Noah Stephenson – Medium

Noah Stephenson

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

A “Smile” for Form, a Grimace for Function

A review of this year’s Halloween-release hit horror film “Smile.” Boy Howdy, I can’t tell what scared me more — the tensely crafted…

Nov 16, 2022

A thin white woman with brown hair in a bun, wearing a white blouse, staring directly ahead at the camera, with a mildly tearful, horrified expression. The lighting mostly illuminates her left side, casting a dramatic shadow on a red phone that’s mounted on the green wall behind her.

Nov 16, 2022

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

“Lactown” Delivers a Meaningless Look at Meaninglessness

A review of the experimental comedy short film Lactown. Are you a fan of descending into Lovecraftian madness over how mind-numbingly dense…

Oct 2, 2022

“Lactown” Delivers a Meaningless Look at Meaninglessness

Oct 2, 2022

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

The Separation of Art and State

A review of the new South Korean Detective drama The Policeman’s Lineage. Read on to find out why it made me ruminate on freshly polished…

Oct 2, 2022

At a canted camera angle, a short, slightly pudgy east-asian man in a black suit looks into the middle-distance, walking intently next to a taller, younger east-asian man in a similarly colored suit with a slightly confused look on his face. The light is cool and blue/green. A grid of gray brick lines the floor under them, and shadows cast on it from other buildings nearby.

Oct 2, 2022

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

“Ember’s Edge” Can’t Find Its Bearings On The Filmic Trail

A review of the 2022 film-festival-circuit-contending thriller Ember’s Edge. Will I keep going with these horrible hiking-path puns? Read…

Oct 2, 2022

A young, mixed-race woman with orange-dyed hair and thick eyebrows, in close-up, with her hands beside her mouth as if about to call for someone. She wears an anxious expression. Eerie forest looms behind her, out of focus

Oct 2, 2022

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

A Love-Affair With Sincerity, Uncertainty, and The Utterly Bonkers

A review of 2022’s surprise-smash-hit; the sci-fi/indie genre-salad, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Oct 2, 2022

A dull, florescent-lit office cubicle. Several stacks of papers and sticky notes tower on a desk in front of three seated people: from left-to-right, 1.) a concerned-looking, middle-aged east-asian man, peering over at 2.) a grimacing, middle-aged east asian woman next to him, with 3.) a bored, elderly east-asian man glancing down at the first man.

Oct 2, 2022

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

The Wings of “The Batman” Waft-in Fresh & Stale Air Alike

A review of Warner Brothers’ latest reboot of everyone’s favorite sad rich-boy: The Batman. The verdict is… complicated.

Oct 2, 2022

A sleek-featured, young, white man wearing a rubber and metal Batman suit, looking dourly off outside the right of the frame. Behind him is a dirty wall and a window plastered over with newspaper covered in red graffiti letters. He is lit from below with a soft red/orange light.

Oct 2, 2022

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

The Cinematic Jazz of “Cyrano”

A review of director Joe Wright’s pleasing but unbalanced return to period-romance-drama (why yes, I was in fact waiting for years for him…

Oct 2, 2022

In the foreground, a bearded little person with curly brown hair, peering off into the distance with a smile. Cobblestone stairs and wall — as well as a tall woman in a black dress — are blurry in the background.

Oct 2, 2022

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

“Tenet” Deals in Jarring Shifts and Anti-Climax, Yet Buttressed by Charisma

Tenet is a singularly frustrating artifact, brimming with thematic and executional potential that bizarrely never comes to fruition; not…

Jan 30, 2021

A blurred white man (left) & concerned bearded Black man (right) on either side of bullet mark ridden glass. Both wear suits.

Jan 30, 2021

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

One Giant Tree of Talking Sticks: “Avatar: The Last Airbender” as Anarchist Stepping Stone

Recently rewatching the beloved Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender (abbreviated as ATLA) gave me more than a few…

Aug 24, 2020

An “A” made of fire, water, & 2 figures touching fists. Circled by rock & air gusts. All surrounded by 10 characters’ heads.

Aug 24, 2020

Published in
“I Hear They Need People There”

Of Uncertain Personage: “Venom” and “Upgrade” Through The Obsessive Compulsive Lens

TRIGGER WARNING: OCD, SUICIDE

Jun 24, 2020

“Venom”’s face (top left), a pill bottle (top right), a sweating hand (bottom left), and “STEM” atop flesh (bottom right).

Jun 24, 2020

Noah Stephenson

Noah Stephenson

Hi! I’m a freelance critic, part-time filmmaker, and full time nervous person currently living in Texas.

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