The first drive-in theater opened in June 1933 in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Since then, drive-ins, originally referred to as “park-in” theaters, popped up around the country, offering a unique cinematic experience that’s been immortalized in films like Grease (1978), The… Read More ›
Spoiler Warning: This review will quickly spoil the major twist revealed at the end of Orphan (2009), but not for Orphan: First Kill (2022) because I’m not a sadist. There’s something wrong with Esther, and it has been for much… Read More ›
I am a man of multitudes. I love roller coasters and various other thrill rides, and the higher off the ground, the more excited I become. I also love flying and am glued to my window from the second we… Read More ›
It’s fair to say that in the pantheon of manga-adapted anime series, Dragon Ball is among the greats. Starting as part of Shueisha’s “Weekly Shonen Jump” in 1983, creator Akira Toriyama’s series has taken on many iterations (Dragon Ball, Dragon… Read More ›
June 23rd, 2018: after a football practice, 12 teammates and their assistant coach decided to explore the nearby Tham Luang Cave in the Tham Luang – Khun Nam Namg Non Forest Park of Northern Thailand. Unexpectedly, a storm hit, flooding… Read More ›
Whom among us hasn’t felt lost and alone, even in a crowded room of people? In some cases, the larger the environment, the smaller one may feel due to the vastness of it all. In that case, seeking connection to… Read More ›
When an artist creates something, they retain little control over what happens next. It could be received warmly, coolly, or not at all. In some instances, it can be taken, reformed, and found in its new incarnation. In recent memory,… Read More ›
There’s a subgenre in film that features a very simple and comfortable setup: retired/reclusive individual meets a young individual, forms a bond (often reluctantly), young individual gets into trouble (usually kidnapped) causing the retired/reclusive individual to jump back into action…. Read More ›
After a release in 2021, first-time feature director Shinzô Katayama’s (Mother, third assistant director) horror/thriller Missing (さがす) is having its North American premiere during Fantasia International Film Festival 2021. The concept of the film seeks to join the likes of… Read More ›
Actor/writer/producer Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, has been making movies since 2005. He’s had roles in The Good the Bad the Weird (2008), Mother Vengeance (2012), a scene-stealing role in Train to Busan (2016), and, of course, the… Read More ›
One of the oldest storytelling conveyances is the oral tradition. Before we could write or read, we spoke and the sounds we made transfixed audiences, transporting them to times before their present. With the advent of the written-word, one might… Read More ›
There are a lot of things about parenthood that are kept from the general public. Most talk about the wonderful things that come from being a parent, like getting to see a first-time reaction to something or sharing an experience,… Read More ›
There have been many films conceived, shot, and released since COVID-19 quarantines more or less stopped the world. Some of them put the virus front-and-center (The End of Us), while others used the period as an opportunity to tell a… Read More ›
Directing team the Russos (brothers Joe and Anthony) are no strangers to adapting works for cinema. If their work on 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier wasn’t enough to gain your attention, their directing of the end of the Marvel… Read More ›
Folklore is easily the earliest form of storytelling we have. Some folklore is intended to serve as lessons in morality or ethics, designed to push a people into certain behaviors, while others are merely stories passed down through the generations… Read More ›
It is not the destiny of every artist to be known beyond the reaches of their imagination. It’s a sad truth that sometimes, well past an artist’s prime or even after their life has ended, is when someone’s catalogue of… Read More ›
In 2017, writer/director Shin’ichirô Ueda released unto the world One Cut of the Dead, his adaptation of Ryoichi Wada’s play “Ghost in the Box!”. If you haven’t seen the film, it’s an absolute marvel that’s an inventive lo-fi zombie film… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›