Released June 30th, 1947, Jules Dassin’s (Rififi) Brute Force opened and took audiences and critics by storm. The film, a prison break picture, would startle and terrify as it depicted life inside prisons as one of moral decay, not because… Read More ›
How often do you read or see something that excites you, titillates you, and perhaps even angers you? As we grow ever closer to a presidential election, it seems almost daily that such an occurrence happens. Articles, photos, and videos… Read More ›
It’s showtime! Warner Brothers Home Entertainment is dropping not one, not two, but four new 4K UHD editions from their vast catalogue: Richard Donner’s The Goonies (1985), Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988), and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes:… Read More ›
One of the things I love about GKids Films, a distributor of Asian animated films, is the absolute variety and high quality of each production they release in the U.S. The films they release range from stop-motion (My Life as… Read More ›
As a kid with a profoundly accelerated imagination, there was no way I would ever watch something horror-related even though I frequently wanted to. Scoping out the VHS cover art while waiting in line at Kroger’s or hitting my local… Read More ›
Inspired in-part by his own real-life trauma, comedian Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live) crafted a story in partnership with director Judd Apatow (This is 40) and writer/producer Dave Sirus that presents a fictional tale of heartache, profound pain, and, ultimately,… Read More ›
The truth is often less exciting, less inspirational than fiction. My presumption for this is not because the truth lacks power, but that our individual imaginations build up ideas until they are larger than any one person or concept. It’s… Read More ›
No matter what you think of how movies are being distributed in the COVID Era, there’s no denying the quality of the films finding their ways to audiences. If you don’t think there’s anything to watch, that may be because… Read More ›
There is, perhaps, nothing more frustrating for a cinephile than to finish a film wherein the pieces are stronger than the whole. Where you can understand the intent of a project, yet, whether by style, structure, or some other technical… Read More ›
There’s something ubiquitous about adolescence that makes coming-of-age stories. It doesn’t matter what era or culture they derive or take place within, because there’s something universal, even in their specificity: the social awkwardness, the longing for connection, the need to… Read More ›
Apartment hunting is a living nightmare. There’s simply no way around the fact that every facet of moving to a new space is meant to test our mental and physical fortitude as humans, looking to see just how much stress… Read More ›
July 2nd, 1980, a comedy from the minds behind The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) opened wide and forever took hold within the zeitgeist: Airplane!. Now you’re likely thinking, “Surely, you can’t be serious that it’s been 40 years since Airplane!… Read More ›
Take the brilliant stunt choreography of Indonesian action film The Night Comes for Us (2018), the intrigue of Indonesian thriller The Raid: Berandal (2014), and mix with superhero elements you know from various Marvel and DC storylines and you’ll get… Read More ›
If you’re one of those folks who prefers physical media, get excited because one of the first 2020-slated films to hit Premium VOD is finally hitting shelves: WB Pictures’s Scoob!. In this soft-reboot of the beloved series, audiences are invited… Read More ›
Released in 1955, The Righteous Brothers’s classic tune “Unchained Melody” tells the story of one lover’s unending yearning for another. The music is soft, yet insistent, as the lyrics describe the relentless hunger for contact. By the time Jerry Zucker’s… Read More ›
There are a few films which define a generation. The Wizard of Oz speaks to those born 1922 -1945, a group which survived not just the Great Depression, but also World War II. For the Boomers, those born post-World War… Read More ›
The way an audience perceives art is by framing it within their own experience. This can be taken literally, as in someone considers their lifetime experience against what they are engaging in, or it can be taken more figuratively, as… Read More ›
In film criticism, there’s a guiding light that I try to stand by: review the film in front of you, not the film you wish you’d seen. That doesn’t mean that you can’t, don’t, or shouldn’t discuss a film’s failings…. Read More ›
Before digging into the ridiculousness that is Enter the Fat Dragon, a remake of a 1978 martial arts comedy, let us take a moment to marvel at the majesty that is Donnie Yen. This actor and highly trained marital artist… Read More ›
2020’s been one series of surprises after another. You’d run out of fingers trying to list all of the unexpected events and I’m here to present you with another: Trolls World Tour is a near-perfect exploration of cultural appropriation and… Read More ›