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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“Face The Music” with Bill & Ted from the comfort of your own couch.
When writers Chris Matheson (A Goofy Movie) and Ed Solomon (Men in Black) first created the characters of Bill S. Preston, Esquire, and Ted Theodore Logan, they likely didn’t expect their creations to grab hold of the world for more… Read More ›
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Paramount Pictures releases a special steelbook edition of “It’s a Wonderful Life” just in time for the holidays.
By this point in cinema and television history, everyone knows the fictional story of George Bailey, or someone like him. An individual so aggrieved by their circumstances that they wish with all their might for a change. But as Oscar… Read More ›
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“Bill and Ted Face The Music” Blu-ray Combo Pack Giveaway
Elements of Madness is excited to announce we’ve partnered with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on the upcoming home release of Bill & Ted Face The Music. In anticipation of the Blu-ray and DVD on November 10th, we are giving away… Read More ›
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Propelled by grief, haunted by loss, Johannes Nyholm’s repetitious “Koko-di Koko-da” is an unexpected ear worm of horror.
There is, in nature, an expectation of form and function. The seasons bring about growth and change as Earth undergoes a period of refreshment and blossoming before wilting and decaying, only to start it over again with the return of… Read More ›
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“Train to Busan presents: Peninsula” Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Giveaway
Elements of Madness is excited to announce we’ve partnered with Well Go USA on the upcoming home release of Train to Busan presents: Peninsula. In anticipation of the Blu-ray, DVD, and digital release on November 24th, we are giving away two… Read More ›
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15 years later director James McTeigue’s “V for Vendetta” remains a prescient exploration of the cost of fear.
It’s been 15 years since James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta hit theaters. Adapted from the Alan Moore/David Lloyd comic book miniseries, V for Vendetta took the Margaret Thatcher-era conservative versus anarchism themes and made them more contemporary for American audiences… Read More ›
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Indie drama “Take Out Girl” delivers a thoughtful meal, not a dissatisfying snack. [Indie Memphis Film Festival]
There are many paths to success. Even one generation ago, that meant going to school, getting a job, and working there until retirement. On that path at that time, a single income was typically enough to provide for an average… Read More ›
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“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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›