Brent Leuthold
Whatzup Features Writer
Articles
Killer gets backstory in horror prequel
When writer/director Ti West debuted his slasher film X at South By Southwest in March, he announced he secretly shot a prequel back-to-back with it that would fill in the […]
Plaza steals the show in dramatic role
Playing at Cinema Center this weekend, Emily the Criminal is both a stunning debut for writer/director John Patton Ford and another outstanding showing for Aubrey Plaza in a more serious […]
Performances can’t save uneven script
Last September, The Eyes of Tammy Faye took the straight-laced biopic approach to telling the story of a pastor’s wife standing alongside her husband amidst a turbulent time of scandal […]
True-life tale shows veteran’s struggle
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this year with the name 892, the now-retitled thriller Breaking introduces us to beleaguered Lance Cpl. Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega) as he’s being escorted […]
Adopt low expectations to enjoy ‘First Kill’
On a list of films unlikely to generate a prequel for release in 2022, the 2009 horror film Orphan would have to rank somewhere close to the top of the […]
‘Bodies’ struggles to find an identity
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a movie that tries so hard to be several different things that it doesn’t amount to much of anything in the end. It wants to be […]
Comedy removes veil from film industry
After the would-be comedy The Bubble burst on Netflix this spring, we now have another comedy that skewers the film industry, but goes about it in a much smarter and […]
‘Marcel’ a funny, endearing adaptation
Based on a series of charming mockumentary YouTube shorts from the 2010s, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a super-sized film adaptation about a tiny creature with appropriately diminutive […]
Thriller lacks properly developed characters
Three films into his career, writer/director Jordan Peele has established himself as a rare breed in Hollywood: a creative force with a distinctive voice, who not only has big ideas, […]