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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Allow animated dramedy “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” to ascend to your home collection.
At a point in the director interview for their film, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Amélie et la métaphysique des tubes), co-directors Maïlys Vallade (The Lighthouse Keeper) and Liane-Cho Han (Voodoo) discuss the Japanese belief that children under… Read More ›
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Stella Markert’s tragicomic “Thanks for Nothing” invites audience to embrace anarchy and themselves. [SXSW]
“So many bright lights, they cast a shadow, but can I speak? Well, is it hard understanding, I’m incomplete? A life that’s so demanding I get so weak A love that’s so demanding I can’t speak …” – From “Famous… Read More ›
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“The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” 4K UHD Giveaway
Last month, Cult Epics released another restoration from Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s catalogue of titles, the sci-fi romance The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Courtesy of Cult Epics, we reviewed the standard edition of their new 4K UHD restoration and, now,… Read More ›
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Horror comedy adaptation “Over Your Dead Body” has legs thanks to a very game cast and is elevated by devastating stunt work. [SXSW]
“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Trigger Warning: There’s a brief sequence in which sexual assault is threatened that may be… Read More ›
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“The Dads” is a moving and galvanizing feature that expands on Luchina Fisher’s original short. [SXSW]
8% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender according to an Oct 2025 Pew Research Center article based on a summer 2024 survey. There are reportedly over 342 million people living in the United States, which means… Read More ›
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Ghost procedural “Never After Dark” offers a fresh perspective on a well-worn genre. [SXSW]
When it comes to the occult, there are about as many famous fictional investigators as there are ways to approach a ghost story. There’s Daffy Duck (voiced by Mel Blanc) bringing the silly, while John Constantine is more serious. There’s… Read More ›
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Skip out on Sunday Church and head straight for the punk rock hilarity of teen comedy “Edie Arnold is a Loser.” [SXSW]
“Teenage girls are like mysterious, dark, and dangerous …” – Keely Jones, Ted Lasso First films are not barometers by which all subsequent films must account, but they play a massive role in the expectations audiences create. If a first… Read More ›
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Maya Annik Bedward’s “Black Zombie” is a strong piece in the restoration of dignity to Black and Vodou cultures criminalized by media representation. [SXSW]
Zombies are everywhere. They’re on your television set, in your movie theaters, in your comics, in your novels, in your video games, and, yes, even in Minecraft nerdcore tunes. Why? What’s the obsession with zombies and where did they come… Read More ›
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Depression lies and Peter Warren’s directorial debut “Kill Me” might, too. [SXSW]
Trigger Warning: Kill Me features explorations of mental health and suicidal ideation, as well as depictions of attempted suicide that may be difficult for sensitive viewers. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal ideation (active or passive),… Read More ›
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It’s showtime anytime with “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” on home video.
Since Scott Cawthorn’s horror survival game Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF) released in 2011, a fan base has arisen around the murderous animatronics and the new security guards whom try to make it through their shifts. Including the initial outing,… Read More ›
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Mumblecore dramedy “Danny Is My Boyfriend” encapsulates the quixotic nature of heartbreak. [Slamdance]
“Oh, and I don’t know I don’t know what he’s after But he’s so beautiful Such a beautiful disaster And if I could hold on Through the tears and the laughter Would it be beautiful Or just a beautiful disaster?”… Read More ›
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Co-directors Jacob Hatley and Tom Vickers cinema verité doc “Clovers” explores the notion of self-determinism within the citizens of Asheboro, NC. [Slamdance]
In 2024, filmmaker Jacob Hatley released crime drama Rowdy Friends, a tale featuring a mixture of professional and non-actors set in rural North Carolina. This film centered J.D. Cranford playing a version of himself after he left prison and went… Read More ›
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Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s 1983 sci-fi romance adaptation “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” receives a first-time North American release via Cult Epics.
By the time of his passing in 2020, filmmaker Nobuhiko Ôbayashi had directed nearly 80 films, features and shorts, with his most recent, Labyrinth of Cinema, released in 2019. It would be his feature debut, House (1977), that would make… Read More ›
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32 SXSW Film Festival 2026 films to explore.
EoM is excited to cover SXSW remotely for the sixth time, this time helmed by EoM members Douglas Davidson, Justin Waldman, and AJ Friar. Having looked over the announced festival titles, we’ve compiled a short-list of 32 titles we’d like… Read More ›
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Hey, bub, just when you think they’ve tried everything, “Zootopia 2” co-directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard pull out even more.
“Sly fox, dumb bunny.” Just when you think that storytellers have mined all they can from the odd couple trope, co-writers Jared Bush (Encanto) and Phil Johnston (Wreck-It Ralph series) found a way to invigorate the concept by not only… Read More ›
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Documentarian Matt Finlin’s music/medical doc “Matter of Time” utilizes a three-prong narrative approach to craft of tale of shared hope.
“This too shall pass.” – Persian phrase of complex origin Though it’s hard to say exactly when epidermolysis bullosa (EB) first appeared, the genetic disease was first noted by Austrian dermatologist Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra in 1870 and it would… Read More ›
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Animated adventure “The Pout-Pout Fish” is an engaging, fun, and adventurous rollercoaster ride of silliness the whole family can enjoy.
Photosensitivity Warning: The final act of the film includes a sequence in which characters change colors to glow with a pulsating white light that may provide triggering for sensitive viewers. After it happens the first time, it’s easy to predict… Read More ›
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“The Old Man and the Parrot” intermingles comedy and drama in a story of love and loss that may just soothe the soul. [Slamdance]
There are many ways to process grief. Some of them are beneficial, accompanied by a sense of healing and the ability to move on from the pain and loss, while others are like an anchor, prohibiting one from moving on… Read More ›
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Yuen Woo-Ping’s comic adaptation “Blades of the Guardians” is a rich wuxia adventure that’ll thrill you from start to finish.
There are some filmmakers for whom audiences will show up simply by their name being attached to a project. Universal Pictures has turned the latest Christopher Nolan film, The Odyssey, into an event by selling tickets a year in advance… Read More ›
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Road trip dramedy “BRB” beautifully captures the struggle of forging one’s identity online and IRL. [Slamdance]
“In this farewell There’s no blood, there’s no alibi ‘Cause I’ve drawn regret From the truth of a thousand lies…” – “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park from the 2007 album Minutes to Midnight There’s a joke floating around the… Read More ›