Sean Baker’s TANGERINE was one of 2015’s major accomplishments. It blended together a balanced mix of social relevance, ingenious technical elements, excellent visuals, and a story that touched on cerebral themes without neglecting entertainment value. Most importantly, however, the film portrayed the experiences of trans women in a way that was honest and intimate. This insight is owed to the collaboration between director Sean Baker and star Mya Taylor, whose stories from the neighborhood where the film was shot impacted the film’s writing. YouTube comment sections and opinion pieces are full of trans viewers mentioning the film’s accuracy in the trans experience.
Author: Valeriy Kolyadych
DIE HARD is perhaps one of, if not the most, critically lauded action films. Made during a glut of intense shoot-em-up action vehicles ranging from the excellent FIRST BLOOD (1982) to the considerably less excellent DEADLY PREY (1987), DIE HARD broke from the pack by being an incredibly compelling scrappy and tense action thriller. At a time when the dominant approach to action films was spectacle and scale, DIE HARD differentiated itself by being relatively low-key and deriving Hitchcockian suspense from intimate moments and normal situations.