Blog — 3 Brothers Film

Hot Docs 2022: Burial

This avant-garde documentary about the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant asks the viewer for total surrender, but doesn’t earn it.

Aren's Reviews, The Festival Circuit, ReviewsAren BergstromMay 6, 2022Burial, Emilija Škarnulyte, Hot Docs 2022, Hot Docs, nuclear power, ChernobylComment

Hot Docs 2022: The Killing of a Journalist

Matt Sarnacki’s documentary traces the explosive fallout of the murder of Slovakian journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová on February 21, 2018.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 5, 2022The Killing of a Journalist, Matt Sarnecki, Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2022Comment

Hot Docs 2022: A Marble Travelogue

Sean Wang’s film provides a concrete example for abstract discussions of “global supply chains.”

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 4, 2022A Marble Travelogue, Sean Wang, Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2022Comment

Review: The Bad Guys (2022)

This adaptation of the popular graphic novel series for kids is somewhat charming, but still falls prey to many of today’s worst excesses in contemporary children’s animated fare.

Reviews, The Current: In TheatresAnders BergstromMay 4, 2022animation, children's film, Dreamworks, adaptation, animals, The Bad Guys, villains, Sam Rockwell, Richard AyoadeComment

Hot Docs 2022: Make People Better

Cody Sheehy’s documentary about Dr. He Jiankui is saved by the strength of its subject matter.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 3, 2022Make People Better, Cody Sheehy, documentary, Hot Docs 2022, Hot DocsComment

Hot Docs 2022: African Moot

Shameela Seedat’s African Moot uses its seemingly low stakes competition as a microcosm for the larger legal world.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Festival CircuitAren BergstromMay 2, 2022Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2022, African Moot, Shameela SeedatComment

Review: Windfall (2022)

Windfall is a minimalist thriller whose modest dramatic tension is thrown off balance by its miscasting.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromApril 27, 2022Windfall, Charlie McDowell, Justin Lader, Andrew Kevin Walker, Jason Segel, Lily Collins, Jesse PlemonsComment

Review: The House (2022)

Netflix’s stop-motion anthology film is often chilling, occasionally amusing, and visually intricate.

Review: Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood offers a warm hug of 1960s space age nostalgia.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromApril 11, 2022Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood, Richard Linklater, Milo Coy, Jack Black, Glen Powell, Zachary Levi, Josh Wiggins, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux, Jessica Brynn Cohen, Sam Chipman, Danielle GuilbotComment

Archive 81 Captures the Essential Lovecraftian Nature of Found-Footage Horror

The Netflix horror series Archive 81 demonstrates how the works of H. P. Lovecraft are essential reference points for contemporary found-footage horror.

TV CornerAren BergstromApril 7, 2022Archive 81, H. P. Lovecraft, Rebecca Sonnenshine, Daniel Powell, Marc Sollinger, Mamoudou Athie, Dina Shihabi, Evan Jonigkeit, Julia Chen, Ariana Neal, Matt McGorry, Martin DonovanComment

Review: X (2022)

Ti West’s X is a nasty, entertaining slasher with well-developed characters and some surprising moral commentary.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Current: In TheatresAren BergstromApril 1, 2022X, Ti West, Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, Scott MescudiComment

"I'm Vengeance": The Batman (2022) as Mood Piece

The Batman captures the character of the Dark Knight as well as the mood of our current darkening age.

EssaysAnton BergstromMarch 30, 2022The Batman, Matt Reeves, Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, vigilantism, superheroes, Batman, voyeurism Comment

Predicting the 2022 Oscars

Aren offers his predictions for the 2022 Oscars, as well as his personal picks for each category.

FeaturesAren BergstromMarch 25, 2022Belfast, CODA, Don't Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog, West Side Story, Javier Bardem, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Garfield, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Being the Ricardos, Tick Tick Boom, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Lost Daughter, Parallel Mothers, Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Olivia Colman, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kristen Stewart, Ciaran Hinds, Troy Kotsur, Jesse Plemons, J. K. Simmons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jessie Buckley, Ariana DeBose, Judi Dench, Kirsten Dunst, Aunjanue Ellis, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kenneth Branagh, Jane Campion, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Steven Spielberg, The Worst Person in the World, Cruella, Cyrano, No Time to Die, Free Guy, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Coming 2 America, House of Guci, House of Gucci, Encanto, Ascension, Attica, Flee, Summer of Soul, Writing with Fire, The Hand of God, Lunana A Yak in the Classroom, Luca, The Mitchells vs The Machines, Raya and the Last Dragon

Review: The Batman (2022)

Matt Reeves’s take on Batman is brooding, stylish, and refreshingly cinematic.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Current: In TheatresAren BergstromMarch 18, 2022Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, The Batman, Matt Reeves, Peter CraigComment

Review: Almost Holy (2015)

This 2015 documentary about Ukrainian Pastor Gennadiy Mokhnenko asks the question: what does it look like to live out the gospel in the modern world?

Aren's Reviews, Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, ReviewsAren BergstromMarch 15, 2022Almost Holy, Steve Hoover, Crocodile GennadiyComment

Review: Gaslight (1944)

Gaslight is a brilliant, disturbing portrait of psychological torment in the domestic sphere.

Reviews, Overlooked and Under-AppreciatedAnton BergstromMarch 10, 2022Gaslight, George Cukor, John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, John L. Balderston, Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, Angela Lansbury, May Whitty, Gothic, mystery, thriller, classical Hollywood, feminismComment

Review: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre requel is stylish and short, but it has a dearth of compelling characters and story at its centre.

Roundtable: The 100th Anniversary of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922)

The Brothers discuss F. W. Murnau’s iconic adaptation of Dracula on the occasion of its 100th Anniversary.

RoundtablesAnton BergstromMarch 4, 2022Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, silent film, horror, Gothic horror, 100th anniversary, F.W. MurnauComment

Review: Kimi (2022)

Steven Soderbergh’s new techno-thriller set during the pandemic is timely and stylish, but narratively predictable.

Aren's Reviews, Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromMarch 2, 2022Kimi, Steven Soderbergh, David Koepp, Zoë Kravitz, Betsy Brandley, Rita Wilson, India de Beaufort, Emily Kuroda, Byron Bowers, Alex Dobrenko, Jaime Camil, Devin Ratray, Andy DalyComment

Review: The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World expresses the ineffable in ways that are rarely achieved on film.