
Love in the time of dial up: Operator review
Since its premiere at SXSW, Operator has been compared to Her and Black Mirror, but I’d liken it to a Twilight Zone episode. It’s less sci-fi and more romantic drama. The fact that the story’s based in reality makes it seem chillingly possible. Martin Starr plays Joe, a personality designer for digital customer service voices. Prone to crippling panic attacks, he tracks every aspect of his life to help control his anxiety. When his latest robo-agent crashes and burns, he uses

Susanne Wuest interview on Goodnight Mommy
Let me begin by saying that I killed myself to make sure this video is spoiler free. You deserve to enjoy Goodnight Mommy’s suspense in its purest form. Because it is SO GOOD. It’s hands down one of the best horror movies I’ve seen this year. Read my review here. I talked to Austrian actress, Susanne Wuest over Skype about the psycho-sexual relationship between mother and son, filming in an abandoned Austrian village and playing one weird mommy. Image credit: Ulrich Seidl Fil

Room review
My sister and I went to see Room last week, not to be confused with The Room, the excellent 2003 film by Tommy Wiseau. It’s horrifying, if not more so than the novel. It’s about five-year-old Jack (Jacob Tremblay) and his ma, Joy (Brie Larson), who have been living as hostages in a man’s garden shed since the day he was born. After escaping captivity, they must learn to adjust to the outside world. The movie starts on the morning of Jack’s birthday, when his mom announces the

American Ultra looks sick
You know what was on TV last night? Breaking Dawn Part 2. It’s only been a few years and already that movie isn’t aging well. I’m a Twilight fan and even I can’t justify why it has more CGI than a Pixar movie. (For a hilarious play-by-play of the books, read Zachary Little’s blog.) But I digress. American Ultra looks SICK. I can’t wait to see it when I get back to the States. It’s a dark comedy about a stoner (Jesse Eisenberg) who’s about to propose to his girlfriend (Kristen

Clouds of Sils Maria review
This movie is so meta, it’s like the Inception of indies. It’s hard to sum up, but here goes: Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche), an aging actress is having a hard time coming to terms with not being the flavor of the month anymore. Then her personal assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart) talks her into signing on to another production of the play that made her famous when she was young. (Coincidentally, director, Olivier Assayas co-wrote the screenplay for Rendez-Vous, which wa

Two dudes fight over Margot Robbie in Z for Zachariah
Margot Robbie has been carving out a pretty nice career for herself since The Wolf of Wall Street. And from the looks of the leaked footage, I’m sure she’ll be amazing as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. But I’m scratching my head over the new Z for Zachariah trailer. Robbie plays the Last Woman on Earth after a nuclear war. The gun-totin’, Southern drawlin’ survivor then befriends the Last Man on Earth, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Things start to look like a sci-fi romantic co

Obvious Child review
The last time I was at Sundance London, I was bawling my eyes out during Emanuel. This time since I was seeing a friend for the first time in eight years, I chose something that wouldn’t make me embarrass myself. We went to the UK premiere of Obvious Child, which turned out to be not only funny, but also super quotable. Romantic comedies get a bad rep these days, but Gillian Robespierre’s feature debut is a refreshing take on the single girl’s quarter-life crisis. Jenny Slate

Please don't let this be a love story
If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you’ll know I have a lady crush on Kristen Stewart. You can keep your Mila Kunis’s and Jennifer Lawrence’s, but for some reason I prefer this chain-smoking, foul-mouthed hobo to the rest. I know, I know, Mom, she’s gross and never washes her hair. Her latest film Camp X-Ray recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to mixed reviews and a partial standing ovation. Written and directed by first-time director, Peter Sattler, it

How to break into TV
Sometimes that lucky break in television can seem as unattainable as the Holy Grail. Meet Elisabeth Nordentoft, a European Film College graduate who now works at Blu, Denmark’s leading TV production company. Over Skype, we talked about breaking into the industry and her advice for aspiring filmmakers. DYD: So I understand the European Film College in Denmark is a really intense course. Apparently you condense several years of film studies into eight and a half months. What wa

Nice guys finish last
I caught up with Ed Stoppard to talk about his role in this month's indie Papadopoulos & Sons by first-time director and his lontime friend, Marcus Markou. It's a riches-to-rags story: After losing their fortune in an ecomonic downturn, Anglo-Greek Harry Papadopoulos and his family are forced to move in with his estranged brother, eccentrically charming Spiros at his fish and chip shop. This story couldn't be more culturally relevant after the stock market crash and the Cypri