The ‘80s were a decade of decadence. Whimsical fashion, music, and media reigned pop culture. This was especially true with the films of the era. The year 1984 saw Warner Bros. release both Purple Rain, a semi-biographical concert film starring… Read More ›
Content Warning: This film contains sexual violence and semi-explicit sex acts that may be unnerving for sensitive viewers. Mermaid Legend (1984) is the prize film in Third Window Film’s newest wave of their Blu-ray releases of The Directors Company movies…. Read More ›
When creating a film about the morality and ethics of journalism, centering a story around the Munich massacre of 1972 is an inspired choice. September 5 (2024), co-written and directed by Tim Fehlbaum (The Colony), is a film about an… Read More ›
Trigger Warning: There are several sequences involving protracted strobing or flashing lights, so photosensitive viewers should take precautions before queuing up the film. According to Kenta Fukasaku, son of Kinji Fukasaku, the filmmaker’s 1983 action fantasy Legend of the Eight… Read More ›
Jean-Luc Goddard’s King Lear (1987) is a great movie for nobody and is available on Blu-ray through Criterion on February 11th, 2025. Almost nobody, actually. It’s certainly a film for me, and for legendary film critic Richard Brody of the… Read More ›
For audiences of a certain age, writer Shane Black is an instrumental figure in their cinematic development. In the same year (1987) that taught us that “Wolfman’s got nards” (Monster Squad), he let us know that it’s ok to say… Read More ›
Back in 2003, I had the pleasure (much like the rest of New York) of getting to see a new musical called Wicked. In the mind of this then-13-year-old, seeing a story about a misunderstood witch from the land of… Read More ›
There’s this strange compulsion by many to respond to someone’s discomfort with “everyone has problems.” Whatever the intention, all it ever does is minimize what a person is feeling with the implication that “why should someone be feeling badly about… Read More ›
It’s an important rite of passage for each generation to mourn the loss of the cultural norms and trends that defined its youth. Unfortunately, this mourning usually manifests as some iteration of the tone-deaf and demeaning phrase, “Kids today will… Read More ›
“You can’t take anything with you when you die, except your deeds.” – Lee Fun Yee (Cecilla Cheung) in Running on Karma Established in 1996 by director Johnnie To and frequent collaborator Wai Ka-Fai, production house Milkyway Image Ltd. would… Read More ›
When the trailers first dropped for director Ruben Fleischer’s Venom (2018), audiences got a taste of something truly exciting as it looked like Sony Pictures might take the Marvel Comics villain-turned-anti-hero and introduce him through a body horror-like science fiction… Read More ›
Contrary to what some American politicians (and some of their base) would tell you, having children isn’t a cure-all. In the same way that pets for the holidays are a great idea filled with visions of beautiful smiles and joyous… Read More ›
In the opinion of this writer, we don’t thank Guillermo del Toro enough for his contributions to cinema. From his beautiful tribute to creature features via The Shape of Water (2017) to his dedication to animation with his Pinocchio (2022),… Read More ›
Janus Contemporaries’s newest unnumbered entry into the Criterion Collection is priced just right at $20.99. The Beast, the latest film from Bertrand Bonello (House of Tolerance; Saint Laurent), is a surreal tale starring two of the best actors working today,… Read More ›
In our new world where big budget blockbusters dominate the theatrical landscape, Crust, the 2024 indie horror-comedy written and directed by Sean Whalen (Twister), stands out as a delightful anomaly. Featuring a cast of relatively unknown actors and a limited… Read More ›
It’s very common for members of Hong Kong (HK) cinema to take on multiple career paths through their lifetime. Many start as stunt people, working their way up to actor and then, often, to the position of writing and/or directing,… Read More ›
Whether literally or metaphorically, nostalgia is always for sale. By tapping into your rose-colored memories, companies have you ready to buy anything under the guise of it helping you escape the hardships of the present for even a moment. Doesn’t… Read More ›
The Alien franchise has become a staple in horror and science fiction genres. Granted, after 1979’s Alien and 1986’s Aliens, the series had a rocky track record. Films like Prometheus (2012) and Alien Covenant (2017) had some hoping they could… Read More ›
Remakes and adaptations are constants in entertainment. For one, they offer safety for skittish executives worried more about their bottom line and upsetting stockholders than taking risks with an unvetted intellectual property (IP). For two, sometimes there are stories that… Read More ›
When done right and a movie captures the time period in which it’s set pitch-perfectly, it is a reflection of its audience and resonates so much deeper and more personally with those of that era. Some movies that come to… Read More ›