Movie Reviews & News
Get the latest news about what's going on at the Tropic, plus movie reviews from our in-house critics, Shirrel Rhoades and Ian Brockway. You’ll also find reviews from film festivals and advance screening movies. Want to make sure you never miss a thing? Follow the Tropic on Facebook for daily updates!
Tropic Sprockets: The Drama
The plot is very like Ingmar Bergman for the millennial set (a poster for Bergman’s “Passion“ is on the apartment wall) yet there is also a bit of mystery here to keep you guessing -- the hysteria reaches a melodramatic fever pitch, but it is justified.
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Tropic Sprockets: Marc by Sofia
Marc Jacobs is a fashion designer known for his unusual designs influenced by iconic films, pop art, and Warhol. Sofia Coppola has directed a documentary on her longtime friend Jacobs -- brisk, full of famous references and colorful if a bit hyperactive and staccato.
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Tropic Sprockets: Project Hail Mary
The most iconic of these in recent memory are “2001” from Stanley Kubrick and “E.T.”from Steven Spielberg. In what can be thought of as a hybrid of "2001" and "E.T,," “Project Hail Mary” from directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller is a quirky and immersive space tale that is both whimsical and heartfelt.
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Tropic Sprockets: Dreams
Michel Franco aims his camera in the direction of the erotic thriller with “Dreams.” The film, which has echoes of a genre popular in the 1990s, attempts to tackle the timely, emotionally charged subject of immigration.
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Tropic Sprockets: Calle Malaga
Maryam Touzani ("The Blue Caftan"), an excellent filmmaker specializing in humanist drama, scores again with “Calle Malaga.” The film, immersively focused on its setting, is brisk, colorful and abundant in charm. The narrative has patience and easeful subtlety very like literature.
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Tropic Sprockets: Pillion
While other directors might have given a lighter service regarding the same sex BDSM community, Harry Lighton's "Pillion" does not patronize or satirize. This is a caring treatment.
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Tropic Sprockets: Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It
In this vibrant and thorough film, one learns that the "Fifth Beatle" became a wondrous engine in his own right, albeit with profound suffering. The documentary traces the origins of Preston from his start with Little Richard to the inner circle of music stardom.
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Tropic Sprockets: The Bride!
"The Bride!" is daring with an overt iconoclastic punk attitude that is refreshing in its spontaneity. However, it is also a bit too campy, comic, and cartoonish and may alienate the purists of the literary class.
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Tropic Sprockets: 2026 Oscar Shorts – Animated and Documentary
Each animated short artist has been dependable in giving imagination free reign, unconcerned by the limits of reality and our earthly restrictions. The documentary short category is invariably emotional, visceral, punchy, and often unrelenting.
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Tropic Sprockets: Sirāt
One part “The Treasure of Sierra Madre,", a bit of William Friedkin’s "Sorcerer” as well as George Miller ala Mad Max, this film is impactful, explosive, jarring, jittery and all emotional.
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