Author Archives
Founder: Elements of Madness | Past Bylines at CLTure, Pretty Vacant One, FilmFed, & Mountain Xpress | NC Film Critics Association, Southeastern Film Critics Association, & Critics Choice Association member | Rotten Tomatoes approved individual critic
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Polish filmmaker Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s 1973 feature debut “Through and Through” gets a 2K restoration from Radiance Films.
What would you do for love? Would you fight? Would you protect? What would you build? What would you sacrifice? Polish filmmaker Grzegorz Królikiewicz (The Dancing Hawk), having previously made a series of short films, released his feature debut, Through… Read More ›
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“Crown of Shadows” DVD Giveaway
On August 12th, High Flier Films released Richard Campbell’s fantasy actioner Crown of Shadows on DVD. Now, courtesy of Alliance Entertainment, EoM is giving away one (1) DVD edition of the film to one lucky winner. No battling with a dragon or… Read More ›
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Mamoru Hosoda’s 2015 fantastical adventure “The Boy and the Beast” returns to theaters for one-night as part of Crunchyroll’s Anime Nights series.
2025 is a wonderful year to be an animation fan. In addition to various individual titles hitting the festival circuit like All You Need is Kill, ChaO, Space Cadet, and Arco, there’re also full-fledged festivals like Animation is Film and… Read More ›
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Listen up! Audio Review Round-Up: August 17th.
Experimentation is how we figure out what works, what needs adjustments, and what we can set aside. In that vein, I’m experimenting doing direct reads of the reviews that I publish, in case there’s an audience that would prefer to… Read More ›
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The She-Devil with a Sword returns to cinema with MJ Bassett’s ambitious “Red Sonja.”
Author Robert E. Howard is responsible for the stories of the fictional Hyborian Age, a period of time in which anything modern was stripped away due to a geological event, leaving the world rife with opportunity for fantastical adventure. A… Read More ›
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The 2019 4K HD restoration of Jean Epstein’s 1929 drama “Finis Terrae” is now available for UK and North American cinephiles via Eureka Entertainment.
Trigger Warning: Much of this black-and-white film features a flickering that is more noticeable in non-white/mostly-grey or dark sequences. This may prove triggering for photosensitive viewers. Stories of hubris are as old as time. Whether it’s literary figures like Lex… Read More ›
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In a world where the bad guys often win, be punk, be kind, be “Superman.”
They say to never meet your heroes, that one’s heroes can’t ever measure up to the version we build up in our minds. Where some people look up to actors, musicians, painters, or poets, artisans whose works move and/or inspire… Read More ›
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Underdog sports action drama “Blazing Fists” offers profound revelations to go along with bone-crunching action. [Fantasia]
Between the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we present to others, somewhere in the middle lies the truth of who we are, that part of ourselves that we either can’t bear to put into the light of day… Read More ›
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The physical release of the sometimes-musical dramedy “The Ballad of Wallis Island” charms you despite arriving empty-handed.
In 2007, director James Griffiths (Cuban Fury) and co-writers/co-stars Tom Basden (Plebs: Soldiers of Rome) and Tim Key (Wonderdate) released their short The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. The trio has been working since to adapting it… Read More ›
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Set sail with the seaman of PT-73 in full technicolor as the 1964 comedy film “McHale’s Navy” re-released on DVD.
With recent releases like The Naked Gun (2025) and The Fall Guy (2024), one might possess a false presumption that the adaptation or transition from broadcast programming to theatrical is a recent feature of modern entertainment. Even if the ‘90s… Read More ›
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Low-stakes sports dramedy “Good Game” is worth booting up and logging in. [Fantasia]
In the realm of capitalism, if you can do it, chances are you can make money off of it. That’s why you can make money from doing everything from playing board games, tossing a pig skin, or PvP Counter-Strike competitions…. Read More ›
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“Sketch” draws us in with bold narrative strokes, sharpened wit, and unique framing.
Photosensitivity Warning: One of the creatures in Sketch glows with rapidly changing colors when active and there is a quick burst of light during the climax; both of which may be triggering for photosensitive individuals. There’s a meme going around… Read More ›
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When death is on your side, “All You Need Is Kill.” [Fantasia]
Live. Die. Repeat. Live. Die. Repeat. Live. Die. Repeat. Live. Die. Repeat. Before these words were linked to the Doug Liman-directed Edge of Tomorrow (2014), they belonged to Hiroshi Sakurazaka and his light novel All You Need Is Kill. Initially… Read More ›
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“Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” is an ambitious fantasy adventure exploring the limitations of humanity. [Fantasia]
A world invaded by monsters. Celestial observers meddling with humanity. Humans given the ability to upgrade their physical form by completing scenarios and defeating monsters, including acquiring specialty weapons. If this sounds like the 2016 web novel series Solo Leveling… Read More ›
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“Small Soldiers” is back and in 4K to remind everyone that everything else is just a toy.
There are dueling sentiments in the cinephile community: not everything needs a new edition and film preservation on physical media matters. Given the shift toward digital consumption which removes ownership from the viewer and keeps it steadily in the hands… Read More ›
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Horror comedy “Hell of a Summer” receives a decent home release edition for a subpar cinematic experience.
If there’s anything that cinema has taught us, don’t be a camp counselor. Either they have to build morale for a rag-tag group of kids coming from disparate backgrounds in order to help defeat an opposing camp, have to play… Read More ›
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No matter how silly the idea of having another “The Naked Gun” movie might be to us, as movie-goers, we must be gracious and entertained consumers.
For audiences of a certain age, no one merges situational and absurdist comedy with pop culture references quite like ZAZ (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker), the brains behind cinematic comedies Airplane! (1980), Top Secret! (1984), and The Naked… Read More ›
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Amid clunky execution, fantasy rom-com “ChaO” reminds that we are forever our own storytellers. [Fantasia]
We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;— World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world… Read More ›
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Nothing can stop you from enjoying “Thunderbolts*” at home.
Trigger Warning: Thunderbolts* includes depictions of suicidal ideation and an exploration of depression. Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is official over and Six is set to kick off with The Fantastic Four: First Steps; but, before we… Read More ›
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Get ready to throw down in “The Forbidden City.” [Fantasia]
Since Cain slew Abel, it’s believed that humanity has continued to find ways to betray itself, regardless of the cost. As such, stories have found ways to exploit this element of the human condition as a means for narrative catalyst,… Read More ›