Joseph Beyer | Author

Film Review: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Feb. 22, 2025

There is something to be said for not knowing anything in advance about the fascinating new documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, which knocked me out with its fresh and creative riffs and the depth of 20th-century history it brought back to life.

Using found foota… Read More >>

Film Review: The Brutalist

Feb. 15, 2025

With an elongated running time of 3 hours and 35 minutes (which doesn’t even include the mandated 15 minute theatrical intermission), director Brady Corbet’s epic drama The Brutalist is not for the faint of heart or time.

Should you decide, after 10 recent Acade… Read More >>

Film Review: The Last Showgirl

Jan. 25, 2025

You might be forgiven if, like me, you were suspicious about another independent film directed by yet another director with the last name Coppola. Of course there’s the patriarch Francis Ford (The Godfather), then his daughter Sofia (Lost in Translation), then his so… Read More >>

Film Review: "A Complete Unknown"

Jan. 11, 2025

With lifetime record sales approaching over 150 million albums, writer and musician Bob Dylan is one of America’s greatest artistic exports. From the beginning, he wanted the music to be remembered even as he dodged the almost-instant fame and attention it brought. In 2016, he was awa… Read More >>

Film Review: "A Real Pain"

Dec. 14, 2024

It’s been 15 years since actor Jesse Eisenberg broke onto the cinema scene: first in the cult classic Zombieland and then more famously portraying the founder of Facebook in The Social Network. The latter earned him nominations at the 2010 Golden Globes and Academy A… Read More >>

Film Review: Gladiator II

Nov. 30, 2024

Ridley Scott is one of the most prolific Hollywood directors, with a whopping list of 60 iconic films notched into his career belt, including the cultural phenomenon Gladiator, which won Best Picture at the 2001 Academy Awards. It was a rare moment as the film wasn’t honored … Read More >>

Film Review: Conclave

Nov. 16, 2024

While there aren’t many Lutheran or Presbyterian thrillers out there in the multiplexes, audiences can always count on the world of Catholicism to return to the big screen. Vatican City alone is so cinematic and intriguing there are over 40 films set there, according to Wikipedia. So … Read More >>

Film Review: Will & Harper

Nov. 2, 2024

The most interesting and heartfelt “buddy film” of the year is also a true story. In Netflix’s Will & Harper, we find an intimate and vulnerable documentary about a longtime relationship that also becomes an intentional allegory for America’s reckoning w… Read More >>

Film Review: Dogman3: Fight to the Finish

Oct. 26, 2024

Though the story began in 1887 with a reported attack in Michigan’s Wexford County from a creature “with a dog’s head and a man’s body,” the legend of the Dogman lay relatively dormant for 100 years. That was until Traverse City DJ Steve Cook recorded “Th… Read More >>

Film Review: Chimp Crazy

Oct. 5, 2024

The new four-part HBO documentary miniseries Chimp Crazy not only lives up to its name, but goes far beyond it in revealing an underworld with more twists and turns than even the veteran filmmaker Eric Goode thought possible. The result is an addictive story filled with disturbing … Read More >>

Film Review: Didi

Sept. 21, 2024

The Sundance Film Festival, which takes place in January of each year, has long been the storied holy ground for personal, coming-of-age stories. Audiences and juries have awarded a long list of these projects with their highest festival honors, from Ruby in Paradise (1993) to … Read More >>

Film Review: Sasquatch Sunset