Volume XX
ISSUE I
ISSUE II
About Us
Volume XIX
ISSUE I
ISSUE II
ISSUE IV
GRAIL TEAM 2023-2024
SUBMIT!
News & Features
Fiction & Poetry
Cultural Corner
Sections
Letters to the Editor
Remote Reports
Music Reviews
Film Reviews
Burn After Reading
De Sastre
Science
Astral Projections
Lunchtime Poll
Illustrations
Archive
Archive
Illustrations
Photo Gallery
Miss Lonely Hearts
Search

The Grail at Reed College

Volume XX
ISSUE I
ISSUE II
About Us
Volume XIX
ISSUE I
ISSUE II
ISSUE IV
GRAIL TEAM 2023-2024
SUBMIT!
News & Features
Fiction & Poetry
Cultural Corner
Sections
Letters to the Editor
Remote Reports
Music Reviews
Film Reviews
Burn After Reading
De Sastre
Science
Astral Projections
Lunchtime Poll
Illustrations
Archive
Archive
Illustrations
Photo Gallery
Miss Lonely Hearts
Search
3-D Movie in Vollum, ca. 1983-1989 (1).jpg

Film Reviews

  • Sections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Remote Reports
  • Music Reviews
  • Film Reviews
  • Burn After Reading
  • De Sastre
  • Science
  • Astral Projections
  • Lunchtime Poll
  • Illustrations
Featured
A Review of "Locked Down"
Feb 12, 2021
Will Stevens
A Review of "Locked Down"
Feb 12, 2021
Will Stevens

Locked Down is a movie that wants to be a lot of things. Written and filmed entirely in the pandemic and released on HBO Max earlier this year, it wants to be a cute romcom, an emotional and relatable look into life during the pandemic, and a stylish heist film. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hit the mark on any of them.

Feb 12, 2021
Will Stevens
Chandramukhi: A Look into Tamil Cinema
Oct 30, 2020
Priya Narain
Chandramukhi: A Look into Tamil Cinema
Oct 30, 2020
Priya Narain

The dramatization of every action in Chandramukhi (2005) captures the very essence of Tamil cinema. With the exception of other South Indian language films, there is nothing like it.

Oct 30, 2020
Priya Narain
Jennifer's Body: Eleven years and one Tumblr phase later
Oct 30, 2020
Betsy Wight
Jennifer's Body: Eleven years and one Tumblr phase later
Oct 30, 2020
Betsy Wight

I knew it was a universally critically panned box office failure, but every single person who I spoke to about it had nothing but praise for the film. Was Jennifer’s Body really as good as my peers said it was?

Short answer: yes. Long answer: fuck yes.

Oct 30, 2020
Betsy Wight
Holy Motors: Holy Shit!
Nov 26, 2014
Dylan Holmes
Holy Motors: Holy Shit!
Nov 26, 2014
Dylan Holmes

We’re never given a single hint of where Mr. Oscar came from or where he’s going, or really what it is his performances are even for. Every time we think we’re getting a sincere glimpse into his life, we realize it’s just another performance. The limo he’s shuffled around in is the only nucleus of stability we’re given for understanding Oscar and Celine, and I even hesitate to say we can trust these moments in the film.

Nov 26, 2014
Dylan Holmes
Boyhood Calling
Sep 26, 2014
Dylan Holmes
Boyhood Calling
Sep 26, 2014
Dylan Holmes

Probably the closest I’ve come to feeling resolved about this issue of aging was in the ecstatic yet devastated state I found myself in walking out of the movie theatres after watching Richard Linklater’s latest and most ambitious film to date, Boyhood.

This is the closest cinema has come to reconciling narratives with the unpredictable and often anti-climactic nature of real life.

Sep 26, 2014
Dylan Holmes
Lars von Trier Digs Deep in "Nymphomaniac"
Apr 10, 2014
Max Carpenter
Lars von Trier Digs Deep in "Nymphomaniac"
Apr 10, 2014
Max Carpenter

“Nymphomaniac”, Lars von Trier’s most recent film, begins with Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) battered and left in an alleyway to be discovered by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), who takes her in into his home. There, Joe begins to recount the sexual antics that led to her destitution.

Apr 10, 2014
Max Carpenter
Russian Ark
Mar 27, 2014
Jordan Yu
Russian Ark
Mar 27, 2014
Jordan Yu

December 23, 2001 is the last chance for Russian director Alexander Sokurov. Holed up inside St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum, an exhausted camera crew, two thousands actors in period costume, and three orchestras are waiting for the signal to start. This is the one fact that everyone who has heard of “Russian Ark” knows even before watching it: this movie was filmed entirely in one take. Using a Steadicam to stabilize the shot, the whole 96-minute movie was filmed and saved, uncompressed, onto a hard disk. No cuts, no transitions; this is the most realistic movie I’ve seen. 

Mar 27, 2014
Jordan Yu
Feb 27, 2014
Jordan Yu
The LEGO Movie: Warner Brothers Builds Kids' Movie for Adults
Feb 27, 2014
Jordan Yu

“The LEGO Movie,” in theaters now, is a hilarious 100-minute avalanche of virtual action scenes, pop-culture references, and successful satire that pours out of the screen and onto the audience. While the movie is aimed at children, the comedy is rife with subtle and subversive in-jokes that only older viewers will understand.

Feb 27, 2014
Jordan Yu
Back to Top
The Grail at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd ATTN: The Grail, Portland, OR 97202, USA

Powered by Squarespace