Carlos Aguilar, Author at The Playlist

‘Nope’ Review: Jordan Peele’s Sci-Fi Thrill Ride Floats With Superlative Craft But Can’t Quite Land Its Ideas

July 20, 2022 12:00 pm

Peculiarly shaped mirrors, Jordan Peele’s movies harness genre conventions, in varying degrees of success, to package ideological inquiries in exciting narrative vehicles where collective fears and biases are ...

‘Lightyear’ Review: Pixar’s Latest Is OK, But “To Infinity & Beyond” Really Only Means To An Inevitable Sequel

Carlos Aguilar

June 13, 2022 3:00 pm

Features, News, Reviews

Succinctly clarified in an opening title card, the conceit of “Lightyear,” Pixar’s latest feature and a tangential prequel to the “Toy Story” storyline, is far less bizarre than anticipated: what we are watchi...

‘De Humani Corporis Fabrica’ Review: Unflinching Medical Doc Zooms In On Life & Death [Cannes]

Carlos Aguilar

May 25, 2022 9:41 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

Observed in isolation, detached from the body or in extreme close-ups, organs and other vital viscera resemble moist masses of soft tissue plucked from alien landscapes in the unflinchingly immersive medical d...

‘One Fine Morning’ Review: A Marvelous Léa Seydoux Illuminates Mia Hansen-Løve’s New Drama [Cannes]

Carlos Aguilar

May 20, 2022 7:44 am

Features, Festivals, News, Reviews

Between her job as a French-English interpreter, the prospect of romantic fulfillment, and the impending deterioration of her father’s health, the woman holding together all the threads in Mia Hansen-Løve’s “O...

‘The Northman’ Review: Robert Eggers Offers A Staggering Feat Of Visceral Filmmaking In A High-Octane Action Odyssey

Carlos Aguilar

April 11, 2022 12:00 pm

Features, News, Reviews

As floridly written and meticulously etched as they are, at their core the ornate period works of director Robert Eggers summon an elemental human conundrum: the constant clash between free will and the unexpl...

‘Piggy’ Review: A Blood-Spattered Look At Fatphobia, Shame & Humanity’s Capacity For Cruelty [Sundance]

Carlos Aguilar

January 25, 2022 4:48 pm

Festivals, News, Reviews

Hiding underwater to escape her vicious aggressors, a rush of terror washes over Sara (Laura Galán), a large-bodied teenager target of incessant insults, and worse, about her weight. The callousness of the bul...

‘Fire of Love’ Review: Volcanologists Doc Tells Story Of A Singular Romance Blazing With Jaw-Dropping Imagery [Sundance]

Carlos Aguilar

January 21, 2022 9:47 am

Festivals, News, Reviews

“Curiosity is stronger than fear,” utters Katia Krafft, via an actress giving voice to her writing, underscoring images of unimaginably scorching lava exploding around her. With her endearingly reckless husban...

‘Voir’ TV Review: Mixed Bag Of Film Essays Blends Anecdote With Analysis

Carlos Aguilar

December 7, 2021 11:57 am

News, Reviews, Television

Netflix’s new short-form experiment “Voir” (French for “See”) aims to distill our relationship to cinema by examining what it stirs inside us based on how and what artists put in front of us, what they conceal...

‘Swan Song’ Review: Sci-Fi Drama Ponders Grief & Cloning Via A Remarkable Mahershala Ali [AFI Fest]

Carlos Aguilar

November 13, 2021 9:35 am

Features, News, Reviews

When Cameron (Mahershala Ali) first meets his duplicate—a genetically identical, lab-crafted doppelganger—a wave of visceral bafflement possesses him. And who wouldn’t lose composure in the presence of a three...

‘Antlers’ Review: Poignant Performances Can’t Save Scott Cooper’s Thematic Hodgepodge Of Dull Scares [Beyond Fest]

Carlos Aguilar

October 12, 2021 3:20 pm

Features, News, Reviews

Oregon-set folk horror feature “Antlers,” finally being released after a long pandemic-induced delay, resembles what one might find in a rusty cauldron after a disorderly witch mixed an array of incongruent in...

Author Carlos Aguilar