Author Archives

• As long as the patriarchy exists, there will always be a “Witch Hunt.” [SXSW Film Festival]

  By Douglas Davidson on March 17, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Three years after her directorial debut Head Count, Elle Callahan returns with the allegorical Witch Hunt. A mixture of YA tropes, fantasy, and horror, Witch Hunt imagines an alternate Earth wherein witch craft is illegal in America to the point… Read More ›

• “Breaking News in Yuba County” Blu-ray Giveaway

  By Douglas Davidson on March 17, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  In February of this year, MGM released the dark comedy Breaking News in Yuba County featuring an all-star cast including Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Regina Hall, Laura Dern, Awkwafina, Ellen Barkin, Clifton Collins Jr., and Juilette Lewis. Starting on March 23rd,… Read More ›

• Raw, unflinching, and defiant “Luchadoras” follows the reclamation of personhood in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. [SXSW Film Festival]

  By Douglas Davidson on March 16, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  If you were to presume that co-directors Paola Calvo and Patrick Jasim’s documentary Luchadoras (Female Fighters) is about female wrestlers in Mexico, you’d only be about a quarter correct. While their film does follow four wrestlers — Lady Candy, Baby… Read More ›

• History makes it clear that “Women Is Losers,” but there is hope to change that for the future. [SXSW Film Festival]

  By Douglas Davidson on March 16, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Have you ever become instantly smitten with a film from the first few moments when it just felt like you’re vibing on the same level? With the rhythmic sounds of Oskar Cartaya’s “Get Up (Muévete)”, the audience is treated to… Read More ›

• War is on the way in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.”

  By Douglas Davidson on March 12, 2021 • ( 4 )

  

  There have been stories of gods and monsters for as long as there have been oral traditions in communities — stories of creation, stories of destruction, which warn of great evil or encourage altruism. Some of these stories turned into… Read More ›

• Effulgent and joyous, “Mr. Soul!” is a celebration of one man’s work.

  By Douglas Davidson on March 10, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  In 1968, you couldn’t turn on the television, listen to the radio, or read something in print without seeing a White face. Even during the Civil Rights Movement, any presentation of the Black experience was almost always presented through a… Read More ›

• Writer/director Djibril Diop Mambéty’s “Touki bouki (Journey of the Hyena)” finally gets a solo Criterion release.

  By Douglas Davidson on March 8, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Since its inception, The Criterion Collection has become both preservationist and distributor of arthouse cinema (with a few exceptions for more populist material (what’s up, Armageddon?)). In keeping with this, they’ve partnered with Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project on three… Read More ›

• “In The Land of Lost Angels” is an indisputable debut for writer/director Bishrel Mashbat.

  By Douglas Davidson on March 5, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  When one looks back on a director’s early works, you can usually see the beginnings of whatever will become their signature POV or narrative approach. In The Land of Lost Angels is the first feature film from writer/director Bishrel Mashbat,… Read More ›

• “Coming 2 America” is a serotonin-filled blast from the past.

  By Douglas Davidson on March 4, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  To paraphrase a line from director Craig Brewer’s (Dolemite Is My Name) Coming 2 America, Hollywood is nothing but superhero films, remakes, and sequels no one asked for. Without getting into the numerous ways that’s an oversimplification that ignores the… Read More ›

• The exploration of social trust in Southeast Asian-inspired fantasy “Raya and the Last Dragon” hits close to home.

  By Douglas Davidson on March 1, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  The latest Walt Disney Animation project, Raya and the Last Dragon, could not be coming at a more appropriate time. After years in development, the final version slated for theaters and Disney+ Premier Access on March 5th, 2021, is an… Read More ›

• Arrow Video’s HD restoration of director Park Chan-wook’s “JSA: Joint Security Area” is an opportunity to learn from the past.

  By Douglas Davidson on February 25, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  One of the great things about boutique distributors like Criterion, Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome, and others is that whether a film is lost or beloved, they find new life via a new release. Even though the major studios are starting to… Read More ›

• Keith Thomas’s phantasmagorical “The Vigil” explores the destructive terror of generational trauma.

  By Douglas Davidson on February 24, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  When it comes to those who identify as Jewish, theirs is a life of constant reminders of threat, peril, and near-extinction several times over. Trying to explain holidays, for instance, to my eldest but still-quite-young son, is to find a… Read More ›

• Ramin Bahrani’s “Chop Shop” offers a compelling look at the life of adolescent immigrants.

  By Douglas Davidson on February 23, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Two years after the release of Man Push Cart (2005), writer/director Ramin Bahrani followed it with Chop Shop (2007), a thematic continuation of the immigrant story he began with Ahmad the Pakistani food cart owner. Though actor Ahmad Razvi does… Read More ›

• “Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1” Blu-ray Giveaway

  By Douglas Davidson on February 22, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Tak Sakaguchi was a street fighter when writer/director Ryûhei Kitamura hired him to play Prisoner KSC2-303 in Versus (2000). Since then, Sakaguchi developed quite the resume as a live actor, voice actor, and stunt coordinator in films large and small. Now… Read More ›

• Ramin Bahrani’s melancholic “Man Push Cart” joins the Criterion Collection.

  By Douglas Davidson on February 22, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  It’s interesting how things rarely change with time. There are incremental changes, sure, shifts in the way people dress or the meanings of words, but, largely, there are some things which remain. A sadness, a true melancholy, shrouds our existence,… Read More ›

• Despite some muddled aspects, Lu Yang’s “A Writer’s Odyssey” will make you a believer.

  By Douglas Davidson on February 19, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  A good marketing campaign will make clear what the product is about so that consumers won’t feel flummoxed about how to engage with the object. It’s partly why marketing happens, so that there’s a sense of familiarity. When it comes… Read More ›

• Have a killer time at “Willy’s Wonderland.”

  By Douglas Davidson on February 17, 2021 • ( 1 )

  

  A silent lead. A gang of teenagers. A house of horrific animatronic monsters. With this trifecta, Willy’s Wonderland is either going to be the stuff of legends or nightmares. If you’re a fan of small budget horror films like Evil… Read More ›

• Can you find the real “Archenemy” when the film comes to home video?

  By Douglas Davidson on February 16, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  The deconstruction and evaluation of superheroes in cinema and television didn’t begin with Zack Snyder or Eric Kripke, though they are the ones most widely known for it at the moment. Their stories take a darker look at the notion… Read More ›

• The martial arts of “The Swordsman” cut through the narrative mire.

  By Douglas Davidson on February 14, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Consider the logline for Choi Jae-hoon’s feature film directorial debut The Swordsman (Geom-gaek) for a moment: a blinded swordsman comes out of hiding when his daughter is kidnapped by slave traders. With this type of description, one would presume a… Read More ›

• “PG: Psycho Goreman” DVD Giveaway

  By Douglas Davidson on February 12, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  After a tour on the festival circuit and a mixed theatrical/VOD release, The Archduke of Nightmares is coming to your home, ready to bathe in your blood. That’s right, PG: Psycho Goreman is slated for a home release on March 16th:… Read More ›