Life is a marathon. You don’t train for it, you probably don’t stretch enough, but it is a marathon. The mistake that most make is perceiving those around them as competition instead of rivals. Competitors are there to defeat you… Read More ›
Reviews
Sci-fi satirical dark comedy “The Saviors” posits an inevitable destiny for all via humanity’s rush to cast heroes and villains. [SXSW]
Trigger Warning: The opening sequence features flashing lights and quick-cut imagery that may be triggering for photosensitive individuals. “DESTINY! DESTINY! NO ESCAPING THAT FOR ME!” – Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) in Young Frankenstein. In storytelling, there are two pretty… Read More ›
“Cramps! – A Period Piece” is the most fun you’ll have with endometriosis. [The Overlook Film Festival]
As a male, I’ve never had the misfortune of going through menstrual cramps, and for that I am incredibly grateful because it seems like absolute bloody (no pun intended) hell and I am going without experiencing that pain every month… Read More ›
“Drag” flips the home invasion horror genre on its back. [The Overlook Film Festival]
Horror movies are not meant to necessarily reflect our own fears and anxieties, but sometimes they do. I’m not entirely sure if first-time feature filmmakers Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer, who both wrote and directed Drag, anticipated that someone would… Read More ›
Larry Fessenden’s “Habit” participates in a celebration of the director’s latest creature feature. [The Overlook Film Festival]
Writer/actor/director Larry Fessenden has been a steady presence in filmmaking for several decades now. Whether appearing in other people’s projects (Bringing Out the Dead; Good Boy), writing them (Until Dawn), or making them himself (Wendigo; The ABCs of Death 2),… Read More ›
“Resurrection” is the can’t-miss Criterion of the year.
“The day the world almost ended at 8 p.m., a tree fell down. No one heard it, but later I saw it.” – Andrew J. Eisenman No one knows what to do with the film spoken of as “Bi Gan’s… Read More ›
Oliver Hermanus’s “The History of Sound” comes available on physical formats via MUBI.
Music is a significant part of the oral tradition. Even if we lack words for our feelings or experiences, we can always chant, using the power of our lungs to vibrate our breath into song and story. This is why… Read More ›
Screenlife real-time techno thriller throws everything at you except what it needs: “Mercy.”
The insertion of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in storytelling used to be entirely science fiction in the same way that submersible technology (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) or watch phones (Dick Tracy) were. Now, however, A.I. is being worked into… Read More ›
Johnnie To’s mixed-genre “Romancing in Thin Air” gets a first-time US and UK Blu-ray via Radiance Films.
When a storyteller — whether writer, director, actor, etc. — becomes known for something, they very often get pigeon-holed and face difficulty escaping that perception. People known for westerns do westerns, for action do action, for horror do horror, and… Read More ›
“Affection” keeps audiences off kilter and guessing during its entire runtime in the best way. [The Overlook Film Festival]
No one knows the name BT Meza, but after his feature debut, which he wrote and directed, everyone is going to have some Affection for him. The film is an unsettling nightmare that no one ever wants to experience. Whenever… Read More ›
Sam Raimi’s survival horror comedy battle of the sexes “Send Help” is now available to watch at home.
A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute shows that the gender wage gap has increased in the past year. On average, women are paid 18.6% less than men. In addition, protections meant to enforce equal employment and prevent discrimination… Read More ›
“Flush” is an entertaining comedy thriller for those who can stomach it. [The Overlook Film Festival]
There is something about potty humor and potty horror that, if done right, works, and if it misses it by the slightest of margins, it becomes something irredeemable. Somehow, director Grégory Morin (Ultimate Zombie Feast) and screenwriter David Neiss (Noir… Read More ›
Yûta Shimotsu’s sophomore film, cosmic horror “New Group,” challenges the meaning of “one of us.” [The Overlook Film Festival]
Muno (Yo, right), he’s tall and friendly Foofa (Oh, hehehehehe), she’s pink and happy Brobee (Woah), the little green one Toodee (Yeah, woo), she likes to have fun Plex (Woah), a magic robot Let’s all come and play with DJ… Read More ›
Conjugate the verb to go and pickup The Criterion Collection’s 4K release of Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.”
Over the last few years, the comedy troupe known as Monty Python has made their 4K UHD debuts and every transfer thus far has looked incredible. Whether it be a standard amray for The Meaning of Life (1983) or a… Read More ›
For those who came in late, “The Phantom” is bestowed a first-time 4K UHD with brand-new features via Kino Lorber.
Before comic films were cinematic, extended, or otherwise franchise driven, they were more often singular. It’s hard to believe given the proliferation of them today, however, before the 1990s, major studio cinematic comic adaptations were limited to Superman (1978) and… Read More ›
Just a “Normal” nefariously good time. [The Overlook Film Festival]
“Yea, and if some god shall wreck me in the wine-dark deep, even so I will endure… For already have I suffered full much, and much have I toiled in perils of waves and war. Let this be added to… Read More ›
“We Bury the Dead” home release offers little incentive to purchase as it lacks special features.
We Bury the Dead features a strong central performance from Daisy Ridley (Ophelia), but, unfortunately, that standout performance is not enough to elevate a film weighed down by familiar genre problems and uneven storytelling. While Ridley brings emotional commitment and… Read More ›
Hot Contents: dark-tinged crime comedy “Chili Finger” may scald parents young and old. [The Overlook Film Festival]
There are many weird things regarding the rules of storytelling and one of them is tied to the concept of reality. Unless one is dealing with space wizards and laser swords, orcs and elves, a certain adherence to what is… Read More ›
Taratoa Stappard’s Māori gothic horror “Mārama” offers retribution and reclamation without making space for false righteousness. [The Overlook Film Festival]
“Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua (I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on the past).” – A Māori proverb. There’s this strange belief coursing through some in the United States that European culture is being threatened by… Read More ›
“Hamlet” is a fun shadow play of its own ambition.
Times are so tough that even Hamlet no longer dreams of shadows. Instead, as Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal; Bait) says of the Prince he dreamt his whole life of playing “Hamlet is someone who is grieving the illusion that… Read More ›