Stars: Common, Jennifer Hudson, Quvenzhané Wallis, Milla Jovovich, Sam Worthington, Raúl Castillo | Written by Doug Simon | Directed by Stefon Bristol
Breathe takes place in the year 2039 when plant life has become extinct and, as a result, Earth’s oxygen levels are too low to sustain life on the surface. One family, Darius, Maya and their daughter Zora survive in an underground bunker making brief trips to the surface with an oxygen suit Darius created.
As the film opens, Darius’ father dies in an accident on the surface. Darius decides to risk the journey to bury him next to his mother. Months later, he hasn’t returned, then Tess and Lucas turn up claiming to know what happened to him.
Writer Doug Simon and director Stefon Bristol are short on details about how Breathe’s world came to be. We’re simply told that Darius was an engineer and a prepper,...
Breathe takes place in the year 2039 when plant life has become extinct and, as a result, Earth’s oxygen levels are too low to sustain life on the surface. One family, Darius, Maya and their daughter Zora survive in an underground bunker making brief trips to the surface with an oxygen suit Darius created.
As the film opens, Darius’ father dies in an accident on the surface. Darius decides to risk the journey to bury him next to his mother. Months later, he hasn’t returned, then Tess and Lucas turn up claiming to know what happened to him.
Writer Doug Simon and director Stefon Bristol are short on details about how Breathe’s world came to be. We’re simply told that Darius was an engineer and a prepper,...
- 5/20/2024
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
How might one sum up 2022 and all of its movie-related (stop-motion) monkey business?
These past 12 months have been a pretty darn bumpy ride, complete with their share of hand-wringing over the future of cinema. On the flip side, they saw the movie industry make vital gains in representation, all while unique, challenging films misfired left and right financially, and even superhero tentpoles caught the box office blues. Meanwhile, other movies went far harder than expected, giving us writers a free excuse to use the term "maximalist" many times over. (No shade here -- it's a fun word!) They also taught us valuable lessons about the power of radical empathy, the value of vulnerability, and the joys of punching fascists, colonialists, and other oppressors in the face.
But before we get into the top 10 of it all, some honorable mentions -- call them my alternate top 10. Their ranks include:
"Pearl" and "Nope,...
These past 12 months have been a pretty darn bumpy ride, complete with their share of hand-wringing over the future of cinema. On the flip side, they saw the movie industry make vital gains in representation, all while unique, challenging films misfired left and right financially, and even superhero tentpoles caught the box office blues. Meanwhile, other movies went far harder than expected, giving us writers a free excuse to use the term "maximalist" many times over. (No shade here -- it's a fun word!) They also taught us valuable lessons about the power of radical empathy, the value of vulnerability, and the joys of punching fascists, colonialists, and other oppressors in the face.
But before we get into the top 10 of it all, some honorable mentions -- call them my alternate top 10. Their ranks include:
"Pearl" and "Nope,...
- 12/30/2022
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
by Nathaniel R
It did occur to us that a visual series stopping to center on a new rom-com would be a risk. The romantic comedy genre doesn't tend to scream "visually interesting!" (though obviously it can be). But we knew most of our readership would be watching so... why not? As it turns out, though, with a true filmmaker at the helm (Andrew Ahn of Spa Night and Driveways) it wasn't a risk at all as a Best Shot discussion. Fire Island isn't just funny -- the "Heads Up" game scene snapped above is only one of many hilarious bits in the excellent screenplay from Joel Kim Booster -- but a real movie-movie, too. In short, it's one of the year's best films and we are blessed to have it.
While you'd probably prefer a "ten funniest moments" or "five sexiest guys" list -- hey, we can do those...
It did occur to us that a visual series stopping to center on a new rom-com would be a risk. The romantic comedy genre doesn't tend to scream "visually interesting!" (though obviously it can be). But we knew most of our readership would be watching so... why not? As it turns out, though, with a true filmmaker at the helm (Andrew Ahn of Spa Night and Driveways) it wasn't a risk at all as a Best Shot discussion. Fire Island isn't just funny -- the "Heads Up" game scene snapped above is only one of many hilarious bits in the excellent screenplay from Joel Kim Booster -- but a real movie-movie, too. In short, it's one of the year's best films and we are blessed to have it.
While you'd probably prefer a "ten funniest moments" or "five sexiest guys" list -- hey, we can do those...
- 6/10/2022
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
This review of “Fire Island” was first published on May 23, 2022.
Jane Austen is cited just seconds into “Fire Island” — and a character later quotes everyone’s favorite “Emma” adaptation, “Clueless” — and this sparkling tale of star-crossed love affairs on a beach vacation treats “romantic” and “comedy” with equal importance. The fact that its entanglements, misunderstandings, and reconciliations occur among an almost entirely all-male cast serves merely to put a new meaning to the “Pride” in “Pride and Prejudice.”
First-time screenwriter Joel Kim Booster establishes a world in which smartphones and written correspondence can co-exist and where two unlikely partners can find each other by virtue of being the only two people for miles around who want to talk about literature. For all the hook-up apps, Charli Xcx remixes, and six-pack abs on display, “Fire Island” is still the kind of movie where arguing about the short fiction of Alice Munro counts as foreplay.
Jane Austen is cited just seconds into “Fire Island” — and a character later quotes everyone’s favorite “Emma” adaptation, “Clueless” — and this sparkling tale of star-crossed love affairs on a beach vacation treats “romantic” and “comedy” with equal importance. The fact that its entanglements, misunderstandings, and reconciliations occur among an almost entirely all-male cast serves merely to put a new meaning to the “Pride” in “Pride and Prejudice.”
