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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“True Lies” Digital Code Giveaway
March 12th of 2024 saw the unimaginable happen – writer/director James Cameron’s True Lies *finally* released on high definition formats to replace the DVD edition that’s sat within film-fan’s collections for decades. But that’s not just the hotly-anticipated Blu-ray edition, it’s… Read More ›
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88 Films continues its restoration of the action comedy “Inspector Wears Skirts” series with the 1989 second entry.
In December 2023, 88 Films released a 2K restoration of director Wellson Chin Sing-Wai’s 1988 female-led action comedy The Inspector Wears Skirts, produced by Jackie Chan (Gorgeous) with stunt production by Jackie Chan’s stunt team. For U.S. audiences, the film… Read More ›
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“Baby Assassins 2” Blu-ray Giveaway
2021 crime comedy Baby Assassins introduced audiences to assassin/slacker team Mahiro (Saori Izawa) and Chisato (Akari Takaishi) when they stumbled into a face-off with members of the yakuza. Now, they return with a brand-new adventure that finds them on the outs… Read More ›
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Documentary “Resynator” builds on itself to a worthy crescendo and conclusion. [SXSW]
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” – Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). All families have myths and legends — sometimes it’s stories that seem generational (“walked… Read More ›
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“Polar Rescue” Blu-ray Giveaway
Donnie Yen is a man of many genres – never settling to just work in action, drama, thrillers, or any of the sub-genres within. His latest project, Polar Rescue, is a dramatic adventure thriller as he takes on the role of… Read More ›
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Adam’s Corner: February 2024 Home Releases
Anytime there’s an opportunity to talk movies, I’m going to take it, and this is no exception. Having been invited to join fellow NC-based film critic Adam Long on his podcast, Adam’s Corner, to discuss the home releases for February,… Read More ›
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Documentary “We Can Be Heroes” reminds us that imagination is a constructive force for community-building and individual healing. [SXSW]
Like the David Bowie song from which filmmakers Carina Mia Wong and Alex Simmons (Buddymoon) drew inspiration for the title of their documentary, We Can Be Heroes is a bit of a melancholic tale of individuals who recognize that they… Read More ›
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Ned Benson’s time travel rom-com “The Greatest Hits” is profound in its use of grief and trauma. [SXSW]
Photosensitivity Warning: The visual elements used to convey transitions appear as an anamorphic lens-like flare similar to refraction of light that may prove trigging to photosensitive individuals. Memory is greatly tied to our senses. Tastes, sights, smells, and sounds all… Read More ›
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Doc “The Antisocial Network” demonstrates the devastating repercussions of focusing on the lulz and forgetting to touch grass. [SXSW]
“I reject your reality and I substitute my own!” – From the film The Dungeonmaster (1984) and *not* Adam Savage There’s a fairly popular video and text meme which starts with a reminder that it costs nothing to be kind… Read More ›
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Dig deeper into the making of the surprisingly complex martial arts crime thriller “One-Percent Warrior” via the Well Go USA home release edition.
**Disclaimer: The following home release review was written before additional allegations came out regarding a larger issue with lead actor Tak Sakaguchi, detailed in a March 3rd thread by Tom Mes. We feel it’s important to note that this is… Read More ›
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Filmmaker Michael Felker’s sci-fi thriller “Things Will Be Different” shakes up the time travel genre for the better. [SXSW]
There’s the world we know — the one we can see, hear, smell, and touch — and there is the world in between. It exists around us, within the spaces within spaces. Overlapping and overlapping, like a Venn diagram wherein… Read More ›
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That’s all, folks! The DCEU is officially over with the home release of “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”
From 2013 – 2023, Warner Bros. Pictures has released 15 films featuring characters from DC Comics beginning with The Trinity — Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck), and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) — and now it’s all over with the… Read More ›
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“The Bleacher” takes audiences on a wild eight-minute adventure in a laundromat [SXSW]
After a world premiere at Sundance 2024, co-directors and operators of Magic Society Pictures, Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder (Sexy Furby; The Mundanes) bring their animated horror short The Bleacher to SXSW for its Texas premiere. Looking like stop motion… Read More ›
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Filmmaker Shannon Triplett’s directorial debut “Desert Road” utilizes the loop thriller to profound effect. [SXSW]
“… no one can never see past the choice they don’t understand… ” The Oracle, The Matrix Revolutions (2003) Loop films are, by their nature, a sci-fi fantasy tool utilized to get a protagonist to confront some aspect of themselves…. Read More ›
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No matter snow, rain, heat, or gloom, “Dead Mail” delivers. [SXSW]
There’re directors who go things alone and then there’re directors who operate with someone else as a team. You’ve got the Coen brothers (Miller’s Crossing), the Wachowskis (The Matrix trilogy), the Russo brothers (several MCU films), the Farrelly brothers (Dumb… Read More ›
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Table top gaming documentary “The Hobby” demonstrates that gaming is for everyone. [SXSW]
“You don’t stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. On wintry days when it was too cold to venture out or on summer… Read More ›
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Action thriller “Damsel” eschews fantasy tradition in favor of kicking ass.
Period/fantasy films offer opportunities to view the current world through a different lens. If you lived in a world of orcs, goblins, and magic, what role would you play in the greater hierarchy? If you existed at a time of… Read More ›
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Walt Disney Studios’s home release “Wish” offers over an hour of in-depth materials exploring the creation of this celebratory 100th adventure and the history of the studio.
When not compared against the bountifulness of time, 100 years is a long time. Within the last 100, three generations of Davidsons followed the arrival of my grandfather. We have fought in two world wars (nearly crossed the line into… Read More ›
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15 films to keep on your radar for SXSW 2024.
For the fourth year in a row, Elements of Madness will officially be covering SXSW and we thought we’d offer up our recommendations of what to check out during the fest or what to keep an eye out for in… Read More ›
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Supernatural thriller “The Woman Under the Stage” utilizes superstitions of the theater to craft a tale of paranoia.
Actors are a superstitious lot. They may not begin that way, but as they grow and the customs of performance seep in, suddenly you’re saying “break a leg” instead of “good luck,” never saying the name of a certain Scottish… Read More ›