in the actress' nomination for the MTV Movie Award for The Most Frightened Performance, and rightfully so — because this girl can act. The second time was in her latest project, Gretel and Hansel, which I watched in a cinema alone. The film, based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale, is a coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old named Gretel, who is kicked out of her home alongside her brother, Hansel,...

The Assistant Dir. and written by Kitty Green Out January 31  The Assistant is undoubtedly a thriller, but don’t expect any fast-paced action or hard-to-follow twists—the most horrifying parts of Kitty Green’s debut feature film are the details, exchanged glances, and charged subtext. For an hour and a half, we follow twenty-something post-grad Jane (Julia Garner) as she works her personal assistant job: arriving to the office first and leaving last, answering emails and phone calls, ordering lunch for a team of patronizing men. With dreams of becoming a...

THE TURNINGDirected by Floria SigismondiOut January 24 In her latest film, The Turning, Italian-Canadian director Floria Sigismondi retells the deeply haunting 100-year-old short story by Henry James, "The Turning of the Screw."  A passion project of Steven Spielberg, this film focuses on Katie (Mackenzie Davis), a young woman who wants to serve as a governess for two disturbed children, Miles (Finn Wolfhard) and Flora (Brooklynn Prince). As the film progresses, Katie senses a dark presence in the house and in the children that promises harm--or is...

For 21 years, The Reel Sisters Diaspora Film Festival has been recognizing women of color and their exceptional storytelling. Taking place this year in mid-October, The Reel Sisters Diaspora Film Festival honored journalist Sandra Guzman, who produced the Toni Morrison documentary The Pieces I Am, with the Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award. The Pieces I Am tells the story of Morrison’s journey as a writer through her novels. What struck me most about this documentary was the conversation around Morrison’s critics, among them Sara Blackburn of The New...

  SebergDirected by Benedict AndrewsOut December 13 Seberg is meant to be a biopic about 1960s film star Jean Seberg (played by Kristen Stewart) and the FBI harassment she faced because of her involvement with the civil rights movement. But instead, this thriller focuses more on the sensibilities of FBI agent Jack Solomon (Jack O’Connell), the man assigned to investigate her after becoming aware of her affair with activist Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie), and her affiliation with the Black Panthers. The film frames Seberg as a martyr by...

  The 77th annual Golden Globe Awards nominations were announced this morning and the craziest thing happened: no women were nominated for Best Director or Best Screenplay. Not only is this crazy, but it’s also not surprising, either. Only five women have been nominated for Best Director in the past, and only one woman has won it, according to Variety, and that woman is Barbara Streisand. Before addressing this, there were more than enough female directors to nominate this year, as there is every year. Although this...

  Portrait of a Lady on Fire Written and directed by Céline SciammaOut December 6  Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an exquisite period piece about love between headstrong women, with a large dollop of art theory to boot. In 18th century France, the relatively free life that artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) enjoys sets her apart from other women. She is beholden to no man, unlike her latest subject, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), whose portrait Marianne is hired to paint so her betrothed can check out his wife-to-be before they...