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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The Cine-Men, Episode 100: Top Ten Films of 2023 & Goodbye
The moment has come and our destination has been reached. On this, the final episode of The Cine-Men, Darryl Mansel and I discuss our Top Ten Films of 2023 and then wax a little poetic about our five+ years recording… Read More ›
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“The Ghost Station” Blu-ray Giveaway
With the sun down longer this time of year, why not take advantage by putting on something that may just chill you? Enter Well Go USA and their physical release of director Jeong Yong-ki’s The Ghost Station. Out now to own… Read More ›
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The Cine-Men, Episode 99: Thrillers with special guest Joel Winstead
Before we reach the end of the Road to 100, co-hosts Darryl Mansel and I welcome fellow NCFCA/SEFCA member and host of the podcast And The Winner Was Joel Winstead onto the program. We begin by digging into the recently… Read More ›
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“Mondo New York” Blu-ray Giveaway
The term “mondo” is born from the Italian word for “world” and came to apply to psychedelic, mockumentary-type films made from the late ‘50s to the early ‘80s which explored taboo subjects like sex, racism, ethnocentrism, death, and more. In… Read More ›
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“The Inspector Wears Skirts” joins the ranks of the 88 Asia Collection in 2K.
First hitting Hong Kong theaters with 1986’s action comedy Naughty Boys (扭計雜牌軍), filmmaker Wellson Chin Sing-Wai’s follow up is that of the female-led The Inspector Wears Skirts (霸王花), released as Top Squad in the U.S., has Sibelle Hu (The Seventh… Read More ›
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Meet Me at the Movies: Episode 530 – The NCFCA 2023 Nominees Highlights
Each year in December, the members of the North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) submit the names of the films, performers, and craftspeople that represent what they think is the best in cinema for that year. Now, for the 12th… Read More ›
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The Cine-Men, Episode 98: Screwball Comedy
Before we make it to our final destination, your hosts Darryl Mansel and I decided to get weird by talking about a few of our favorite screwball comedies. There have been some great ones throughout cinema history, but, like all… Read More ›
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Yūzō Kawashima’s grifter dramedy “Elegant Beast” receives the restoration treatment from Radiance Films.
There have always been stories about grifters, liars, and thieves for about as long as there have been heroes and heroines. Sometimes they’re lovable arbiters of chaos, sometimes always in it for themselves. Each time, though, they are often thought… Read More ›
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The Criterion Collection releases a fifth Guillermo del Toro edition with his co-directed adaptation of “Pinocchio.”
In a world in which streamers rarely release their films on physical formats and legacy studios are beginning to delete finished films (either for tax purposes or to just remove from servers), there’s something truly wonderful about the relationship developed… Read More ›
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Come out of your shell anytime you like with the latest TMNT animated adventure, “Mutant Mayhem,” out on home video.
There’s a saying in the Buffyverse that, when paraphrased, states, “To every generation there is a Slayer.” The same can be said for fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird,… Read More ›
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Action thriller “Til Death Do Us Part” sells on hunter-prey action and delivers existential drama instead.
There are some films whose concept is so engaging on paper that it must feel like a slam dunk before production even starts. In the case of director Timothy Woodward Jr.’s (Hickok) action thriller Til Death Do Us Part, the… Read More ›
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James Cameron’s action spycraft rom-com “True Lies” finally receives the high-definition treatment it deserves.
For a certain type of film fan, there’s been a question swirling around in their minds for decades now and it’s centered on writer/director James Cameron. No, it’s not about when the next Avatar entry in the expected five-film series… Read More ›
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Director Frant Gwo’s “The Wandering Earth II” embarks on a physical release via Well Go USA.
Memory is a strange thing. It doesn’t work like I thought it did. We are so bound by time, by its order. But now I am not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. – Arrival (2016) In 2019,… Read More ›
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Novel adaptation “Rumble Through The Dark” may follow a rote narrative path, but delivers enough surprises to satisfy.
Are we the family we’ve come from or the family we create? This is the major question at the center of the Graham and Parker Phillips-helmed Rumble Through The Dark, a drama adapted from the Michael Farris Smith March 2018… Read More ›
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Get even more Masaaki Yuasa bang for your buck with this five-film box set release from Shout! Studios and GKIDS Films.
Whimsical, musical, juvenile, comedic, romantic, adult, absurd — each of these singular words could easily describe the work of filmmaker/artist Masaaki Yuasa. Whether telling a “one crazy night” story or a rom-com or a time-traveling serial killer rock show, each… Read More ›
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“Love Actually” is available on 4K for the first-time to send a tingle in your fingers and toes.
When it comes to holiday films with major casts, there have been *many* of them over the years. But if we narrow the field just a little to those specifically focused or centered on/around a holiday, we end up with… Read More ›
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Shout! Studio’s 4K UHD edition of “Clue” is no red herring.
In today’s theatrical market, making a movie off an established intellectual property (IP) is standard practice. Successful book? Make it a movie. Successful television series? Make it a movie. Successful video game? Keep attempting to make it a movie. Successful… Read More ›
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Explore Gareth Edwards’s dramatic sci-fi actioner “The Creator” more deeply via home video.
Writer/director Gareth Edwards has his celebrators and detractors due to past works like Godzilla (2014) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), which are not controversial to the general public but can be seen as such within their respective… Read More ›
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The Cine-Men, Episode 97: 007 with special guest Michael Reyes
As The Cine-Men get one episode closer to 100, we are joined – better yet, rejoined – by friend of the show Michael Reyes. He’s not just a brilliant interviewer and critic, the man is a fountain of knowledge when… Read More ›
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With John Curran’s thriller on home video, do you dare to travel “Mercy Road”?
Back in October 2023, in the spirit of chills and thrills, Well Go USA released director/co-writer John Curran’s (Chappaquiddick) latest project Mercy Road, a high-octane thriller that doesn’t let up from the moment of ignition. The film walks the line… Read More ›