The Criterion Collection always tries to curate releases that get the cinephile community excited and talking about their addition to Criterion’s Closet and film lovers’ shelves. The quality of release is always top-notch as it’s filled with a plethora of… Read More ›
For better or worse, beloved comedian Richard Pryor’s semi-autobiographical film Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is an ‘80s film, through and through. From the start, we have the classic neon glow of the film’s title backed up by… Read More ›
Last week I got an admittedly excessive 4K UHD Blu-ray in the mail. Normally $75.99, I caught it at 48% off at $39.20. It was the 40th Anniversary Edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and it came… Read More ›
Janus Contemporaries’s newest unnumbered entry into the Criterion Collection is priced just right at $20.99. The Beast, the latest film from Bertrand Bonello (House of Tolerance; Saint Laurent), is a surreal tale starring two of the best actors working today,… Read More ›
It’s very common for members of Hong Kong (HK) cinema to take on multiple career paths through their lifetime. Many start as stunt people, working their way up to actor and then, often, to the position of writing and/or directing,… Read More ›
People always say “if at first you do not like something, you should give it another chance,” and that general principal is typically a good one, the exception being that if you have deep vitriol for something, your mind is… Read More ›
Near the tail end of his illustrious career, William Wyler (Roman Holiday) directed the debut of a true force of nature in a young and brilliant Barbra Streisand (What’s Up, Doc?) which launched her into the stratosphere and made her… Read More ›
Last Month, Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina, washing away Chimney Rock and much of Asheville. A week and a half later, Hurricane Milton swung across Florida, hitting areas already recovering from Helene, and dropping 41 tornados on the state…. Read More ›
Trigger warning: Themes that will be discussed in this review include pedophilia, rape, and incest. Masturbation and sex are also largely discussed and analyzed, so maybe just get the bath ready for when you’re done with this review and you… Read More ›
We live in a world, it seems, where every single thing anyone ever does gets criticized and argued about no matter how absolutely fantastic and incredible things are. No matter what a company or someone does, there’s always going to… Read More ›
Longing for something you can never have is perhaps one of the cruelest forms of emotional torture a person can put themselves through, and it’s an experience all too familiar within queer communities. Every queer person has had the one… Read More ›
The edgy and tumultuous 1970s brought us dark and gritty films like The Godfather (1972), The French Connection (1971), and The Deer Hunter (1978). The war in Vietnam, feminism and women’s rights, and satanic panic all brushing up against the… Read More ›
Perfect Days (2023) is the title of Wim Wender’s (Paris, Texas) newest film, which has entered the illustrious Criterion Collection, but, at the same time, it almost perfectly describes the ambiance and sentiments of the movie, as well. Perfection is… Read More ›
Like all things in this world, your perspective is going to define how to come to or respond to something. In cinema, this is especially true as there are often multiple versions of the very film you like. Not just… Read More ›
Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 French classic Le samouraï (The Samurai) is a testament to why people love cinema. And if it’s not considered as such, then it damn well should be. Its mere existence is a miracle of the hybrid hitman/samurai… Read More ›
Having never seen Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s second feature, I was immediately intrigued when I saw it was being added to the Criterion Collection. Knowing quite literally nothing about the movie other than the fact that it was a Wachowski… Read More ›
Often in film criticism, the words “cult classic” are overused — unless you’re talking about a filmmaker with a filmography as iconic as David Lynch. Most people probably also associate Lynch with Twin Peaks, cherry pie, and a damn fine… Read More ›
Two guys, a trunk full of drugs, and the open road leading to the place of sin itself. Not Hell … but close enough. Las Vegas. Add in some counterculture themes such as the Vietnam War and its relation to… Read More ›
Obsessively pursuing art is the focus of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom (1960). The parallels to artistic pursuit as it pertains to a filmmaker are hard to miss, as are the Freudian psychoanalytics. Both of which are apt as Powell (The… Read More ›
In the year 2000, no one knew of the name Karyn Kusama, and no one knew of her star Michelle Rodriguez either. However, after they both debuted with 2000’s Girlfight, they’d go on to make some incredibly intriguing pieces of… Read More ›