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Frank J. Avella

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Frank J. Avella is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and film journalist. His plays include FROCI and VATICAN FALLS, screenplays include LURED and CONSENT. Short film: FIG JAM. He is a staff writer for The Contending and a contributor for Edge Media Network. Frank is a member of the New York Film Critics Online and the East Coast Rep for GALECA - The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. He's a proud queer Italian-American.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Lady (2026) 92% B+ EDIT “Nwosu is an exciting filmmaker, imbuing her story with past trauma but also showing the female characters, especially Lady, as survivors who refuse to be defined by the intergenerational misogyny and damage inherent in the culture.” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review Run Amok (2026) 74% B+ EDIT “Mager is rather daring in her exploration of the desire for catharsis, and just how different that search is for each individual.” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review One in a Million (2026) 100% B+ EDIT “But the true heart and soul of this film is Nisreen, Isra’a’s mother...My only complaint about One in a Million is that it wasn’t titled Two in a Million and the focus wasn’t shared between Isra’a and film’s true heroine, her mother, Nisreen. ” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review Union County (2026) 100% B EDIT “(Director) Meeks also has the added boon of the incredibly underrated actor Will Poulter anchoring the film with a thoughtful, moving, understated turn that ripples with complexities.” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review The Friend's House Is Here (2026) 100% A- EDIT “it’s especially bracing to see a film that honors the importance of artistic freedom by blurring the lines between life and art. Ataei and Keshavarz have created a cinematic performance art mosaic with their debut feature...” – The Contending Feb 3, 2026 Full Review The Huntress (2026) B EDIT “The Huntress could have easily been just another revenge tale, but in the hands of...Correa, it becomes a compelling portrait of fearless women who come together to force change in the dangerous and misogynistic border town of Juárez.” – The Contending Feb 2, 2026 Full Review Hot Water (2026) 88% B+ EDIT “Azabal gives us one tough but conflicted mother, who fiercely loves her child but also misses her family back in Beirut. The charismatic Zolghadri...proves he’s ready for lead parts.” – The Contending Feb 2, 2026 Full Review Hanging by a Wire (2026) 92% A- EDIT “All doc filmmaking is manipulated. Here, at least, it’s done by using the actual people involved and subverting Hollywood tropes. It’s a thrill ride, but also a hopeful story of the good that can come when people do whatever it takes to save lives. ” – The Contending Feb 2, 2026 Full Review How to Divorce During the War (2026) A- EDIT “...that’s what makes (the film) such a glorious, chilling and penetrating work. That satiric tone is there throughout, so the film is always one step removed from realism, allowing for a true analysis of the character of the characters.” – The Contending Feb 2, 2026 Full Review Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (2026) 92% A EDIT “Kikuchi radiates charm, sadness, joy, sensitivity, whimsy, audacity and a joie de vivre, often all together within the span of a few seconds, its sheer enchantment to experience. Her performance is destined to be one of the most outstanding of 2026.” – The Contending Feb 2, 2026 Full Review Broken English (2025) 93% B+ EDIT “For Faithful fans and those curious about her life and career, it is must-see. And for cinephiles it’s an entrancing cinematic experiment that pays off.” – The Contending Jan 31, 2026 Full Review Carousel (2026) 70% B+ EDIT “Pine and Slate do extraordinary work, portraying two messed up souls so afraid of heartbreak, they fight a bond that’s pretty palpable. Sam Waterston is quite moving as Noah’s mentor.” – The Contending Jan 31, 2026 Full Review The Incomer (2026) 93% A- EDIT “I can see how Scottish writer-director Louis Paxton’s wacky and bizarre first feature would be divisive. Comedy this off-the-wall vicious and brutal, well, it’s not for the squeamish. But I found it to be a hilarious good time! ” – The Contending Jan 31, 2026 Full Review Bedford Park (2026) 95% A- EDIT “Choi and Sukku, who radiate kinetic energy, are both excellent playing the steely couple who show just enough vulnerability, so we know so much is going on underneath the surface. ” – The Contending Jan 31, 2026 Full Review Josephine (2026) 97% A- EDIT “Josephine is deeply engrossing throughout, never dipping into the melodramatic, maudlin or predictable. Instead, there’s a level of empathy and forgiveness in the film that courts the sublime. ” – The Contending Jan 31, 2026 Full Review Night Nurse (2026) 75% B- EDIT “This is one looney, unsettling, yet enveloping indie — bold, perverse, fucking bizarre — that I didn’t necessarily enjoy, but I could not stop watching…or thinking about afterwards.” – The Contending Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Frank & Louis (2026) 90% B EDIT “Kingsley Ben-Adir delivers a mesmerizing, multifaceted performance in Petra Biondina Volpe’s somber prison drama, Frank & Louis. And that is reason enough to recommend the film. ” – The Contending Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Shame and Money (2026) 100% B EDIT “I appreciated Marina’s humanistic and sometimes enigmatic approach, and the two central performances are excellent, but the film doesn’t quite live up to its ambitions. Still, it’s top-notch filmmaking and I applaud the filmmaker’s passion.” – The Contending Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Tell Me Everything (2026) 80% B+ EDIT “Tako, so impressive in his brief role in Israel’s 2024 International Feature Oscar submission, Come Closer, plays the nuances and ambiguities of his part masterfully—we can both relate to him and wonder about who he will become.” – The Contending Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Hold Onto Me (2026) A EDIT “Gorgeously shot by Lasse Ulvedal Tolbøll, Hold Onto Me is a poignant, uncompromising look at a deeply flawed man...It strikes all the right notes...Passalis’s fearless, fascinating performance grounds the film. ” – The Contending Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Hanna K. (1983) B- EDIT “Watching the film again all these decades later, I was surprised by the many things that work, including Clayburgh’s fully invested performance and themes that would definitely play better today than back in the early ‘80s.” – The Contending Jan 19, 2026 Full Review Dogtooth (2009) 94% B+ EDIT “Yet, as absurdist, enigmatic and dark as Dogtooth gets, it’s mild in comparison to his recent work. But it still provides quite the palpably biting sting.” – The Contending Jan 19, 2026 Full Review Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) 88% B EDIT “...groundbreaking in a number of ways and...still provides great drama and some fabulous camp, even if William Hurt’s flamboyant, Oscar-winning turn hasn’t necessarily aged well. I was, however, entranced by Raul Julia--completely overlooked by AMPAS. ” – The Contending Jan 19, 2026 Full Review Birth (2004) 43% B+ EDIT “With Birth, Kidman, Glazer, and his co-writers, Jean-Claude Carrière and Milo Addica take big risks that mostly pay off, although the sheer nervy nature of the film may have scared both audiences and critics in 2004 as it received mixed reviews.” – The Contending Jan 19, 2026 Full Review Sinners (2025) 97% A EDIT “Ryan Coogler’s truly terrifying yet exhilaratingly entertaining thriller, Sinners, is one of the most original and fascinating films of 2025. ” – The Contending Dec 29, 2025 Full Review
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