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
-
“Beetlejuice” Digital Code Giveaway
Halloween is coming and Elements of Madness is kicking things off by joining the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment #BeetlejuiceWatchalong hosted by Fuller House‘s Jodie Sweetin. The tweetalong starts at 5p PST/8p EST Friday, October 30th. Want to join in the fun?… Read More ›
-
Director Tali Yankelevich’s “My Darling Supermarket (Meu Querido Supermercado)” explores the macro and micro elements of a fractal existence. [Indie Memphis Film Festival]
Much of our lives are mundane. We wake, we eat, we work, we eat, we sleep, we wake. In a way, life is a recursive action, predictable and endless. Where many would see a paralyzing dread, director Tali Yankelevich sees… Read More ›
-
Director Ja’Tovia Gary’s “The Giverny Document (Single Channel)” challenges its audience to consider the emotional weight of ignorance. [Indie Memphis Film Festival]
Artist Ja’Tovia Gary is a provocateur, a demonstrator, and a rebel. She uses her art as a means of proclaiming her space, her ideas, and her life as something of incredible value. None of this should be necessary, which appears… Read More ›
-
Horror thriller comic adaptation “The Owners” reminds that maybe it’s best to leave well-enough alone.
The horror genre is all about taking what terrifies you and giving it life so you can explore that terror in relative safety. Scared of the dark? Let’s personify it. Unnerved by the unknown? Let’s give it physical form. Chilled… Read More ›
-
Time is but a conduit for an examination of self in creative duo Moorhead and Benson’s unique sci-fi thriller “Synchronic.”
Creative team Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson have an obsession with time: how it moves, how it operates, how it functions in relation to the space we occupy. This curiosity has given rise to three films — Resolution (2012), Spring… Read More ›
-
RZA continues to up his directorial game with crime drama “Cut Throat City.”
There’s a brief line said by T.I.’s Lorenzo “Cousin” Bass that contains more than just a slight meaning to the context of the moment in which it’s said. Cousin is speaking to the four leads — Blink (Shameik Moore), Miracle… Read More ›
-
Stephen Frears’s genre-bending crime story “The Hit” offers a philosopher’s tongue amid a road movie structure.
It’s difficult to say what qualifies a film for the “Criterion treatment.” They’ve restored a variety of films believed lost like Brute Force, produced updated versions of award-winning stories like Taste of Cherry, and they’ve produced first-run (or as close… Read More ›
-
The Cine-Men, Episode 39: Opening Day Movie Memories.
It was not the intention to take a hiatus after Episode 38’s interview with Sean O’Connell, but we did. To make up for it, The Cine-Men hosts Darryl and Douglas welcome Crystal Davidson, the owner/operator of much-talked-about unofficial sponsor of… Read More ›
-
Sci-fi adventure comedy “Love and Monsters” offers all the title suggest and much more.
There have been many stories put on celluloid about the end of humanity. There’s the nightmarish It Comes At Night (2017), the lonely The Night Eats the World (2018), the frigid Snowpiercer (2013), the violent Mad Max: Fury Road (2015),… Read More ›
-
Comedian Steve Byrne trades the stage for the director’s chair in feature debut “The Opening Act.”
There was a moment, perhaps not so long from this one, where you wondered if you were doing what you always wanted to do, where you contemplated if the “you” of before would be proud of or impressed with the… Read More ›
-
Supernatural thriller “Broil” is more of a low simmer.
Werewolves. Vampires. Zombies. Each of these monsters of the dark owe their origins to legends and myths, to a time before science when fear ran roughshod over reason. That part of ourselves remains present even now and yet we find… Read More ›
-
Feel-good drama “The Secret: Dare to Dream” is cinematic comfort food.
Best-selling 2006 self-help book The Secret, from author Rhonda Byrne, implores its readers to view the world through a philosophy known as the “Law of Attraction.” The basic idea is that the thoughts of the individual (positive/negative) bring about the… Read More ›
-
This. Is. “300”… on 4K UHD for the first time.
If history is to be believed, then the story of King Leonidas I of Greek Sparta is truly remarkable. The story goes that the king and 300 of his soldiers took on an invading army of 100,000 Persians, defiantly keeping… Read More ›
-
Crime drama “Invincible Dragon” proves to be vulnerable after all.
With turns in Ip Man 3 (2015), Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), and Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018), Max Zhang is slowly becoming recognizable in the stateside martial arts community. His movements are fast, his skill precise, and his presence… Read More ›
-
Want to get weird? Check out horror-western “The Pale Door.” Just beware that you may find Hell on the other side.
You may not be familiar with the genre term “Weird Western,” but chances are you’ve seen one. The term refers to the combination of a typical western setting in combination with something more atypical of the period. Think Kathyrn Bigelow’s… Read More ›
-
Martial arts dramedy “The Paper Tigers” honors the heritage of the genre while exploring the cost of neglected bonds. [Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival]
The phrase “peaceful warrior” will always sound like an oxymoron to those who don’t understand it. The confusion lies in perceiving these terms as in opposition to one another — one can’t be peaceful if one is trained in the… Read More ›
-
Alex Wolff’s “The Cat and the Moon” is a strong directorial debut from a creator just getting started.
Your age likely defines how you know actor Alex Wolff. If you’re my age (near 40), then films like The House of Tomorrow (2017), Hereditary (2018), and the two new Jumanji (2017, 2019) films are your touch points. If you’re… Read More ›
-
Documentary “Dick Johnson Is Dead” is an oft silly and poignant celebration of life.
Alzheimer’s is often described as a “long goodbye.” It’s a progressive disease which slowly robs the individual of their memories and facilities, up to the point of loss of all communication skills and the inability to engage with anything around… Read More ›
-
Sci-fi drama “LX 2048” appears to possess themes running parallel to current quarantine life, yet fails to explore any of them deeply.
Time is truly the enemy of us all. It’s perhaps the only thing in our lives which is truly finite. whose amount is uncertain and, once used, is never be replenished. There’s a quote attributed to singer/actor/activist Henry Rollins that… Read More ›