Landon Defever

Landon Defever

March 20, 2025

‘Ash’ Review: Flying Lotus’ Debut Feature Amounts to a Visually Arresting, Narratively Congesting Sci-Fi Descent into Hell

The musician-to-film director pipeline is prevalent in the entertainment industry, spanning generations and perspectives. Figures primarily k...

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Landon Defever

March 11, 2025

*CIFF 2024* ‘Eephus’ Review: Muted Baseball Dramedy About the Pitfalls of Aging Knocks it Out of the Park

Baseball is one of those things that means the world to you or doesn’t, with little in-between. For a long time growing up, I was the latter....

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Landon Defever

February 27, 2025

‘The Unbreakable Boy’ Review: Faith-Based Feel-Good Autism Biopic on an Entirely Different Wavelength from Reality

To understand Jon Gunn’s The Unbreakable Boy (2025), it’s important to know its history. Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the biographica...

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Landon Defever

February 19, 2025

*International Feature Film Festival* ‘Memory Lane’ Review: The Netherlands’ Endearing and Irritating Look at the Reality of Aging

The power of international filmmaking, like all cinema, is the power of perspective and the opportunity to learn about foreign cultures. In 2...

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Landon Defever

February 10, 2025

‘No Other Land’ Review: An Essential Partnership Delivers One of the Decade’s Best Documentaries

“Tragedy cannot be the end of our lives. We cannot allow it to control and defeat us.” - Izzeldin Abuelaish, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’...

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Landon Defever

February 4, 2025

SUNDANCE 2025 ‘Predators’ Review: Filmmaker David Osit Searches for Answers in ‘To Catch a Predator’s’ Legacy

A walk around the corner. The sliding glass door opens in the back. A familiar voice says hello. A little chit-chat. A walk out of frame, onl...

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Landon Defever

January 28, 2025

‘Flight Risk’ Review: Gibson’s Thriller Struggles to Maintain Second Half Altitude

Ah, The Black List: The annual survey of the “most-liked” screenplays in Hollywood not yet produced. Published every year since 2005, The Bla...

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Landon Defever

January 6, 2025

‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ Review: England’s Beloved Duo is Back and Better than Ever

It’s been 35 years since a British inventor and his intelligent pooch had a grand day out, sending themselves rocketing to the moon in respon...

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Landon Defever

December 24, 2024

‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ Review: Jenkins Does His Best to Salvage the Remnants of Favreau’s Vision

Five years have passed since Jon Favreau tried his hand at photorealistically reinventing The Lion King (1994).  While the film was a massive...

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Landon Defever

December 19, 2024

‘Juror #2’ Review: Eastwood’s Best Film This Century Further Certifies His Towering Legacy

It was hard for me to watch Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 (2024), the legendary director’s 40th feature film, without thinking about a fellow non...

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Landon Defever

December 2, 2024

‘Moana 2’ Review: A Haphazardly Structured Story Persists in Disney’s Latest Disappointment

The original Moana (2016) was an unexpected lightning rod for Disney Animation. Coming out in a stacked year for animation, side-by-side with...

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Landon Defever

November 5, 2024

*CIFF 2024* ‘Here’ Review: Zemeckis Continues Downward Spiral with Schmaltzy, Gimmicky Dramedy

30 years ago, director Robert Zemeckis changed the landscape of American cinema with Forrest Gump — the fictional story of a man (played by T...

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