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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16 films to check out during the Fantasia International Film Festival 2022.
For the third year in a row, Elements of Madness will be remotely covering the Fantasia International Film Festival. In the run-up to the event, we wanted to highlight 16 films screening during the festival that we’re either most excited… Read More ›
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“Dual” DVD Giveaway
Writer/director Riley Stearns’s Dual premiered during Sundance 2022 and made an immediate impression. Despite it’s odd premise and promise of violence, it’s far more quiet and introspective as it explores the battle of self. Soon after the premiere, Dual was picked… Read More ›
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“Thor: Love and Thunder” is a MCU rock show with heart.
Actor Chris Hemsworth first appeared as Thor Odinson in the 2011 Kenneth Branagh-directed Thor, a film which brought as much Shakespearian drama as it did Marvel Studios silliness. This was during Phase One, a period when audiences didn’t know what… Read More ›
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With “Edge of Tomorrow” on 4K UHD, you can watch-repeat this Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt sci-fi actioner as often as you like.
Among the many Tom Cruise films that have wowed audiences, too few recent features place him in a role offering vulnerability. He may be the underdog, but rarely is he truly out of his depth as master spy Ethan Hunt… Read More ›
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Meet Me at the Movies: Episode 465 – Summer Movie Experiences, Vol 1
Any chance to talk about movies is a good time, but to get invited to join Darryl Mansel and Noel T. Manning for an episode of Meet Me at the Movies to talk summer movie memories, well – that’s just… Read More ›
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Ukrainian war film “Sniper: The White Raven” makes a strong argument for the ouroboros nature of war.
Patience and endurance. According to a character in director Marian Bushan’s (Lucescu Phenomenon) Sniper: The White Raven, what separates snipers from soldiers is patience and endurance. Snipers don’t rush, they don’t preen, and they don’t attack unless the shot is… Read More ›
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“The Princess” spares no bloodshed in this “The Raid”-meets-Disney action fairytale.
“Once upon a time, in a land far far away…” is how most fairytales begin. Soon after, there’s usually an image of a fair princess whose fate is about to be decided by the whims of either a charming prince… Read More ›
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The Cine-Men, Episode 68: Favorite Female-Led Action Films with special guest Carol Cowles.
Coming off Episode 67, we had to establish that Tom Cruise doesn’t hold the patent on action and that there are plenty of places to see proper stunts. To do that, The Cine-Men co-host Darryl Mansel and I turned toward… Read More ›
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Charming from the start, comedy “Four Samosas” is the little heist film that could. [Tribeca Film Festival]
According to the press notes for comedy Four Samosas, actor/writer/director Ravi Kapoor was struggling to figure out what his next directorial project was going to be after 2015’s Miss India America. His impulse was to go bigger, turning into something… Read More ›
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The choiceless choice of survival easily leads one to presume that “We Might As Well Be Dead (Wir könnten genauso gut tot sein).” [Tribeca Film Festival]
Perspective is everything. Without it, we have no way to measure one experience against another. However, the limitation of perspective is that we, as individuals, tend to forget that what we perceive exists within a narrow scope defined by our… Read More ›
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“Edge of Tomorrow” 4K UHD Giveaway
Despite the *extremely* confusing marketing for director Doug Liman’s live-action adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s All You Need Is Kill as either Edge of Tomorrow (theatrical) or Live. Die. Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (home release), this Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt-led science fiction actioner… Read More ›
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The Pizza Poppa comes home now that “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” does too.
The 28th entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, hit theaters May 2022 with audiences excited at the immeasurable possibilities of a Sam Raimi-directed MCU film that includes the much teased multiverse. Especially coming… Read More ›
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Writer/director Tyler Taormina’s dreamlike mosaic, “Happer’s Comet,” eschews formality for the metaphysical. [BAMcinemaFest]
Writer/director Tyler Taormina (Ham on Rye) returned home to New York to move in with his family during the initial lockdown period in 2020. During that time, with help from friends, online strangers, and his family, Taormina spent four months… Read More ›
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Who wouldn’t love a little “True Romance” in 4K UHD with Dolby Vision?
When it came to the films of the late ‘80s into the ‘00s, there was nothing like a Tony Scott film. He took us on the highway to the danger zone (Top Gun (1986)), he brought the boys back together… Read More ›
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Director Rita Baghadadi’s “Sirens” throws you into the middle of the lives of co-lead guitarists of the Middle East’s only all-female metal band. [BAMcinemaFest]
Art is one of the first tools of protesters. It appears in the form of protest tags, signs, and banners. It appears in clothing, philosophy, and in song. In 1987, Avram Finkelstein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione,… Read More ›
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“Downton Abbey: A New Era” Blu-ray Giveaway
Created by Julian Fellowes, the Downton Abbey series has run, to date, for six seasons and two theatrical releases. Distributed by Focus Features, the latest film, A New Era, hit U.K. theaters in April 2022 and U.S. theaters in May 2022,… Read More ›
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In the mood for a meat-and-potatoes western? Look no further than “Murder at Yellowstone City.”
The mysterious stranger, the weathered lawman, the preacher with a past: each of these tropes has been used countless times to tell tales of war, revenge, and redemption. They’re tropes due to their frequency, implying a laziness in creativity, but,… Read More ›
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Director Kyra Sedgwick’s “Space Oddity” implores audiences not to travel in a tin can alone. [Tribeca Film Festival]
“For here Am I sitting in a tin can Far above the world Planet Earth is blue And there’s nothing I can do – David Bowie, “Space Oddity.” With all the arguments about what is or isn’t the natural order,… Read More ›
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“Gatlopp: Hell of a Game” is best played with parties of two or more.
When you get together with old friends, one of two things can happen: you realize that you’ve grown apart or you click together like no time passed. Both are beautiful and tragic in their own way, but it seems safer… Read More ›
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Dramedy “Pink Moon” may not grip you, but it’ll worm its way into your ear like a tune you can’t quite identify. [Tribeca Film Festival]
Astronomically speaking, a “Pink Moon” is the full moon of spring, appearing in April. The moon itself doesn’t change in color, but it gets its name from blooming phlox, a pinkish flower. Because of the period in which the Pink… Read More ›