The Unknown Country is a noisy film. A small, internal road drama steeped in cinema verité, it mixes score with the noise of the real world — overlapping voices, clinking dishes, the radio that refuses to shut up. Radio has… Read More ›
In Theaters
Teresa Sutherland’s directorial debut, “Lovely, Dark, and Deep,” speaks to humanity’s quest for answers as they rage against the unknown. [Fantasia International Film Festival]
“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” – The final stanza of Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy… Read More ›
“Stay Online” pulls the audience into a personal battle set during a current war and pins you down. [Fantasia International Film Festival]
Trigger Warning: A newsreel montage near the beginning includes footage of wartime incidents, including the dead and wounded. We are a world on the brink of a third global war all because of pride and greed. For nearly 10 years,… Read More ›
From “The First Slam Dunk” to the last, this manga adaptation will have you on the edge of your seat. [Fantasia International Film Festival]
Born first as a manga series that ran from 1990 – 1996 under the title Slam Dunk, the creation of Takehiko Inoue has been adapted for television, film, and video games since its debut. The series ran in Shueisha’s Weekly… Read More ›
Larry Fessenden’s “Blackout” seeks to eviscerate more than tender flesh. [Fantasia International Film Festival]
Monster stories, creature features, if you will, generally are tales of outsiders. Dracula is but a lone survivor of a people trying to rekindle his species, Frankenstein’s creation is but a homemade newborn trying to find a place in a… Read More ›
Fission accomplished! “Oppenheimer” more than delivers on the anticipation and hype.
With the exception of one film of his in recent years, and regardless of your opinion on him as a filmmaker, a new Christopher Nolan film releasing in theaters always feels like an event the scale of which we simply… Read More ›
“Final Cut” stumbles in attempting to recapture the magic of the original.
When a movie comes out that somehow brings something new and different to the genre and gets hailed as something interesting and innovative, of course there are going to be copycats and remakes and the like. That is exactly what… Read More ›
Heavyweight cast delivers a satisfying story in “The Miracle Club.”
When there is a cast of heavyweight actors, you know, at minimum, the movie is going to be incredibly acted, and if that satisfies the craving you have for a film, then so be it. However, if you’re looking for… Read More ›
If the option comes to accept “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” do it without hesitation.
When Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol dropped in 2011, I hadn’t seen any of the other films in the series, but the trailer’s promises of acrophobic suspense shot in full 70mm IMAX pulled me in. I was so enthralled by… Read More ›
25 films to check out during the Fantasia International Film Festival 2023.
For the fourth year in a row, Elements of Madness will officially be covering the Fantasia International Film Festival and we thought we’d offer up our recommendations of what to check out during the fest or what to keep an… Read More ›
“Biosphere” is fertile ground for a good time.
It’s always strange when a film, its release date set months or years in advance, syncs up with current events. Of course, a writer’s job is often to synthesize their experiences and see how they will evolve down the road,… Read More ›
Benedetta Porcaroli exudes main-character energy as the leading lady in Carolina Cavalli’s “Amanda.”
Carolina Cavalli’s Amanda couldn’t be titled anything else. The protagonist and titular character, 24-year-old Amanda, is the gravitational force that holds this quirky, quietly humorous, and, at times, meandering film together. Portrayed with delightful nuance by Benedetta Porcaroli (The Shadow… Read More ›
Adele Lim’s R-rated comedy is an absolute “Joy Ride.”
The R-rated studio sex comedy. Once a staple of the American film industry, this genre has since faded into semi-obscurity following a mixture of oversaturation (did we really need three Hangover (2009-2013) films?) and Gen Z finding their own comedic… Read More ›
Frank Marhsall’s documentary “Rather” reports on the man who covered history then and now. [Tribeca Film Festival]
As a Communications Major at the University of North Carolina at Asheville (Go Bulldogs!), there were two specific newscasters that came up in conversation: Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. Coincidentally, both were born roughly a decade apart, worked for… Read More ›
In a period of uncertain times, “Nimona” celebrates the rejects.
“Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.” – German proverb. In the stories we tell, if there’s a hero, there’s a villain, someone for the bold and courageous to conquer; otherwise, how are they to be bold and courageous?… Read More ›
Music doc “Anthem” is frequently sobering, but lacks temerity. [Tribeca Film Festival]
It’s a strange thing to be a person of a country. You can’t just identify as yourself in the singular as too many things require you to announce in the binary if you’re in support of or against where you… Read More ›
Harrison Ford takes Indiana Jones for one last cinematic adventure in “Dial of Destiny.”
Indiana Jones is one of cinema’s most beloved franchises. Those films resonate with audiences on a massive scale. After three successful classics, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (2008) divided the fans. 15 years have passed and a fifth film,… Read More ›
“No Hard Feelings” astroglides on the chemistry between its two leads.
Jennifer Lawrence is known to have a funny off-screen persona. Her no-nonsense personality has made her a fan favorite celebrity for audiences. That funny personality has never shown in her performances, until now. No Hard Feelings is a raunchy R-rated… Read More ›
Writer/director Diana Galimzyanova hits the festival circuit with idiosyncratic “Plan 9 from Aliexpress.”
“You Won’t Understand A Single Thing.” There is not a more on-target tag in all of cinema history, I think, than this one attached to the new Diana Galimzyanova (The Lightest Darkness) project, Plan 9 from Aliexpress, currently on the… Read More ›
Documentary “Stan Lee” honors the life and legacy forged by The Man through his own words. [Tribeca Film Festival]
Before I dive into this review of the documentary simply titled Stan Lee, I just want to make a little bit of a note on myself and who I was as a child. It is particularly interesting that I always… Read More ›