“I don’t understand you. But I love you.” These are key words said towards the climax of Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, a somber slice-of-life film about two disparate sisters in a Black British family. Mike Leigh, a veteran indie darling… Read More ›
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“Amadeus” still rocks at 40: Warner Bros. debuts exhilarating 4K restoration of the theatrical cut.
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 ›
“Old Guy” misses the mark on promises suggested by its premise and cast.
Old Guy, directed by Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; Con Air; Expendables 2) and written by Greg Johnson (The Last Son), at least piqued my interest as an entertaining, silly, action movie with a cast that includes Lucy Liu… Read More ›
“Millers in Marriage” cranks family drama up to 11.
No matter what the subject matter at hand is, throwing it into a family dynamic automatically adds an additional level of intensity, uncomfortableness, and familiarity. Usually, the best versions of these dynamics focus on some terrible tragedy past or present… Read More ›
Ethics and morals, ambition and purpose are examined in the tense, journalism thriller “September 5,” now on home video.
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 ›
Dark comedy “Timestalker” deconstructs tropes of love and romance.
As a child of the ‘90s, fantasy tales of romance have always felt like the coziest of blankets. Could it be that true love always won in the end? Or, having existed in a world filled with divorce, addiction, and… Read More ›
Bring “Wicked” home in a stunning 4K Blu-ray loaded with special features.
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 ›
Jesse Eisenberg’s sophomore directorial feature, “A Real Pain,” is available on digital ahead of its physical release.
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 ›
“Like Father Like Son” lacks tension in its attempt to challenge its audience.
Trigger Warning: Like Father Like Son utilizes frequent use of unexpected fast cuts with visual imagery accompanied by white flashes which may disturb photosensitive viewers. What makes a killer a killer? For centuries, this question has been asked by plebs… Read More ›
“Studio One Forever” is a “Celebration of Life” for historic West Hollywood club.
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 ›
When the debt comes due, you’ll be singing the hymn of “The Devil and the Daylong Brothers.”
What is a soul worth? If one believes that it’s not a thing that can be manifested on its own, that comes to us naturally, or that it is a gift instilled in us by our creator, well, that’s three… Read More ›
“Eternal You” explores the promise of extending one’s lifespan through digital transitions.
Once something to be imagined in your favorite sci-fi tale, artificial intelligence (A.I.) is now being forced into everything from your smartphone to your toaster. Instead of being used to expand human consciousness through exploratory play like Star Trek: The… Read More ›
Kelsey Egan’s sophomore effort “The Fix” offers challenging ideas within an accessible action body horror package.
In 2021, director/co-writer Kelsey Egan brought audiences within the perimeter of a private utopia tucked away within a greater ecological threat that destroyed memories in her sci-fi thriller Glasshouse. Exploring the connection between memory and trauma, Egan challenged audiences to… Read More ›
The rollercoaster of consistency in the Sony Pictures “Venom” series comes to a flat end with “The Last Dance.”
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 ›
“Back in Action” is a comfortingly dependable family action comedy that will warm your January doldrums.
January is often viewed by those who track film releases as a doldrums period. Either theaters are filled with awards-hopefuls or the titles that studios/distributors dump in hopes of recouping some of their investment. Yes, this even applies to digital… Read More ›
Tiffany Kim Stevens’s darkly comedic satire “Trigger Happy” threatens to cross-over into reality.
Satire of any sort is a difficult storytelling genre to nail. Go too far in one direction, people dismiss the ideas as far-fetched and implausible (ex. the revelation of Sorry to Bother You (2018)); go too far in the other,… Read More ›
Family drama “Daruma” brings its desire for perseverance and good fortune home.
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 ›
“Aladdin 3477: The Jinn of Wisdom” is a sky sail ride into the future by way of filmmaker Matt Busch.
“No wish that I fulfil will bring true happiness, for that comes from within. Any desire you seek, you have the power to achieve yourself. And, the journey is its own reward.” – The Jinn of Wisdom in Aladdin 3477:… Read More ›
“Hellboy: The Crooked Man” withers away in the dark on Blu-ray.
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 ›
Entering stage right, Tony Olmos’s horror satire “Hemet, or the Landlady Don’t Drink Tea.”
Over the last few years, reality has pushed the bounds of what anyone every presumed acceptable so greatly that satire struggles to maintain its edge in the execution. For instance, if someone were to tell you that you’d be required… Read More ›