Elements of Madness

Recent Posts - page 6

• A Conversation with “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” director Gore Verbinski.

  By Thomas Manning on February 2, 2026 • ( 1 )

  

  Oscar-winning filmmaker Gore Verbinski joins EoM Senior Interviewer Thomas Manning for a discussion on Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. This is Verbinski’s first film as director since 2016, and his signature kinetic energy is back and better than ever…. Read More ›

• Gore Verbinski’s darkly comic sci-fi actioner “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” is a hilarious harbinger for our digital times.

  By Douglas Davidson on February 1, 2026 • ( 1 )

  

  Photosensitivity Warning: The climax of the film includes an extended sequence of flashing that may prove triggering for photosensitive individuals. Take precautions. “Information devours its own content. It devours communication and the social.” – Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation from… Read More ›

• “Birth” is given a second life on 4K from The Criterion Collection.

  By justin waldman on January 31, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  If you’ve never seen a Jonathan Glazer film before, his second feature may be his most accessible in terms of content and execution. Birth (2004) is weird and unsettling, but not in the same ways as Under the Skin (2013)… Read More ›

• Jason Statham-led action thriller “Shelter” is a simple tale that’ll satisfy your January cinematic doldrum needs.

  By Douglas Davidson on January 30, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  A figure living a controlled life is interrupted, ripped even, from his organized lifestyle when the unexpected happens and the man is forced into action. This is the general premise that applies to countless action titles and thrillers (even with… Read More ›

• Jodie Foster est magnifique in French dark comedy thriller “A Private Life (Vie Privée).”

  By Michelle Swope on January 29, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Born in Paris, French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski initially planned to be a teacher and graduated from École Normale Supérieure before earning an Agrégation higher degree in literature. Then she joined the screenplay department of La Fémis and met several students… Read More ›

• “The Voice of Hind Rajab” masterfully utilizes subtle dramatization to portray the real experiences of those who try to save lives in Gaza.

  By Andrew J. Eisenman on January 29, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  When the world first stopped to hear the voice of Hind Rajab, the little girl from Gaza hiding from bullets in her family’s car, Kaouther Ben Hania was standing frozen in the airport. Now, she’s delivered a masterpiece that asks… Read More ›

• Derek Cianfrance’s “Roofman” is far more character study than crime antics.

  By Gabe Lapalombella on January 28, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Director Derek Cianfrance is a filmmaker who is near and dear to my heart. His 2013 film The Place Beyond the Pines hit me on a deep emotional level with its themes of fatherhood and legacy. Even with its heavier… Read More ›

• Reginald Hudlin’s feature film directorial debut and seminal teen comedy “House Party” receives a 4K UHD edition via The Criterion Collection.

  By Douglas Davidson on January 27, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  “All my memories are movies.” – George Clooney as Jay Kelly in Jay Kelly (2025). As a child born on the cusp of 1981, I reside firmly on line between Gen X and Millennial, meaning that I can remember a… Read More ›

• Gordan Chan’s folktale adaptation “King of Beggars” receives a 2K restoration from Eureka Entertainment.

  By Douglas Davidson on January 27, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Cinema borrowing from folktales is a natural fit given that folktales often elevate figures or events and cinema does this innately through projection. Who wouldn’t want to see the figures or events of lore cast upon a 40-foot screen or… Read More ›

• Actor Jason Biggs adds ‘Filmmaker’ to his resume with darkly comic “Untitled Home Invasion Romance.”

  By Douglas Davidson on January 27, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Whom among us hasn’t thought that it’s the effort that matters in a relationship — that if you work hard enough, want it bad enough, everything will be ok? This line of thinking often discounts the hard reality that “wanting”… Read More ›

• In examining the past, documentary “Who Killed Alex Odeh?” illuminates aspects of the present we’d rather not acknowledge. [Sundance]

  By Douglas Davidson on January 26, 2026 • ( 1 )

  

  It didn’t used to feel complicated to be Jewish before October 7th, 2023, and the Israeli-Gaza Conflict began. Having grown up in a Reform Jewish household, I believed in the existence of and even the right of a Jewish state… Read More ›

• A Conversation with “Send Help” producer Zainab Azizi.

  By Thomas Manning on January 26, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Zainab Azizi is the President of Raimi Productions and serves as producer on Sam Raimi’s upcoming thriller, Send Help, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. EoM Senior Interviewer Thomas Manning recently spoke with Azizi about the evolution of her film… Read More ›

• Documentary “Cookie Queens” heralds the trials and tribulations of your local Girl Scouts during Cookie Season. [Sundance]

  By Douglas Davidson on January 25, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  The official Girl Scouts of America website identifies Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low as the individual responsible for creating the organization in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, and to whom all the troops worldwide are connected. While all the efforts of the… Read More ›

• “Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant” will have you laughing and crying while being arm-deep in goop, gore, and gunk. [Sundance]

  By Douglas Davidson on January 24, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Photosensitivity Warning: Several sequences in Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant feature flashing or sudden bursts of light. This may prove triggering for photosensitive individuals. Children are parasites. Yes, you read that correctly. After the sperm and egg connect and a zygote… Read More ›

• Even with Christophe Gans back in the director’s chair, “Return to Silent Hill” struggles to meet its own potential.

  By Hunter Heilman on January 23, 2026 • ( 1 )

  

  Asking me to describe my relationship with the Silent Hill franchise is opening a Pandora’s Box of epic proportions. The series, centered around a cursed ghost town in rural Maine, has haunted, compelled, comforted, entertained, frightened, and shaped me in… Read More ›

• Maxime Giroux’s crime thriller “In Cold Light” challenges its audience through dissociative storytelling and a distant protagonist.

  By Douglas Davidson on January 22, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  There’s a common misconception that stories, by nature of being broadcast or shown in a theater, condone behavior, justifying choices, always, simply because they are the behaviors and choices of the main character. This is an egregious failure of media… Read More ›

• “Vampire Zombies… from Space!” You read that right, now grab your popcorn!

  By justin waldman on January 21, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  There are movies you read the title for and think it’s something from Tropic Thunder (2008) (meaning a fake movie or a movie within another movie) and not something that could possibly exist. Then there are movies like Movie 43… Read More ›

• “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” Digital Code Giveaway

  By Douglas Davidson on January 20, 2026 • ( 1 )

  

  Before 2025 ended, it gifted audiences with a brand-new theatrical adventure starring everyone’s favorite sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea: SpongeBob SquarePants! This time, a swashbuckling tale involving The Flying Dutchman with voicework from Mark Hamill (Batman:… Read More ›

• Get a peek behind the creative intention of one of Bruce Springsteen’s most notable albums in director Scott Cooper’s “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.”

  By Douglas Davidson on January 20, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Adaptations are the bread and butter of entertainment, whether it’s “ripped from the headlines” episodes of some Law & Order spin-off to capture the zeitgeist or the story of an established celebrity. Going further are the adaptations of books which… Read More ›

• “Fackham Hall” Blu-ray Giveaway

  By Douglas Davidson on January 19, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  It’s frustrating how true the adage “laughter is the best medicine” is, but it’s true. The best way to break through doldrums, through frustration, through discontent, is laughter. It’s even more important when it seems like there’s very little to… Read More ›

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