Jigsaw - Movie Review

The Movie: Jigsaw

The Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig

The Cast: Matt Passmore, Tobin Bell, Callum Keith Rennie, Hannah Emily Anderson, Clé Bennett, Laura Vandervoort, Paul Braunstein, Mandela Van Peebles, Brittany Allen

The Story: Bodies are turning up around the city, each having met a uniquely gruesome demise. As the investigation proceeds, evidence points to one suspect: John Kramer, the man known as Jigsaw, who has been dead for ten years.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. - Movie Review

The Movie: Roman J. Israel, Esq.

The Director: Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler)

The Cast: Denzel Washington, Carmen Ejogo, Colin Farrell

The Story: Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Movie Review

The Movie: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The Director: Martin McDonagh

The Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Zeljko Ivanek, Peter Dinklage, John Hawkes, Samara Weaving

The Story: A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.

Coco - Movie Review

The Movie: Coco

The Directors: Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina

The Cast:  Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Edward James Olmos, John Ratzenberger

The Story: Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to work out the mystery.

Wonder - Movie Review

The Movie: Wonder

The Director: Stephen Chbosky

The Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Izabela Vidovic, Mandy Patinkin, Noah Jupe, Bryce Gheisar, Elle McKinnon, Daveed Diggs, Millie Davis, Ali Liebert, Danielle Rose Russell

The Story: Based on the New York Times bestseller, WONDER tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.

Justice League - Movie Review

The Movie: Justice League

The Director: Zack Snyder

The Cast: Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds, Amber Heard, Joe Morton

The Story: DC Comics super heroes band together to save the planet from certain destruction.

Zan (HIFF 2017) - Documenatry Review

The Documentary: Zan

The Director: Rick Grehan

The Story: This film follows imageMILL’s Yu Kisami as he brings us on a journey of discovery, aided by NGO NACJS. We meet the people who are working tirelessly to protect this beautiful part of the world, a natural heritage for Japan.

Mon Mon Mon Monsters (報告老師! 怪怪怪怪物!) (HIFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: Mon Mon Mon Monsters (報告老師! 怪怪怪怪物!)

The Director: Giddens Ko

The Cast: James Lai, Meng Tao, Yu-Kai Deng, Kent Tsai, Eugenie Liu

The Story: A man-eating monster hunts down a group of high school bullies who have captured and are torturing her little sister.

Lady Bird (HIFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: Lady Bird

The Director: Greta Gerwig

The Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Lois Smith, Odeya Rush

The Story: The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year.

Bad Genius (ฉลาดเกมส์โกง) (HIFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: Bad Genius (ฉลาดเกมส์โกง)

The Director: Nattawut Poonpiriya

The Cast: Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, Chanon Santinatornkul, Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Eisaya Hosuwan

The Story: Inspired by actual events, a group of high school students hatch a plan to profit off of their brains by selling the answers to standardized exams.

Fake Blood (PDXFF 2017) - Movie Review

Movie Review: Fake Blood

Director: Rob Grant

The Story: Rob Grant and Mike Kovac receive a disturbing fan video inspired by their previous horror movie Mon Ami, motivating them to investigate the responsibility of filmmakers in portraying violence in movies. In their pursuit of the truth they are unwittingly introduced to the real world of violent criminals and their victims.

Break the Chain (PDXFF 2017) - Documentary Review

The Movie: Break the Chain

The Directors: Laura E. Swanson and Kirk Mason

The Story: The film chronicles two survivors of Human Trafficking - providing a detailed look at how trafficking goes unnoticed within our backyards. Kwami, a child survivor of Labor Trafficking, was enslaved for nearly five years with three other children in Ypsilanti, Michigan before anyone noticed. Debbie, a survivor of Sex Trafficking, takes us through her experience of being sold for sex around the Detroit-Area between the ages of 13 and 18. - BreakTheChainFilm.com

Secret Santa (PDXFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: Secret Santa

The Director: Adam Marcus

The Cast: A Leslie Kies, Michael Rady, Michelle Renee Allaire, Pat Destro, Drew Lynch, Curtis Fortier, John Gilbert, Nathan Hedrick, Megan Helbing, Petra Areskoug, Ryan Leigh Seaton, Debra Sullivan, Michelle Allair, Freddy John James, Eddie Jordan III

The Story: A dysfunctional Christmas party turns deadly when an unexpected gift brings out the evil in everyone and turns the yuletide festivities into a fight for survival.

The Hollow Child (PDXFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: The Hollow Child

The Director: Jeremy Lutter

The Cast: Jessica McLeod, Hannah Cheramy, John Emmet Tracy, Jana Mitsoula, Genevieve Buechner, Connor Stanhope, Johannah Newmarch

The Story: A troubled foster teen, Samantha, works to expose a dangerous supernatural impostor in her new family and rescue her foster sister.

Thor: Ragnarok - Movie Review

The Movie: Thor: Ragnarok

The Director: Taika Waititi

The Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Mark Ruffalo, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi

The Story: This is what Thor and Hulk were doing during Civil War.

Blue (HIFF 2017) - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Blue

The Director: Karina Holden

The Story: Blue is a provocative journey into the ocean realm, witnessing this critical moment in time when the marine world is on a precipice.

Brown's Canyon (PDXFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: Brown's Canyon

The Director: John Helde

The Cast: Lisa Every, Eric Jordan, Carter Rodriquez, Jenn Ruzumna, Sara Rucker Thiessen

The Story: Two self-help gurus plan to resuscitate their careers by co-hosting a women’s mindfulness retreat in the Utah wilderness. When surprise guests, a mudslide and a bowl of spoiled chili thwart their plans, their own lives unravel over one awkward weekend.

The VelociPastor (PDXFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: The VelociPastor

The Director: Brendan Steere

The Cast: Gregory James Cohan, Alyssa Kempinski, Fernando Pacheco De Castro, Jesse Turits, Daniel Steere,

The Story: After losing his parents, a priest travels to China, where he inherits a mysterious ability that allows him to turn into a dinosaur. At first horrified by this new power, a hooker convinces him to use it to fight crime. And ninjas.

Wol-ha: Very Bad Moon Rising (PDXFF 2017) - Movie Review

The Movie: Wol-ha: Very Bad Moon Rising

The Director: Oh In-chun

The Story: Commissioned by a mysterious international collector with a large sum of money, a party makes an expedition to find “the tomb of Kisaeng Wolhyang”.

Thank You for Your Service - Movie Review

The Movie: Thank You for Your Service

Director: Jason Hall

The Cast: Miles Teller, Haley Bennett, Joe Cole, Beaulah Koale, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Amy Schumer, Erin Darke, Scott Haze, Omar J. Dorsey, Brad Beyer

The Story: A group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they've left the battlefield.