Over the last few years, writer/director Yûgo Sakamoto’s (A Janitor) created a very specific cinematic world in which low-stakes slacker comedy meets high-stakes wet work via his Baby Assassins series. Returning for a third outing in Baby Assassins Nice Days,… Read More ›
The slacker comedy comes in many shapes and varieties. You’ve got rom-com Mallrats (1995), straight comedy Friday (1995), dramedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), and comedic thriller The Big Lebowski (1998). Each one uses the slackers at their center to… Read More ›
2021 crime comedy Baby Assassins introduced audiences to assassin/slacker team Mahiro (Saori Izawa) and Chisato (Akari Takaishi) when they stumbled into a face-off with members of the yakuza. Now, they return with a brand-new adventure that finds them on the outs… Read More ›
There are some films whose descriptions pique your interest and under-deliver, some which meet expectations, and some which blow your mind (the diamonds in the rough). The 2021 crime comedy Baby Assassins, written and directed by Yûgo Sakamoto, is the… Read More ›
Inspired by a prompt found on TikTok, The Cine-Men decided to ask themselves what moments in cinema in which the characters either acknowledge the audience or generally establish they know they’re in a film (a.k.a. a Fourth Wall Break) are… Read More ›
Since its international premiere at Fantastic Fest 2021, writer/director Yûgo Sakamoto’s Baby Assassins hasn’t been far from mind. I discussed it on two Cine-Men episodes, gave it a highlight mention in the 2021 Sticky List, and made sure to include… Read More ›
For the third year in a row, Elements of Madness will be remotely covering the Fantasia International Film Festival. In the run-up to the event, we wanted to highlight 16 films screening during the festival that we’re either most excited… Read More ›
Coming off Episode 67, we had to establish that Tom Cruise doesn’t hold the patent on action and that there are plenty of places to see proper stunts. To do that, The Cine-Men co-host Darryl Mansel and I turned toward… Read More ›
2021 is over and I’ve caught up with the last few films I’ve missed, so I think it’s time for EoM to unveil its Sixth Annual Sticky List! If you’re unfamiliar with the Sticky List, these are the films which… Read More ›
One thing that The Cine-Men co-host Darryl Mansel and I agree on is that the ending of the film is as important as the beginning. Good ones either offer clarity, emotional payoff, or, perhaps, something so memorable that it’s the… Read More ›
If you’ve ever sat absorbing something for the first time — a song, a book, a play, a movie — and thought to yourself, “I can’t wait to revisit this,” then you’ll have some sense of what will await you… Read More ›