Author Archives
Founder: Elements of Madness | Contributing Senior Film Critic: CLTure | Past Bylines at Pretty Vacant One, FilmFed, & Mountain Xpress | The Cine-Men podcast co-host | NC Film Critics Association, Southeastern Film Critics Association, & Critics Choice Association member | Rotten Tomatoes approved individual critic
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Once you find “Something in the Dirt,” the compulsion to explore it will never leave you. [Sundance Film Festival]
Creative multi-hyphenates Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have a fascination with the line between the explained and the unexplainable, crafting stories that walk the line on a razor’s edge. This continues with their fifth feature film, Something in the Dirt,… Read More ›
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Director Riley Stearns’s duplicitous “Dual” is a deceptively disarming droll deposition delving into diacritic distinction. [Sundance Film Festival]
Last at Sundance with his short The Cub (2013), writer/director Riley Stearns is back and brought his new feature film Dual which is, at a glance, a science fiction film in which a woman faced with losing her life must… Read More ›
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Phyllis Nagy’s “Call Jane” is an amalgamation of truth events which will hopefully get people talking about the past to preserve the present. [Sundance Film Festival]
At the time of this writing, January 22nd, 2022, it is the 49th anniversary of Roe V. Wade, a court case which ruled in favor of a woman’s right to privacy and governmental inclusion when choosing to abort a pregnancy…. Read More ›
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Amid the discord, Jesse Eisenberg’s feature-length directorial debut “When You Finish Saving the World” finds bittersweet harmony. [Sundance Film Festival]
Over the course of his career Oscar-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg has played many roles. He’s been a nebbish hero (Zombieland), a sociopath (The Social Network), a stoner badass (American Ultra), and the greatest criminal mind of the DCEU (Batman v…. Read More ›
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Meet Me at the Movies: Episode 447, NC Film Critics 2021 Awards
Since 2016 with my induction into the North Carolina Film Critics Association, I’ve been able to call myself a film critic. I’d been writing on-and-off for a while prior to Spring 2016, but always felt like being an actual critic was… Read More ›
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Arrow Video restores Yasuzô Masumura’s anti-war film “赤い天使 (Red Angel)” into a nice updated package for the world to enjoy.
With its opening shots of war-torn landscapes, skulls absent flesh and sinew, and other indicators of lifelessness, Yasuzô Masumura’s 赤い天使 (Red Angel) is quickly determined to be anti-war, the bleakness on display never softening from the beginning to the ending…. Read More ›
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Director/co-writer Ryoo Seung-wan’s “Escape from Mogadishu” brings hope amid horror home.
Director/co-writer Ryoo Seung-wan’s 16th film and South Korea’s submission for the 94th Academy Awards, Escape from Mogadishu, is a reconstruction of events during the Somali Civil War (currently still on-going). It’s a film which didn’t make the shortlist of nominees… Read More ›
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“An Unquiet Grave” DVD Giveaway
In the mood for a little dark terror in the woods? After a streaming release on Shudder in June of 2021, supernatural horror An Unquiet Grave is receiving a physical releases thanks to a partnership between the streamer and RLJE… Read More ›
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Before it all ends, relive the night “Halloween Kills” on home video.
Evil dies tonight! Evil dies tonight! This is the chant started by Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall) as he rallies together the scared townspeople of Haddonfield to take the fight to serial killer Michael Myers (Airon Armstrong/Nick Castle/James Jude Courtney)…. Read More ›
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Saying goodbye in “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” doesn’t mean forever. Just, for now.
All things come to an end and it seems that even immortal monsters have to say goodbye so that something new can begin. This is the relative theme coursing through the fourth, and reportedly final, installment of Sony Picture Animations’s… Read More ›
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“Escape from Mogadishu” Blu-ray Giveaway
Picked by South Korea to represent them at the 2022 Oscars, director Ryoo Seung-wan’s Escape from Mogadishu is an adaption of the real events in which rival diplomats had to work together to survive as civil war broke out around them…. Read More ›
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“Halloween Kills” 4K UHD Giveaway
In 1978, writer/director John Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill unknowingly began one of the most beloved series in horror/slasher history. In 2018, director David Gordon Green continued the story Carpenter and Hill began with their same-titled follow-up Halloween. This direct sequel… Read More ›
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Cast chemistry of “The 355” elevates the by-the-numbers screenplay.
One could describe The 355 as an action thriller with an all-star cast, and that would be true. But a more simple way to describe The 355 is that it’s every spy thriller flipped so that the old tropes feel… Read More ›
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Director Ridley Scott’s debate-worthy “The Last Duel” makes plain the fallacy of male superiority.
Trigger Warning: The film The Last Duel is centered on a rape. As such, the content of the film may be difficult to discuss without bringing up specifics that may be triggering to some individuals. More and more it seems… Read More ›
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Ten Films From 2021 That Stuck With Me
2021 is over and I’ve caught up with the last few films I’ve missed, so I think it’s time for EoM to unveil its Sixth Annual Sticky List! If you’re unfamiliar with the Sticky List, these are the films which… Read More ›