“ZEPPELINS. BOMBS. BORDELLOS. BURIALS. RIGG. REED.” This is one of several taglines attached to the marketing for the Basil Dearden-directed (Dead of Night) action comedy The Assassination Bureau, a film adapted from a Jack London (The Call of the Wild)… Read More ›
comedy
“Beau is Afraid” and I am perplexed.
Perhaps my favorite movie-going story is how right after graduating college I went on a long-awaited trip to Europe with my mother and, at the same time, Ari Aster’s debut film, Hereditary (2018) was released into theaters. My Twitter timeline… Read More ›
“New Gods: Yang Jian,” the fourth film in Light Chaser Animation’s Investiture of the Gods Universe, comes home via Shout! Factory and GKids Films.
The New Gods series from Light Chaser is a refreshing approach to cultural stories. Each one of their films, even if not listed with the New Gods label (White Snake and Green Snake) allows the audience to engage with the… Read More ›
Radiance Films adds director Luigi Comencini’s murder mystery comedy “The Sunday Woman (La donna della domenica)” to their burgeoning collection of restorations.
Comedy is tragedy plus time. – Author Mark Twain Though Edgar Allen Poe’s 1841 story The Murders in the Rue Morgue is widely considered the first detective story, there’s a long standing relationship between murder and storytelling. Whether in dramatics… Read More ›
“Renfield:” DOA and Hating It.
Few villains in any medium of storytelling are quite as iconic as Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula, also known as The Prince of Darkness, also known as Vlad the Impaler, also known as The Dark One, etc. (he has an Erykah… Read More ›
Terry Gilliam’s fantastical dramedy “The Fisher King” joins The Criterion Collection in multiple formats, including 4K UHD.
Over the course of writer/director Terry Gilliam’s career, whether it’s been Monty Python-related or not, each of his films have shared a fairly standard commonality: he’s written or adapted them. In the beginning of his career, his intention was to… Read More ›
Don’t worry, smile: 88 Films’s 2K restoration is “Gorgeous.”
Martial artist. Stuntman. Action director. Comedic Actor. Romantic lead? The first four absolutely describe world-renowned physical performer Jackie Chan, but the last? Certainly during his time making films with studio/distributor Golden Harvest, that’s not something the actor dared pursue as… Read More ›
Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” will have gaming audiences shouting “Wahooo!” on their way out of the theater.
Let me paint you a picture: It’s May 1993 and Walt Disney, via distributor Buena Vista Pictures, is about to release a film co-written by Ed Solomon (Men in Black/Bill & Ted franchise), starring Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?),… Read More ›
Behold the mighty weirdness of director Gakuryu Ishii’s “Punk Samurai” outside Japan for the first-time thanks to Third Window Films.
The concept of “punk” is a rebellion against the mainstream. As it relates to music, the term was used to describe rock bands of the late-‘60s to early ‘70s that played rock tunes fast, hard, and, often, in brief. For… Read More ›
Writer/director Joan Micklin Silver joins the Criterion Collection with a 4K restoration of her dark rom-com satire “Chilly Scenes of Winter.”
Personal feelings have a way of clouding one’s more practical or pragmatic judgement. If we’re excited or enamored with something, we’re more likely to excuse or soften something’s harder edges. If we’re not interested or already turned off by something,… Read More ›
Meet Me at the Movies: Review Extra – “Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game.”
Did you know that Pinball machines used to be outlawed? I didn’t either, and when I saw the trailer of this lost piece of history, I knew I had to check out this film that took me back to a… Read More ›
“With Love and a Major Organ”: A Rare Science Fiction Gem. [SXSW]
In the surreal and quirky With Love and a Major Organ, director Kim Albright deftly examines the difficulty of finding love and connection inside a world ruled by the algorithm. Based on a play by Julia Lederer, who also wrote… Read More ›
With a giggle and a wink, Tomas Gomez Bustillo’s “Chronicles of a Wandering Saint” asks audiences whether we notice that heaven is a place on earth. [SXSW]
How do you know if you’ve lived a good life? That’s a hard question to answer objectively because of the various cultural and social rules that come to define what “good” is. Do intentions really matter if someone gets hurt… Read More ›
Bring the debauchery of Damien Chazelle’s divisive “Babylon” home, courtesy of Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment.
Whiplash, La La Land, First Man — each one directed by Damien Chazelle, two of three written by him, and each one (love or hate them) makes a declarative statement regarding its subject. It shouldn’t surprise that the Oscar winner… Read More ›
Ally Pankiw’s “I Used to Be Funny” first feature is a provocative, intense, and deeply unsettling gut-punch. [SXSW]
In 2020, during the height of this pandemic were still finding ourselves in, I was sitting on my couch with my partner wondering what to do on the first night of TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) and Twitter was recommending… Read More ›
Sundance 2022 Special Jury Prize Winner “Leonor Will Never Die” comes home, thanks to Music Box Films.
I love the movies. Gosh, I love movies. I love watching them and I love making them. – Keanu Reeves, May 14th, 2019. We should all be so lucky to be able to do what brings us joy, what fulfills… Read More ›
Loevner and Kanter’s new romantic dramedy asks audiences if they plateau or keep rising when they hit “Peak Season.” [SXSW]
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 ›
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 ›
Join in the shenanigans in “Stealing Chaplin” from your couch, courtesy of Dreamscape Media.
There are movies that manage to slide under the radar, and then there are movies that are so absolutely bonkers and insane that are based on real events that you can’t possibly imagine them to be real or that you… Read More ›
EoM Presents: A Conversation with “Peak Season” filmmakers Steven Kanter and Henry Loevner. [SXSW]
EoM senior interviewer Thomas Manning recently interviewed Steven Kanter and Henry Loevner, the filmmakers behind Peak Season, a 2023 SXSW selection. The duo discuss their approach to crafting a cinematic love letter to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and talk about the… Read More ›