Author Archives
Founder: Elements of Madness | Contributing Senior Film Critic: CLTure | Bylines at Pretty Vacant One and FilmFed | The Cine-Men podcast co-host | NC Film Critics Association & Southeastern Film Critics Association member | Rotten Tomatoes approved individual critic
-
Animated tale “Funan” captures the incredible journey of the human spirit and the personal toll it can take.
Animation is an unbelievably versatile medium for storytelling, more so than most audiences give it credit for. At the mere mention of animation, most think of the latest Disney project like Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen, or Moana, each strong… Read More ›
-
Listen: The Cine-Men, Episode 15
Been a while since co-hosts Darryl Mansel and EoM founder Douglas Davidson recorded a new Cine-Men episode, so they tried to make it extra special. In addition to chatting about their recent watches and general catching up, they also discuss their… Read More ›
-
Documentary “Father The Flame” brings the fading art of pipe-making into vibrant focus.
If a viewer were to visit director Chad Terpstra’s Father The Flame website, the About page contains a lovely adaptation of the René Magritte line from “The Treachery of Images” now-reading “Ceci n’est pas un filme de pipe,” or “This is… Read More ›
-
Holy 80th Birthday, Batman! In his honor, WB releases a 4K UHD remaster of the “Batman: Motion Picture Anthology”.
After 80 years in print, the DC Comics Dark Knight, the Batman, is still going incredibly strong. Whether you are an avid comic reader or primarily stick to the broadcast iterations, there’s likely a story that immediately endeared the bereft… Read More ›
-
“Booksmart” blends the real with the hyper-real to create absolute magic.
Watching Booksmart, the new teen comedy from Annapurna Pictures, you would not know that this is the directorial debut feature film for Olivia Wilde (Life Itself/House, M.D.). Nuts to bolts, Booksmart is a heat-seeking rocket of a film. It’s precise,… Read More ›
-
Writer/director Sarah Pirozek’s teenage noir “#Like” pulses with the energy of a ‘70s thriller. [Brooklyn Film Festival]
There’s a constant argument between generations about who had it worse vs. who had it better. The “always on” digital generation may scoff at the concept of their predecessors’ reliance on books for information, while the analog generation derides their… Read More ›
-
Writer/director Jason B. Kohl’s feature debut “New Money” is an indictment of prescription culture.
Debut features are more than a coming out, they often represent the clearest version of the individual. In the case of directors, debuts provide the most honest interpretation of how the director views the world. In the case of Jason… Read More ›
