Joseph Beyer | Author
Film Review: Conclave
Nov. 16, 2024
While there aren’t many Lutheran or Presbyterian thrillers out there in the multiplexes, audiences can always count on the world of Catholicism to return to the big screen. Vatican City alone is so cinematic and intriguing there are over 40 films set there, according to Wikipedia. So …
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Film Review: Will & Harper
Nov. 2, 2024
The most interesting and heartfelt “buddy film” of the year is also a true story. In Netflix’s Will & Harper, we find an intimate and vulnerable documentary about a longtime relationship that also becomes an intentional allegory for America’s reckoning w…
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Film Review: Dogman3: Fight to the Finish
Oct. 26, 2024
Though the story began in 1887 with a reported attack in Michigan’s Wexford County from a creature “with a dog’s head and a man’s body,” the legend of the Dogman lay relatively dormant for 100 years. That was until Traverse City DJ Steve Cook recorded “Th…
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Film Review: Chimp Crazy
Oct. 5, 2024
The new four-part HBO documentary miniseries Chimp Crazy not only lives up to its name, but goes far beyond it in revealing an underworld with more twists and turns than even the veteran filmmaker Eric Goode thought possible. The result is an addictive story filled with disturbing …
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Film Review: Didi
Sept. 21, 2024
The Sundance Film Festival, which takes place in January of each year, has long been the storied holy ground for personal, coming-of-age stories. Audiences and juries have awarded a long list of these projects with their highest festival honors, from Ruby in Paradise (1993) to …
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Sept. 14, 2024 It should come as no surprise that one of the most fascinating films of the year comes from one of the most fascinating filmmaking duos working today. In Sasquatch Sunset, a riveting portrayal of the hidden world of the elusive Bigfoot and their last days of existence, the multi-hy…
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Aug. 24, 2024 If the bold, award-winning animated feature film Robot Dreams has anything to do with it, then old dogs can in fact learn many new tricks. Some tricks are even as complicated as dealing with the arc of love and loss, the agony of modern loneliness, and the self-care that comes from…
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Aug. 10, 2024 The latest installment in the seemingly never ending Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is the pairing of two pop culture icons in Deadpool & Wolverine, an antihero buddy comedy with a perverse Laurel and Hardy edge. Instead of the messiness of pies in faces, thes…
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July 27, 2024 With almost as many stars as the Milky Way, the stylish new dramedy Fly Me to the Moon is a romantic romp almost as complicated as the 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission it uses as the background for the story. Sold in advance as a period comedy with a sexy modern edge (most notab…
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July 13, 2024 It's estimated that elder scams—crimes targeting people over 60 years old—steal over $3 billion dollars a year from vulnerable golden-agers. Most of us know someone personally who has been duped by the endless array of phishing, spamming, and increasingly sophisticated crimes pr…
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June 29, 2024 If American cinema has a genre all its own, it might be The Motorcycle Movie. With iconic influences like The Wild One (1953), Easy Rider (1969), and Hell Ride (2008) as inspiration, the long-awaited and chrome-infused drama The Bikeriders has finally roa…
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June 15, 2024 At the center of the terrifically funny new comedy Babes is a story of a lifelong friendship between best friends. Around the edges of the 1 hour 44 minute film is a deeper story of motherhood, modern love, and maturity that may leave you in tears. That’s because actors Ilana…
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June 8, 2024 As a hyper-local film critic, I was delighted to see the AMC Cherry Blossom 14 parking lot packed over Memorial Day Weekend. I sincerely wish I could say it was because the movie-going public was dying to see the latest releases, but alas: it had just rained cats and dogs all day. This wet …
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May 18, 2024 With the summer blockbuster season in full swing—and with the most studio releases punching below expectations on Rotten Tomatoes—I found myself drawn this week to a real-life thriller streaming on Netflix directed by an award-winning documentarian. Rory Kennedy (Gho…
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May 4, 2024 Sexual tension smashes back onto the big screen in Challengers, the much-hyped love triangle drama set within the world of professional tennis. What makes the film somewhat remarkable (among other things), is how Italian director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) and …
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April 20, 2024 In the not-so-futuristic landscape of domestic unrest, the United States of America (as seen in the dystopian thriller Civil War) has been fractured. Why, how, and what exactly the new insurrection is about you will have to piece together yourself. That’s because in the hands…
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April 6, 2024 As someone whose life partner doesn’t watch horror movies, I don’t often get a chance to take in a big screen chiller. But I had plenty of motivation to head to Immaculate when it first opened. I have known director Michael Mohan from years of working toget…
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March 16, 2024 If I had tried to convince you last week that Anatomy of a Fall was worth 2 hours and 32 minutes of your time, you may have ignored the rec. That’s because we, the American movie culture, don’t often venture outside our comfort zone when it comes to European films with …
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March 2, 2024 Perhaps the first sign that Bob Marley: One Love might be a suspiciously polished and glowing take on the pop culture icon was the video from his son, Ziggy, that played before the film. In it, Ziggy pronounces that he and the Marley family “love how the film turned out.&rdqu…
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Feb. 10, 2024 Reading society like a book and reflecting our collective discrimination back at us, American Fiction is a remarkable first-time feature that is simultaneously one of the softest and loudest films of the year. (It has been nominated for Best Picture, among other Oscars honors.)
Film Review: Sasquatch Sunset
Film Review: Robot Dreams
Film Review: Deadpool & Wolverine
Film Review: Fly Me to the Moon
Film Review: Thelma
The Bikeriders
Film Review: Babes
Film Review: The Blue Angels
Film Review - The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
Film Review: Challengers
Film Review: Civil War
Film Review: Immaculate
Film Review: Anatomy of a Fall
Film Review: Bob Marley: One Love
Film Review: American Fiction