Author Archives
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Adapted for the silver screen, “The Piano Lesson” is a haunt of a good time.
As fireworks turn the ground red, white, and blue during the Fourth of July, 1911, it becomes immediately obvious that Malcolm Washington (Benny Got Shot; The Dispute), the younger son of Denzel Washington (Malcolm X; Training Day), was the right… Read More ›
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“Lavender Men” trips through history with Abraham Lincoln and Elmer E. Ellsworth. [Micheaux Film Festival]
In a year where most corners of the art form — horror, action blockbusters, dramas, comedies, etc. — have been uneven in the wake of the WGA-SAG-AFTRA strikes, it’s been a pretty great year for queer cinema. I Saw the… Read More ›
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A contentious U.S. President receives an equally contentious film in “Reagan.”
I stand by that title. Reagan (2024) is an astonishingly incompetent and cynical attempt to pass off pseudo-religious myth as history. Written by Howard Klausner (Space Cowboys) based on the book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism… Read More ›
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“Gummo” is a very timely release as The Criterion Collection adds a 4K and Blu-ray version to its library.
Last Month, Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina, washing away Chimney Rock and much of Asheville. A week and a half later, Hurricane Milton swung across Florida, hitting areas already recovering from Helene, and dropping 41 tornados on the state…. Read More ›
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Blockbuster Bets: “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” misses the zeitgeist.
Why do once-beloved directors fall out of favor with the public, even when they feel that they have grown as artists? Welcome back to Blockbuster Bets, an Elements of Madness series exploring one of 2024’s biggest stories: the directors, established… Read More ›
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“Brick” is duck soup for Kino Lober to release in 4K.
Long before Knives Out (2019) and Poker Face (2023 – ?), Rian Johnson was starting his whodunnits by showing us the dead body. Brick (2005) has a new release out from Kino Lober, and, surprising no one ever, the compositions… Read More ›
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Angie Dickinson shines on Blu-ray with Imprint Films’s “Jessica.”
Angie Dickinson (Rio Bravo; Dressed to Kill) was famously beautiful, and a defining example of the “sexpot” archetype of Hollywood movie star in mid-century cinema. She was beautiful, and men loved looking at her butt and bust. That’s basically what… Read More ›
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Janus Contemporaries brings “Tótem” and its unforgettable family home.
In Tótem (2023), newcomer Naíma Sentíes plays Sol, a little girl who we first meet taking her turn on a public toilet while her mother Lucía, played by Iazua Larios (Apocalypto; Sundown) makes her laugh by peeing in the sink…. Read More ›
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Blockbuster Bets: “Fresh Kills” offers a fresh perspective.
When I was a young filmmaker, I sat in a classroom while a poor excuse for a film producer talked to us about making films. At one point, when asked about how to get started in feature filmmaking, he pulled… Read More ›
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“The United States of Leland” will waste your time and money.
Sometimes a film ends up at a boutique Blu-ray distributor because the conditions of its theatrical run rendered it forgotten and misunderstood. Other times, it’s because the film is an odious facsimile of a good film, and it tricks a… Read More ›
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GKIDS Films’s “The Boy and the Heron” reveals itself on home video in 4K.
In the months since the winter release of The Boy and the Heron (2023), the following events have clarified the meaning and depth of this inscrutable film in my mind: The Megalopolis (2024) trailer, the Supreme Court’s sweeping theft of… Read More ›
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“Crumb Catcher” is an excellent honeymoon thriller.
Chris Skotchdopole’s very impressive directorial debut, Crumb Catcher, is a slow descent into absurdist thrills. The rare new entry in the honeymoon horror sub-genre of romantic thriller, home of RedBox classics like A Perfect Getaway (2009), Crumb Catcher trades the… Read More ›
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Imprint Films Goes all-in for “The Queen of Spades.”
Imprint Films has played a great hand with their Blu-ray (debut) of The Queen of Spades, the 1949 horror film famously beloved by filmmakers like Martin Scorsese. They’ve stacked the deck with special features, including three commentary tracks, an introduction… Read More ›
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“Dandelion” stumbles, then sprints to a great time.
Dandelion opens in a small number of theaters this week where it will undoubtedly achieve the height of its success because of the tragedy of the era into which it is released. It’s an independent film about a desperate musician… Read More ›
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“Ghostlight” reminds us why a light remains on in theaters.
When I was in University, the buzzword we were told audiences would flock to was “authenticity,” but today, if you listen to industry talk, the word of the moment is “spectacle,” which the prevailing wisdom defines as “big and flashy… Read More ›
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Paramount Pictures releases “Chinatown” in 4K UHD for its 50th anniversary.
Even though I’d had every plot point of Chinatown (1974) spoiled for me by film school staples like Robert McKee’s STORY, by the end of my first watch through of the new 4K edition from Paramount Presents, I still wanted… Read More ›
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“One from the Heart: Reprise” is a booby, bloated, bad masterpiece.
At the peak of the DVD/VHS era, studios would often release worse, extended, “unrated*” cuts of films with more boobs and cursing to trick a few customers into purchasing the film a second time. That’s what Francis Ford Coppola (The… Read More ›
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Western drama “The Dead Don’t Hurt” steadily trots into theaters.
The newest theatrical tale set in The Wild West, The Dead Don’t Hurt (2024), opens on a knight in shining armor riding horseback through the woods of France. Who this knight is and what they mean changes every time they… Read More ›
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“Crimson Peak” revels in its full Gothic glory in 4K UHD and an abundance of bonus features.
Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim; The Shape of Water) calls Crimson Peak (2015) his most beautiful film, comparing this gothic romance to the works of Charles Dickens (Great Expectations; David Copperfield), Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice; Emma), Emily Bronte (Wuthering… Read More ›
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“Once Upon a Time in the West” is one of 2024’s best 4K releases.
Typically, studio-released 4Ks have been poor and strip-mined of late. Usually, if you want a good edition, you’re paying out extra payola to a boutique brand with a severely limited run. But the Paramount Presents label has outdone itself with… Read More ›