What is best in life? For some, it’s the ability to travel, to wear fine clothes, and eat exotic dishes. For others, to achieve greatness either professionally or personally. If one considers the ideas within filmmaking team Henry Loevner and… Read More ›
In Theaters
“The Long Game” falls short in its telling of an inspired by real life story. [SXSW]
To make a successful sports film, sometimes it’s better to have an exciting game in this film’s foreground. Of all the sports, golf is not the most exciting springboard to tell a story. However there have been good golf films… Read More ›
Documentarian Tracy Droz Tragos’s “Plan C” declares that there is no freedom when healthcare is criminalized. [SXSW]
One of the founding principles in the United States is the separation of Church and State. This concept is intended to ensure that the laws of the land are written without any one specific faith guiding how the country functions…. Read More ›
Tünde Skovrán’s pseudo-narrative documentary may not inform who you are, but it will strongly convey “Who I Am Not.” [SXSW]
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:27 – New International Version There are many versions of Genesis 1:27. They each carry the… Read More ›
To destroy the systems that keep us in place, we may need “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster.” [SXSW]
Content Warning: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster feature several scenes involving flashing lights. Photosensitive audiences should take precautions before viewing. Those who proclaim that America isn’t racist or isn’t built upon racist structures is either profiting from it… Read More ›
Documentary “Pay or Die” ignites the passion to fight back against medical greed. [SXSW]
I always find it a little weird when I start off anything I write with a personal note, but there was something about this documentary that hit me hard. It might have something to do with the fact that I… Read More ›
Documentary “Another Body” explores the impacts of deepfake revenge porn. [SXSW]
There are a lot of things on the internet that are gross, and I don’t mean those weird videos of people popping pimples or anything like that. In the last 10 years or so, “revenge porn” became a thing, and… Read More ›
Michael Lukk Litwak’s “Molli and Max in the Future” is a hilarious satirical rom-com of the present. [SXSW]
Content Warning: Photosensitive viewers should be aware that Molli and Max in the Future contains a great deal of flashing lights and bright neon colors that may trigger issues. Though no migraine was caused by the end of the viewing… Read More ›
With “Confessions of a Good Samaritan,” documentarian Penny Lane’s uninhibited examination of self via altruistic donation may change perceptions and save lives. [SXSW]
Documentaries often reveal as much about their subject as they do the documentarian capturing it. We get a sense of who they are and what they value based on the editing, the structure, and the overall energy of a film… Read More ›
Writer/director Caroline Fioratti’s “Meu Casulo de Drywall (My Drywall Cocoon)” explores the conflicting ideas between security and safety. [SXSW]
What does security look like? Is it the absence of threat or the protection from them? Does security form from an abundance of safety or a dearth of individuality? Can one be secure and therefore free to share their concerns,… Read More ›
Radio Silence’s “Scream VI” moves the thrills and bodybags away from Woodsboro and onto an exciting new path.
Caution: I will obviously not be discussing spoilers to this film, because I’m not cruel and the whole point of these films is the fun “whodunnit” of it all, but I am somewhat forced to discuss some spoilers from Scream… Read More ›
Documentarian Christine Yoo’s “26.2 to Life” has you running a marathon in a few inmates’ shoes. [Santa Barbara International Film Festival]
“Running is good punishment.” – 1000 Mile Club volunteer Well into writer/director Christine Yoo’s documentary 26.2 to Life, one of the interviewees comments that running is the thing that all other sports use as punishment. Miss a basket? Screw up… Read More ›
“Everybody Wants to be Loved (Alle wollen geliebt warden)” explores different types of love, the good and the bad/toxic. [Santa Barbara International Film Festival]
“Love is a many splendid thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love.” – Christian, Moulin Rouge! Generally speaking, there are four types of love: Eros (erotic), Philia (friends/family), Storge (parents for children), and Agape… Read More ›
Sinéad O’Loughlin’s short film “Lamb” is a calling card of homegrown terror in a single chamber. [Santa Barbara International Film Festival]
The only right length to tell a story is the length required to tell it completely. This is why a story can be constructed with as few as three words or as much as a 90-minute or more screenplay. It… Read More ›
If you vibe with drama “The Young Arsonists,” you’re in for a powerful exploration of feminine adolescent independence. [Santa Barbara International Film Festival]
Memories are a strange thing. They are flickers of the past, like embers of a long burnt out flame riding the strands of neuropathways until they can be inflamed once more, waiting to come billowing into the present. The problem… Read More ›
Director Kei Ishikawa’s dramatic thriller “A Man (ある男)” explores the value of self and identity. [Santa Barbara International Film Festival]
Who are you? Stop for a moment. Read not a line further, and think on that. Are you one thing or are you many? Are you your thoughts and fears? Your anxieties or successes? Your actions? Are you your present… Read More ›
Director Elizabeth Banks’s “Cocaine Bear” is high on its own supply in this animal attack horror entry.
If I were a basic gay, I would start this review with “A Cocaine Bear? You just mean West Hollywood at 3 a.m.?” and move on with my day…but I’m not, and I won’t…but you get the picture. Despite my… Read More ›
One step at a time, one punch at a time: the “Creed” series just gets better and better with each outing.
Nostalgia can only take audiences so far when it comes to films. It’s not that sequels or reboots and the like are bad, it’s just that they so often rely on meta material rather than moving things forward or making… Read More ›
Restoration of extreme film “Calvaire” offers little more than access to the film.
Fabrice du Welz’s Calvaire (titled The Ordeal in some English-speaking regions, but not here), premiering at Cannes in 2004, is a strange, but valid entry into the canon of “New French Extremity” that gripped French-language horror/thrillers from the mid-‘90s to… Read More ›
Social thriller “The Sixth Child (Le sixième enfant)” will challenge you to reconsider the complex notion of conception. [Santa Barbara International Film Festival]
In modern society there are a number of presumptions that enable and empower those who have to look down upon those who have not. Aspects of health, wealth, occupation, and hobbies are all treated as aspects of one’s morality. Don’t… Read More ›