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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Dig into all the horrid details that envelop filmmaker Arkasha Stevenson’s horror prequel “The First Omen” from the safety of your viewing space.
Prequels seem like a good idea on paper as they often seek to answer questions impossible to explore in initial outings. Through prequel stories, we can discover how Han Solo (Harrison Ford) came to own the Millennium Falcon (Solo: A… Read More ›
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Dramatic thriller “Captain Phillips” gets a limited edition 4K UHD steelbook release from Sony Pictures.
Films based on true events often have a way of dramatizing or exaggerating things for the sake of cinema. It’s a different stage, cinema, with different rules from real life, so storytellers will often utilize this fact for audiences to… Read More ›
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“Homework” Blu-ray Giveaway
Continuing their commitment to releasing high-definition editions of potentially forgotten cinema, Unearthed Classics released a brand-new physical format edition of the James Beshears-directed, Joan Collins-starring comedy Homework in June 2024. Thanks to MVD Entertainment Group, EoM is giving away one (1)… Read More ›
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Get into the down and dirty of filmmaking on your own budget with the bounty of bonus features within “The Last Stop in Yuma County” on home video.
It’s no small feat and an incredible gamble to make a film. It requires a team of creatives working tirelessly toward the same goal, forced to confront their limitations and turn them into opportunities at every step. In the case… Read More ›
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“The Fall Guy” 4K UHD Digital Code Giveaway
After an explosive premiere at SXSW 2024 and then dropping into theaters in May, filmmaker David Leitch‘s (Bullet Train) romantic action comedy The Fall Guy, a cinematic adaptation of the 1980s television show, is now out on digital formats. In… Read More ›
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Criterion releases the most complete collection of Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” with three high-definition cuts in one package.
Like all things in this world, your perspective is going to define how to come to or respond to something. In cinema, this is especially true as there are often multiple versions of the very film you like. Not just… Read More ›
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32 films we’re excited to screen during Fantasia International Film Festival 2024.
For the fifth year in a row, Elements of Madness will officially be covering the Fantasia International Film Festival! In the run-up, we offer up our recommendations of what to check out during the fest or what to keep an… Read More ›
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“Twister” 4K Giveaway
The very first DVD produced was the 1996 Jan de Bont-directed disaster drama Twister, starring Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets; How It Ends) and Bill Paxton (Near Dark; True Lies), and now it’s set to get a 4K UHD upgrade ahead… Read More ›
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HERE WE GO! Detroit’s favorite detective returns to Beverly Hills in “Axel F.”
Actor Eddie Murphy’s been experiencing a wonderful resurgence lately between exploring new stories (Dolemite Is My Name (2019)) and revisiting old ones (Coming 2 America (2021)), each time reminding audiences why we’ve loved being entertained by him for ages. Now,… Read More ›
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With “Chicken for Linda!” arriving on digital, you can serve your whole family a delicious bite of whimsy.
There’s not enough whimsy in the world. Instead, we’ve got extremes. Something is either “the greatest,” “a masterpiece,” “the best it’s ever been,” or “it’s the worst,” “mediocre,” “a blight upon our collective existence.” There’s no space, it seems, for… Read More ›
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All you need is “Kill.”
By the nature of social norms, each country includes a specific view in their art. When it comes to movies, this is very noticeable within the subgenre of action. Whereas American films almost always feature a stalwart protagonist who survives… Read More ›
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Dramedy “All That We Love” is a tender story of self-reclamation. [Tribeca Film Festival]
Loss comes for all of us. Doesn’t matter how solitary a life we try to lead, we will lose something — an item, a memory, even ourselves. With each loss, there’s a transition period in which we come to terms… Read More ›
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Utilizing the style and action of its source material, “BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI-” offers a cinematic perspective that may delight fans while leaving new audiences a touch cold.
Since August 2018, the Japanese manga series BLUE LOCK, also stylized as BLUELOCK, has published in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine — publisher of such tales as Go! Go! Loser Ranger! and Girlfriend, Girlfriend. Written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by… Read More ›
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“Janet Planet” is a slow burn encapsulating that warm, languid feeling of coming-of-age in summer.
Humanity exists in cycles. We’re born, we propagate, and we die — with luck, improving things for the next generation before we go. In between are a multitude of steps and phases leading toward one stage and away from another…. Read More ›
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Beat the summer heat with the latest “Ghostbusters” adventure, “Frozen Empire,” now on home video.
A sequel is a tricky proposition. Audiences who enjoy one story are keen to want more, yet the follow-ups aren’t always as strong or long-lasting as the initial outing. When you add in the complaint of feeling like nothing new… Read More ›
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What Would Brian Boitano Do? He’d celebrate 25 years of “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” with a first-time 4K UHD edition.
“Remember what the MPAA says; Horrific, Deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don’t say any naughty words! That’s what this war is all about!” – Sheila Broflovski, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut It’s been 25 years since… Read More ›
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Shout! Studios and GKIDS Films release a HD home edition of Takehiko Inoue’s “The First Slam Dunk” that’ll have you out of your seat until the shot clock stops.
Sports films are often used as a metaphor for something else. The grit, the determination required to succeed either as a team or an individual being a symbol for some other kind of battle. In the feature film directorial debut… Read More ›
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Calvin Lee Reeder’s “The A-Frame” is a twisty, goopy sci-fi ride that aims higher than it delivers. [Tribeca Film Festival]
According to a March 2024 report, the leading cause of death for Americans in 2022 (the most recent year with full data) was all types of heart disease with cancers in second place. Advancements in early detection and treatment of… Read More ›
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Schedule your own journey on Jérémie Périn’s “Mars Express” anytime via the Shout! Studios/GKIDS Films home release.
A vicious murder, a private detective, a thread-pull revealing a larger conspiracy, and a question of robotic sentience — all the makings of a cyberpunk neo-noir. We’ve seen it before with the Blade Runner and The Matrix series, as well… Read More ›
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For all the women who’ve never been “Satisfied,” comes a documentary that centers actor Renée Elise Goldsberry’s quest to achieve it. [Tribeca Film Festival]
“… if you know anything about me, I have spent the last 10 years of my life, what some would consider the lifeblood of a woman’s career, just trying to have children. And I get to testify in front of… Read More ›