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editor › Julie Monroe
Staff & contributors
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, 2013

If you thought Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar, or True Detective was already the pinnacle of what Mathew McConaughey could do, wait until you see this film! Created by writer-director Jeff Nichols and set in the American South, Mud is a beautiful tale of love, loss, and personal growth. Two children, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), come across the elusive Mud (who is played by McConaughey), a man on the run wanted for murder. Initially scared of his mysterious character, the kids end up wanting to help and protect him from his those pursuing him. Ultimately a story of love, the film deals with a very human crisis seen through the eyes of children, drawing from American adventure tales and the humidity of the South. Mud is exciting, uneasy, sad, and quite beautiful. All at once.

Genre: Drama, Family, Romance

Actor: Bonnie Sturdivant, Jacob Lofland, Joe Don Baker, Kristy Barrington, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Abbott Jr., Michael Shannon, Paul Sparks, Ray McKinnon, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard, Sarah Paulson, Stuart Greer, Tye Sheridan

Director: Jeff Nichols

Rating: PG-13

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, 2023

South African director John Trengove follows-up his debut The Wound with another take on masculinity, this time set in the States. Manodrome stars Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody as a newbie and a veteran in a support group for men who have been emasculated by women and feminism. That's right, this is a film about incel culture, but one you haven't seen before. In tandem with Taxi Driver, Fight Club, or Joker, Manodrome represents a new era for the incel movie, as it confronts all the terror and aggression feeding into the community head on. Ralphie (Eisenberg) insists that his girlfriend Sal (Odessa Young) keeps their unplanned baby and deep down the rabbit hole he goes. Mental health struggles that have no outlet, worries, disappointment, alienation: all these facets of Ralphie's character come to the fore and bring him to the Manodrome clan, where Dad Dan (Brody) promises two miracles—absolution and acceptance—in exchange for celibacy. Trengove's sophomore feature is a blood-curdling psychological thriller that is not afraid to go to extremes (content warning!) to show that incels are not, in fact, a dorky online minority of youngsters, but a real wound in the body of our patriarchal world.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Adam Wade McLaughlin, Adrien Brody, Brian Anthony Wilson, Caleb Eberhardt, Ethan Suplee, Evan Jonigkeit, Garrett Richmond, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonah Wharton, Lamar Johnson, Matthew Lamb, Odessa Young, Philip Ettinger, Riley Keough, Sallieu Sesay, Zia Anger

Director: John Trengove

Rating: R

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, 2024

Reminiscent of classic gang films, The Bikeriders comes as a familiar but still enjoyable piece of Americana. It’s properly nostalgic and structured much like Goodfellas, with someone narrating the entire thing and smartly teasing the surprising end. In this case, the brooding leading man’s wife, Kathy (Comer), softens the film’s rough macho edges. But as fascinating as this slice of American life is, it’s the stacked cast who take the film one step further. Tom Hardy is commanding as the club’s leader, while Comer grounds the film’s darker moments with charm and reason. Mike Shannon and the rest of the gang are realistically gritty and interesting, but surprisingly, Austin Butler and Faist are given little to do. There’s an unevenness to The Bikeriders that makes you wonder if it would be better or worse under a different director, but as it stands, the film is a welcome entry in the crime and ride genre.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Austin Butler, Beau Knapp, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, David Myers Gregory, Emory Cohen, Happy Anderson, Jodie Comer, Karl Glusman, Michael Abbott Jr., Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Norman Reedus, Paul Dillon, Paul Sparks, Phuong Kubacki, Radek Lord, Toby Wallace, Tom Hardy, Tony Donno, Valerie Jane Parker, Will Oldham

Director: Jeff Nichols

Rating: R

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