There’s a brief line said by T.I.’s Lorenzo “Cousin” Bass that contains more than just a slight meaning to the context of the moment in which it’s said. Cousin is speaking to the four leads — Blink (Shameik Moore), Miracle… Read More ›
crime
“Invincible Dragon” Blu-ray Giveaway
Elements of Madness is excited to announce we’ve partnered with Well Go USA on the upcoming home release of Invincible Dragon. In anticipation of the Blu-ray, DVD, and digital release on October 6th, we are giving away two (2) Blu-rays… Read More ›
Observe the birth of the modern police procedural in Jules Dassin’s “The Naked City,” restored via the Criterion Collection.
From modern programs like Lucifer, The Flash, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Blue Bloods to more classic ones like Law and Order, The Mod Squad, and Hill Street Blues, each of these procedural variants owe their existence in large part to the… Read More ›
Nancy Springer’s “Enola Holmes Mysteries” is given the YA “Fleabag” treatment in Netflix’s playful “Enola Holmes.”
Since the first Sherlock Holmes story from author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was published in 1891, there have been countless iterations of the consulting detective in print, stage, and screen. Thanks to modern performances from Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes),… Read More ›
Now available via the Criterion Collection, director Jules Dassin’s “Brute Force” remains as explosive an indictment of prison reform today as in 1947.
Released June 30th, 1947, Jules Dassin’s (Rififi) Brute Force opened and took audiences and critics by storm. The film, a prison break picture, would startle and terrify as it depicted life inside prisons as one of moral decay, not because… Read More ›
“The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum” explores the price of turning a blind eye to yellow journalism and government surveillance
How often do you read or see something that excites you, titillates you, and perhaps even angers you? As we grow ever closer to a presidential election, it seems almost daily that such an occurrence happens. Articles, photos, and videos… Read More ›
A quiet film with fantastic suspense, “Wildland (Kød & blod)” is a different flavor of mafia movie. [Fantasia Film Festival]
Although the Fantasia International Film Festival was held virtually this year, it still featured an incredible lineup of wild and visceral films that celebrated everything gory and horrific. Many of the featured titles were loud and boastful with their colorful… Read More ›
Sci-fi crime thriller “Project Power” asks what you’re willing to give up to become something more.
Superhero stories are in vogue right now between the mass popularity of big screen films from Marvel and DC and the programs, primarily DC properties, which are all over television and the fact that many of the showrunners, producers, and… Read More ›
“Dreamland” is a super stylish and entertaining noir.
Bruce McDonald isn’t a director that a lot of people are going to be familiar with. Sure, he has credits to his name, but nothing that the average filmgoer will be able to recognize. However, the most famous movie in… Read More ›
Guy Ritchie’s uproarious gangster comedy “The Gentlemen” is available on home video now.
There are many lies we tell ourselves. The one that impacts audiences the most is, “nothing good comes out in January.” Of course, there is anecdotal evidence people can pull from to support this claim, but it’s largely not true…. Read More ›
Nothing marks “First Love” like drugs, gangs, and absolute mayhem.
There’s something about first love that can be hard to quantify, even when looking back on it. The simultaneous excitement of being attracted to someone else, the endless internal questions trying to figure out what it means, the unyielding terror… Read More ›
Bloody mayhem, gangsters, and wisecracking bystanders are the tip of the iceberg in Guy Ritchie’s “The Gentlemen.”
When it comes to Guy Ritchie films, the mileage varies depending on where you were introduced. If you came in during the era of his early works, specifically his first two features Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and… Read More ›
An unexpected rambunctious adrenaline ride, “Bad Boys for Life” is the just break you need from the winter doldrums.
When a film releases a new addition to a franchise a decade or more after the last entry, there’s good reason to be skeptical about the quality. Often, what worked before doesn’t connect due to changes in the cultural landscape,… Read More ›
Crime thriller “The Irishman” is Martin Scorsese at his most self-assured.
In his recent years, and more specifically in recent months, Martin Scorsese has really stepped away from the spotlight…oh my god, could you imagine if I was serious with that? The argument has been made that Scorsese made the controversial… Read More ›
“Knives Out” is more than a whodunit. It’s the most fun you’ll have at the cinema.
There’s been a lot of trash tossed around on writer/director Rian Johnson since his Star Wars film hit theaters in 2017. It’s wonderful that audiences feel such ownership for a film series, but there comes a point where the community… Read More ›
Writer/director Jason Cabell draws from personal experience to create crime thriller “Running with the Devil”.
The crime thriller genre has been explored thousands of times, with many different approaches, throughout the history of cinema. Some of the best directors in this category, such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Brian de Palma, and Michael Mann,… Read More ›
Patient and unsettling, crime thriller “Holiday” asks unexpectedly surprising philosophical questions of morality.
First premiering at Sundance 2018, the Isabella Eklöf-directed and co-written crime thriller Holiday spent most of that year jumping from festival to festival without much in the way of a large release. Eklöf’s incredible direction, her script with co-writer Johanne… Read More ›
Dark drama “Everybody Knows” focuses on character to create a compelling and beautiful film. [Film Fest 919]
Representing EoM as press, contributor Hunter Heilman attended the first annual Film Fest 919 in Raleigh, NC, to review several films that are either in limited release now or are yet to be released. For a filmmaker, at least from… Read More ›
Part documentary, part dramatization, crime drama ‘American Animals’ is fully mesmerizing.
There’s this feeling that infuses all youth; a feeling that something at some point from somewhere will happen and their lives will rise up out of the banal to become extraordinary. That feeling can turn into a sense of existential… Read More ›
There’s no redemption when you have a ‘Good Time’.
There’s something about watching a film where the main character is scrambling, always on the move, trying to survive in a world that feels like it’s crashing down on them; a world that is out to get them. Sometimes it’s… Read More ›