A Art Tv Review

 This version of *East of Eden* is, unfortunately, a waste of a magnificent story and superb actors. It would not be an exaggeration, then, to say that we all deserved better. In 1955, Elia Kazan brought John Steinbeck’s novel *East of Eden* to the big screen. Seventy-one years later, in 2026, his granddaughter Zoe Kazan adapted the same work for television. The sentimental among us might be moved by this—ahem—"family business" or passing-of-the-torch aspect (or whatever you wish to call it) and celebrate the work of the 43-year-old Kazan, anticipating a modern, feminine take on the source material (or simply, pure professionalism). But, sadly, this new version of *East of Eden* turns out to be terribly dull, and watching it feels like a chore. Stars: Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott, Mike Faist While checking the Wikipedia page for Steinbeck’s novel, I realized that the Netflix adaptation doesn't differ much from the site's synopsis section. Yes, it makes sense for ...

 "Whoever climbs K2 in winter will claim mountaineering’s last great prize." Over the last decade, the mountain documentary has evolved into a genre of its own. Spectacular films like *Free Solo*, *The Dawn Wall*, and the 2024 Sundance sensation *Skywalkers: A Love Story*—which follows urban climbers scaling the world’s tallest, slenderest skyscrapers, a feat so perilous it rivals the ascent of natural peaks—rival the planet’s most dizzying action movies. They exert a pull that can be summed up like this: come for the heart-stopping vertigo and stay for the human drama... but stay, too, to explore the question: "What kind of person seeks out such a dose of vertigo?" These films possess a "don't look down" appeal that is at once fascinating and terrifying. In 2021, that mission turned into a deadly competition. Companies were reeling from the ravages of COVID restrictions, social media "likes" had become a new form of currency, and an unexpect...

 Alejandro González Iñárritu desperately needs to abandon postmodernism, but his latest comedy, at least, rings truer—and more tragic—than *Birdman* or *Bardo*. Alejandro González Iñárritu and Tom Cruise are a match made in heaven—even if they aren't a match for anyone else. One is a cinematic daredevil whose films feed on the tension between ego and mortality: a mad virtuoso obsessed with staging spectacular, complex sequences that project his inner world onto a grand scale. He does so with such extreme, kamikaze-like effort that even—or especially—his most monumental works can give the impression that the person behind them is hiding from reality rather than elevating it to an epic dimension. The other is Tom Cruise. Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu Writers: Sabina Berman, Jez Butterworth, Alexander Dinelaris Stars: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman By different paths and for different ends, both have constantly risked their creative lives—and sometimes their actual ones—by push...

Apophenia is the term defining the human tendency to draw false connections between unrelated things. It lies at the heart of most conspiracy theories. The characters in *Appofeniacs*—a film by Chris Marss Piliero screened at the 2025 Fantastic Fest—fall victim to this psychological phenomenon, though at times they are also its architects. The movie explores the potential for deepfake technology to ruin lives. In the opening scene, a man murders his girlfriend after receiving a video showing her having sex with another man. The video is fake. The person behind it is Duke (Aaron Holliday), a punk-styled young man obsessed with artificial intelligence; he shows the criminal Cedrick (Jermaine Fowler) how he uses this technology to exact revenge on people he dislikes. Director: Chris Marrs Piliero Writer: Chris Marrs Piliero Stars: Aaron Holliday, Jermaine Fowler, Sean Gunn This sets the stage for several interconnected subplots regarding the consequences of his malicious schemes. Those af...

From *Cannibal Holocaust* to *Anaconda* and *The Green Inferno*, genre cinema has maintained a highly fraught relationship with the Amazon rainforest. While *Beware Boiúna*’s portrayal of the South American jungle and its indigenous peoples is not without stereotypes, this fast-paced creature feature directed by Mike P. Nelson surprises—both through its attunement to the rhythms of the environment and its complete lack of interest in condescendingly exorcising white guilt. After an opening sequence that sets the stage—showing Amazonian indigenous people confronting illegal gold miners—the film introduces us to the passengers of a boat drifting leisurely along the mighty Amazon: a humanitarian team led by Dr. Miguel (Juan Pablo Shuk) and accompanied by rookie doctors Alli (Jessica Rothe) and Callum (Will Close), who have traveled to the region to provide medical care to underserved populations. When the group crosses paths with Brendan Malloy (Logan Marshall-Green) and his band of unscr...

 After retiring, a doctor who has always been able to see the dead finds herself forced to confront her own niece's supernatural abilities as ghosts, family wounds, and the violence surrounding her Buenos Aires neighborhood begin to converge. There is something wonderfully strange about *My Sad Dead*. It is a ghost story, yet it rarely behaves like one. The dead do not lurk behind doors waiting to deliver a jump scare. They sit around the house. They complain. They wander the streets. They carry the emotional residue of the lives they left behind. Sometimes they are frightening. Sometimes they are sad. At times, they are so absurd that the series becomes unexpectedly funny. And beneath it all lies a deeply human story about grief, family resentment, violence, and the things people would prefer to keep buried. That is what makes the series so interesting... and frustrating. Stars: Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi, Alejandra Flechner Pablo Larraín’s adaptation of Mariana Enríquez’s work...