As 2016 winds down, the race for the 2017 Oscars begins. That means new advertisements for movies you may have forgotten, re-releases in theaters, and even the occasional discount VOD access. Exposure is key to win nominations because if voters… Read More ›
An alternate version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on November 18th, 2016. Adolescence is a difficult time for us all. Our bodies change. Our friends change. Our interests change. For many, those changes feel less like the beautiful escape… Read More ›
An alternate version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on November 11th, 2016. Adapted from the novel Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, writer Eric Heisserer (Lights Out) and director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario/Prisoners) flesh out the story to create… Read More ›
While there’s something to be said of the bombast of Summer, we often prefer the movies of Fall. Shifting toward character over spectacle, Fall films present introspective tales that match neatly with the cooling temperatures and changing of the seasons. Granted October’s… Read More ›
An alternate version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on October 14th, 2016. There is nothing better than watching an actor – any actor – melt into a roll so completely that you forget what you’re watching is mere shadow… Read More ›
An alternate “Quick Hit” version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on October 14th, 2016. Writer/director Andrea Arnold‘s American Honey is lavishly decadent in its depiction of a group of teens who travel the country selling magazines door-to-door during… Read More ›
An alternate version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on September 29th, 2016. Adapting stories from books requires more than just a best-selling story. It needs a director who can encompass the ideals of the author and bring the internal vision… Read More ›
An alternate version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on September 29th, 2016. April 20th, 2010, off the coast of Louisiana, a semi-submersible oil rig known as the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing eleven people and causing the largest oil spill… Read More ›
One of the largest, most combative issues in the current election is the cost of an education in the United States. Some argue that the high cost of tuition is to blame for massive student debt. Others proclaim that the quality… Read More ›
Coming off the heels of a cross-country road show, Yoga Hosers, writer/director Kevin Smith (Mallrats/Dogma)’s second film in his True North Trilogy, will finally receive a nationwide release. Full of the juvenile slapstick humor Smith built an empire upon, Yoga… Read More ›
From the creative team of Fede Alvarez and Sam Rami, who brought you Evil Dead (2013), comes Don’t Breathe, a claustrophobic suspense-filled horror-thriller that twists and turns all the way to the credits. Don’t expect a gorefest this time around… Read More ›
Laika Studios, creators of ParaNorman and Coraline, once again proves that stop-motion in cinema can convey powerful themes all while being sold as a children’s story. Their latest, Kubo and the Two Strings draws its inspiration from Japanese folklore, in… Read More ›
As the sun begins to set on summer, Walt Disney provides us with one more golden through director David Lowery’s reinterpretation of the 1977 classic musical Pete’s Dragon. Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) shoves off the seafaring locale, the songs,… Read More ›
Suicide Squad, DC Films’ third live-action feature in the newly established DC Extended Universe, is intended to connect with audiences in a way Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice failed to. Batman V Superman, even months after its release, is… Read More ›
2016 marks Gene Roddenberry’s fiftieth anniversary of the original Star Trek television series (OTS), a show that broke many boundaries over the course of its four-year run. With the latest cinematic incarnation, co-written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung and… Read More ›
A shorter version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on July 14th, 2016. For most folks, everyday life is a series of innocuous moments: getting up, eating breakfast, kissing your family before you leave the house for work, the commute, the… Read More ›
A shorter version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on July 6th, 2016. From the studio that brought you Despicable Me and Minions, comes The Secret Life of Pets, an animated tale (tail?) that provides a peek into the lives of… Read More ›
I wrote a shorter version of this review originally for CLTure and it was posted on their site on June 30, 2016. There is barely a bookshelf that has not held the weight of their words of Roald Dahl. His stories delight our… Read More ›
It’s with great pride that Elements of Madness has been able to publish content – reviews or recommendations – for the last twelve weeks. It’s been a personal mission for myself and my editor to release content each Friday in… Read More ›
I wrote this review originally for CLTure and it was posted on their site on May 15, 2016. X-Men: Apocalypse, the eighth installment in the X-Men cinematic series, aims to do something new within an old story in a genre that’s kicking… Read More ›