First-time screenwriter Joel Kim Booster establishes a world in which smartphones and written correspondence can co-exist and where two unlikely partners can find each other by virtue of being the only two people for miles around who want to talk about literature. For all the hook-up apps, Charli Xcx remixes, and six-pack abs on display, “Fire Island” is still the kind of movie where arguing about the short fiction of Alice Munro counts as foreplay.
- 6/2/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
If you ever wondered what Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy would be like without the insightful writing, sharp directing and intuitive performances, “Long Weekend” will pretty much fill the bill.
The film’s aim-for-the-back-fence plot twists might have worked in a movie where audiences were invested in characters that were already grounded in a recognizable reality, but so much of the film’s lurching running time seems trapped in a woozy approximation of countless 1990s a-guy-and-a-girl movies that it’s hard to care about the love story on its face, much less to follow along as it takes wild leaps and bounds.
Those leaps aren’t revealed in the trailer, so they will not be mentioned here; suffice it to say that they won’t take viewers out of the story only because there’s so little story to begin with.
Watch Video: Yes, 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace' Confused...
The film’s aim-for-the-back-fence plot twists might have worked in a movie where audiences were invested in characters that were already grounded in a recognizable reality, but so much of the film’s lurching running time seems trapped in a woozy approximation of countless 1990s a-guy-and-a-girl movies that it’s hard to care about the love story on its face, much less to follow along as it takes wild leaps and bounds.
Those leaps aren’t revealed in the trailer, so they will not be mentioned here; suffice it to say that they won’t take viewers out of the story only because there’s so little story to begin with.
Watch Video: Yes, 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace' Confused...
- 3/11/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
“American Horror Story” actor Finn Wittrock and “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” star Zoe Chao are set to star in a love story and comedy titled “Long Weekend,” the film’s production companies announced Thursday.
Wittrock and Chao will star alongside Damon Wayans Jr., Casey Wilson, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Jim Rash in a rom-com dashed with some magical realism from writer and director Steve Basilone. Principal photography just wrapped on the project in Los Angeles.
“Long Weekend” is the story of a down on his luck, struggling writer named Bart (Wittrock) and the enigmatic woman (Chao) who suddenly enters his life at the right time. Wayans Jr. and Wilson portray Bart’s always supportive best friends, McLendon-Covey is his pesky landlord, and Rash will play his new boss.
Also Read: Yes, 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace' Confused Finn Wittrock Too (Video)
Fifty Seventh Street Productions and Rebelle Media along with...
Wittrock and Chao will star alongside Damon Wayans Jr., Casey Wilson, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Jim Rash in a rom-com dashed with some magical realism from writer and director Steve Basilone. Principal photography just wrapped on the project in Los Angeles.
“Long Weekend” is the story of a down on his luck, struggling writer named Bart (Wittrock) and the enigmatic woman (Chao) who suddenly enters his life at the right time. Wayans Jr. and Wilson portray Bart’s always supportive best friends, McLendon-Covey is his pesky landlord, and Rash will play his new boss.
Also Read: Yes, 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace' Confused Finn Wittrock Too (Video)
Fifty Seventh Street Productions and Rebelle Media along with...
- 9/26/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Cinema and social commentary collide in entertaining and thought-provoking fashion in “See You Yesterday,” a mix of pop culture and true crime that feels tailor-made for a millennial Netflix audience. Stefon Bristol’s feature debut follows two African American Brooklyn teens as they try to use homemade time machines to undo a fatal police shooting — leading to an unforeseen set of calamitous new problems. With Eden Duncan-Smith’s stellar lead performance overshadowing some tonal uneasiness, the film should prove an appealing at-home option when it arrives on the streaming platform May 17.
Producer Spike Lee helped NYU student Bristol expand his short thesis film into full-length drama with a dynamic, lived-in depiction of East Flatbush that recalls Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” That’s far from the only movie touchstone in “See You Yesterday,” as Bristol’s story begins with a cameo from “Back to the Future” star Michael J. Fox...
Producer Spike Lee helped NYU student Bristol expand his short thesis film into full-length drama with a dynamic, lived-in depiction of East Flatbush that recalls Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” That’s far from the only movie touchstone in “See You Yesterday,” as Bristol’s story begins with a cameo from “Back to the Future” star Michael J. Fox...
- 5/10/2019
- by Nick Schager
- Variety Film + TV
Stefon Bristol’s debut feature “See You Yesterday,” which has Spike Lee as one of its producers, revolves around the ingenuity of two 16-year-old friends, Claudette and Sebastian (Dante Crichlow), who are working on a homemade time machine in Sebastian’s garage. The effects in this movie are as charmingly lo-fi as the backpack modules that they wear to travel back in time for 10-minute intervals.
“See You Yesterday” nods to some of its 1980s forebears by having Michael J. Fox turn up as one of their teachers at the Bronx High School of Science. Claudette is reading Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” in his class, while Fox has his nose buried in Octavia Butler’s “Kindred,” a popular time travel novel from 1979. When Claudette tells Fox’s Mr. Lockhart about her time-travel backpack project, which she hopes will get her into MIT, Bristol keeps his camera...
“See You Yesterday” nods to some of its 1980s forebears by having Michael J. Fox turn up as one of their teachers at the Bronx High School of Science. Claudette is reading Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” in his class, while Fox has his nose buried in Octavia Butler’s “Kindred,” a popular time travel novel from 1979. When Claudette tells Fox’s Mr. Lockhart about her time-travel backpack project, which she hopes will get her into MIT, Bristol keeps his camera...
- 5/4/2019
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
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