November 2007 saw the release of game developer Naughty Dog’s action/adventure third-person perspective game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Since then, the series has developed six more titles that function as either sequels or spin-offs, tracking the adventures of Nathan Drake, Vincent… Read More ›
Given the recent news of accomplished actor Bruce Willis’s failing cognitive health, watching a film like 12 Monkeys is a tad bittersweet. On the one hand, we’ll never get a stirring performance like this again; on the other, his works,… Read More ›
As an adolescent, I heard about director Ang Lee’s films — Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Ice Storm (1997) — but it was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) that would be my entry point into… Read More ›
One can never really predict what we’ll discover with art — what emotions, what memories, what reactions will be triggered through an artist’s work. When I first learned of writer/director Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE, I presumed, like most, that it would… Read More ›
After landing on Disney+ in March to a largely positive bang, director Domee Shi’s feature-length debut Turning Red is headed home for purchase. Much like the Oscar-winning Encanto from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Shi’s Pixar film explores generational trauma through… Read More ›
Thanks to the way that art tends to feed itself, throughout history, the written word has often inspired songs, paintings, dance, and vice versa with much more. For metalheads, the combination of fantasy and science fiction with music and art… Read More ›
“You have to keep me in shoes.” Of all the stories my late grandmother Naomi Pearl Russin Royal told, the one involving my late grandfather’s proposal and her response always amused me. As she told it, she had larger feet… Read More ›
“When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.” – Peter Parker, Captain America: Civil War (2016) Since 2016, actor Tom Holland as had the unenviable… Read More ›
Trigger Warning: Marry Me contains several scenes involving lights flashings, predominantly from cameras. Be advised in case you have any kind of light sensitivity. Sometimes, when it comes to picking a movie, we want something easy. Not to say it… Read More ›
Legacy — those who create it rarely live to see it last. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton has a line in which legacy is described as “planting seeds in a garden you never get to see grow.” In 1996, master filmmaker Wes… Read More ›
**Trigger Warning: The film involves self-harm and suicidal ideation.** There are two phrases that repeat often in my head. The first is an old one, “depression lies.” Not sure where it came from — a meme, a research article, a… Read More ›
There are some films that come along and you think to yourself “I need to see this.” It’s how I felt with the announcement of Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), but… Read More ›
In 1966, director King Hu (Dragon Inn) released Da zui xia, also known as The Great Drunken Hero and Come Drink with Me, a martial arts tale that’s equal parts swordplay and drama. The film starred Cheng Pei-pei (Crouching Tiger,… Read More ›
Generally speaking, each of director Satoshi Kon’s films are beloved by critical and general audiences. Each one is revered for its ability to entertain whether evoking thrills, drama, or laughter; each one considered for more mature audiences, despite being constructed… Read More ›
It’s fair to say that by 2007 Mark Wahlberg had established himself beyond the musician that captivated audiences with his good vibrations. He’d terrified us as obsessive boyfriend David McCall (Fear), dazzled us as a big bright shining star as… Read More ›
Few directors can have a small body of work and yet feel so pervasive, so integral, so inspiring as writer/director Guillermo del Toro. When he’s not writing or directing one of his own projects, he’s producing or raving about someone… Read More ›
On Mt. Hiei in Japan lives a secretive sect of Buddhists who push their bodies to their limits in order to achieve enlightenment. Seeking guidance, documentarian Ashen Nadeem travels to the monastery in hopes of chatting with Kamahori, a monk… Read More ›
In an equitable world, there’s balance and fair play. There’s a general sense that a deal made between parties will be advantageous to both, making their lives enriched in some fashion. But when it comes to collegiate sports, the deals… Read More ›
Throughout the special features, one thing that keeps repeating from original franchise actor Keanu Reeves is the comment that people have been telling him since the release of 1999’s The Matrix that the films changed their lives. It may seem,… Read More ›
When it came to film releases in 2020, the modus operandi was “make it work.” Sometimes that meant stalling until a theatrical release was possible and sometimes that meant selling to a streamer. In the case of Eddie Murphy’s Coming… Read More ›