CIFF ’18 Review: In ‘Olympia’ There’s No Cutoff For Trying to Get Your Life Together

This piece was initially published on Much Ado About Cinema in October 2018. We all hate growing up: paying bills, paying rent, paying taxes, getting a job. It feels like a constant struggle to figure it all out while you’re just trying to keep your head above water and seem put together. It is a

CIFF ‘18 Review: ‘Birds of Passage’ is a Crime Drama of Epically Beautiful Proportions

This piece was initially published on Much Ado About Cinema in October 2018. If you’ve seen one crime film, you feel like you’ve seen them all. Men with guns and more money than they know what to do with shoot each other over drugs, all while (poorly) trying to protect their families. It’s a story

CIFF ‘18 Review: Get Lost in the Violence and Music of ‘Vox Lux’

This piece was initially published on Much Ado About Cinema in October 2018. Is there anything more satisfying than a catchy pop tune you can’t get out of your head? A tune that pounds its way into the crevices of your brain and infiltrates your every thought? Many times these songs enter our consciousness with

CIFF ‘18 Review: ‘Friedkin Uncut’ Is An Inside Look at the White Boys’ Club of Hollywood

This piece was initially published on Much Ado About Cinema in October 2018. The first words we hear uttered by William Friedkin are, “To me, the two most interesting characters in the history of the world are Hitler and Jesus. There’s good and evil in everybody, that’s the truth that I believe.” Admittedly, this is