Jared Mobarak

[Fantasia Review] Cheatin’

Inspired by the works of James M. Cain such as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, iconic animator Bill Plympton's Kickstarted feature film Che...

[Review] The Purge: Anarchy

I mostly enjoyed last year's suspense horror The Purge, despite high expectations for the premise actually going where it needed to prove more than another gene...

[NYAFF Review] The Snow White Murder Case

Based on a 2012 novel written by Kanae Minato, The Snow White Murder Case is very much a product of our time. A satirical take on the Twitter age that also to a...

[NYAFF Review] Firestorm

For fifty minutes—minus one crazy hand-to-hand combat fight on top of a fallen metal gate suspended over two adjacent buildings' fire escapes in midair—writer/d...

[NYAFF Review] Soul

Described in equal measure as a slasher horror and psychological meditation on the soul—whether from demonic possession, reincarnation, or both—Taiwan's entry f...

[Review] Tammy

I like Melissa McCarthy and her trademarked hard-edged, scumbag persona in films. She's often the best part of things that don't work (Identity Thief) and those...

[Review] Nothing Bad Can Happen

I don't believe it's a coincidence that the words "Inspired by true events" only appear onscreen at the end of Nothing Bad Can Happen. The move might be specifi...

[Review] Coherence

If you've ever dabbled in theoretical physics--or watched The Big Bang Theory--you've probably heard of Schrödinger's Cat. The cat that's simultaneously dead an...

[Review] Hellion

One of the first real stunners of the year has arrived with Kat Candler's heart-wrenching drama Hellion. Much like last year's Short Term 12, this is a feature-...

Jared Mobarak

Jared Mobarak is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic for The Film Stage, Art Director for Buffalo, NY film series Cultivate Cinema Circle, and member of OFCS and GWNYFCA. You can follow his cinematic viewing habits at Letterboxd.