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
-
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” closes loops and sets up the next generation who are ready to believe you.
Each of us has a window of time in our mind that tells us how long is appropriate between films, sequels specifically. Release one too soon and you run the risk of the new film being too heavily compared to… Read More ›
-
“Seobok: Project Clone” Blu-ray Giveaway
I was lucky enough to catch the action-thriller Seobok during the 2021 Fantasia International Film Festival and quite enjoyed how it balanced the various elements to craft an action-packed, yet thoughtful tale. Retitled to Seobok: Project Clone, Lee Yong-ju’s film is headed… Read More ›
-
Documentarian Sébastien Lifshitz’s “Petite Fille (Little Girl)” invites us to understand one girl’s story of personal acceptance.
When it comes to parenting, there is no rule book, no grade scale, no metric which immediately determines if a child will grow up happy and healthy or feeling less-than. Despite all the books that have been written by countless… Read More ›
-
“Emily the Criminal” eschews the familiar thriller trappings, decrying the subjugation of self, making for a memorable heist of identity. [Sundance Film Festival]
From May 11th, 2016 – August 19th, 2018, there was a one-man Broadway show titled In & Of Itself in which actor/magician/trickster Derek DelGaudio first challenged his audience to pick a single word identifier for themselves to finish the phrase… Read More ›
-
The answer to Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro’s rom-com “Am I OK?” is you will be. [Sundance Film Festival]
Whoever started the narrative that you’ll have yourself figured out by the end of your 20s should be drawn and quartered. Especially as the way in which the world has changed commercially, the expectation that someone will go to school,… Read More ›
-
Vietnamese childrens’ story “Maika” doesn’t tread any path you haven’t trod, but that doesn’t make it any less fun or emotional. [Sundance Film Festival]
A young boy struggling with loss. An outsider who brings the opportunity for healing. A journey that mixes the fantastic with the real. This describes any number of child-centered stories from cinematic classics like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and The… Read More ›
-
Sci-fi drama “After Yang” asks the audience to consider what we miss when distracted by our lives. [Sundance Film Festival]
Trigger Warning: After Yang contains scenes involving strobing. If you have any kind of light sensitivity, be advised that this pertains to the credit sequence and an intermittent exploratory sequence. Connection. Connection appears to be a universal need at almost… Read More ›
-
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 ›
-
“Superhost” DVD Giveaway
Horror is a prime genre in which we can explore our fears, from the things that go bump in the night to the odd-vibe someone gives off pushed to 11. In our ever-increasing digitally-shared world, likes and reviews are the… Read More ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
“Eternals” arrives on home video with a new mission, win your hearts before the next adventure.
After 10 years of blockbusters which all led to the box office-shattering Avengers: Endgame (2019), Marvel Studios had two major choices: go bigger or rebuild. In that rebuilding is an opportunity to start fresh and, for the most part, they… Read More ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
“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 ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
The bonus features accompanying Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part One” delight longtime fans while enriching the experience of the novice.
There are some works of science fiction that never seem to let go once they get their grasp on society. William Gibson’s Neuromancer was published in 1984, but it still felt just as vital and prescient when I read it… Read More ›