Movie Reviews
Get the latest movie reviews from our in-house critics, Shirrel Rhoades and Ian Brockway. You’ll also find reviews from film festivals and advance screening movies. Do you have what it takes to be a Guest movie reviewer? Send us your review to info@TropicCinema.com for approval and maybe you’ll earn a spot! Want to make sure you never miss a review? Follow the Tropic on Facebook for daily updates!
Tropic Sprockets: Unlikely Cinematic Cousins
Ian explores the ways 1953's "Shane" and 1984's "Blue Velvet" act as cinematic cousins -- dealing with Good and Evil, voyeurism, innocence and violence in two deceptively dissimilar settings.
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Film: A Discovery of Friendship
While the Tropic is closed for renovation, our reviewer Ian, who has used a wheelchair all his life, offers some thoughts on film.
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Tropic Sprockets: We The Animals
Though the theme of family dysfunction reminds one of “The Florida Project,” the emphasis on the covert rituals of writing and drawing at all cost recall the personal stories of Ray Bradbury and Maurice Sendak’s "Where the Wild Things Are."
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Tropic Sprockets: Fahrenheit 11/9
Whether you love him or not, one thing is indisputable, Michael Moore is one of our last impassioned provocateurs. The images of "Fahrenheit 11/9" are shocking, jittery and profound with power and they may well hit you in the gut with all the jolt of a horror film.
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Front Row at the Movies: Fahrenheit 11/9
Michael Moore’s politics are no secret. He has criticized globalization, large corporations, the healthcare system, assault weapons, the Iraq War and three U.S. presidents. He’s found an audience, and you know whether you’re among the throng or not.
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Tropic Sprockets: The Wife
Marital discontent has a long history in print and film. Few subjects are more potent with pathos and poison. “The Wife,” directed by Björn Runge and adapted from a novel by Meg Wolitzer, is an unsparing look at a thirty-year marriage and friendship. From the first second to the last, it is unrelenting.
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Tropic Sprockets: Juliet, Naked
Director Jesse Peretz has a likeable romantic comedy with “Juliet, Naked.” The film is smooth and jovial, and while it may not break any new ground, it has a solid cast that keeps the mildly madcap events breezy and entertaining.
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Festival Report: Toronto International Film Fest – Day 6
With nearly 40+ films to choose from each day over the course of 14 days, the Tropic's S. Runi Goyal will chip away at a few gems to provide you with a preview of independent cinema for the 2018-2019 film season. Day 6 ended up being heavy on the "based on real life" stories, including the Neil Armstrong biopic "First Man" and the feel-good film of the year.
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Front Row at the Movies: Juliet, Naked
“Juliet, Naked” is the name of the film, the novel by Nick Hornby and the album at its center – a newly discovered acoustic demo of a once-popular rocker’s hit record from 25 years ago. It’s a romantic comedy at heart, and also a “pitch-perfect examination of male fandom and the almost sinister way in which the advent of the Internet has fed and enabled it.”
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Front Row at the Movies: The Wife
The novel by Meg Wolitzer opens, “The moment I decided to leave him, the moment I thought, enough, we were thirty-five thousand feet above the ocean, hurtling forward but giving the illusion of stillness and tranquility. Just like our marriage.” You can expect the same impact from the same-named film version.
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