After spending some time on the festival circuit in 2018, and providing a fan screening during 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con, genre-bending Freaks finally gets the theatrical treatment. Freaks relies far more on character work than action and writing/directing team Zack… Read More ›
Audiences cultivate a certain expectation depending on the film distributor. With Warner Bros. Pictures, odds are you’re getting something fairly mainstream; whereas A24 almost always releases genre-pushing indies. In the middle lies Neon, where it handles mainstream documentaries like Apollo… Read More ›
**Trigger Warning: While not discussed in detail, the film does center on a female character post-rape and that aspect will be explored within.** Director Juliane Block is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects. Her 2018 film, 8 Remains, examines toxic… Read More ›
Adolescence is difficult for a lot of reasons. It’s not just the physical or chemical changes that make things hard, but the social ones, too. Suddenly the things that didn’t seem to matter are all that matter in determining how… Read More ›
While there’re varying degrees with which one can look at themselves in relation to the universe, there are two distinct perspectives which stand in opposition. Either the universe is an uncaring, vast space born out of chaos and we are… Read More ›
For the uninitiated, watching the trailer for director Shinsuke Sato’s (Inuyashiki) Kingdom will be confusing and potentially befuddling. Frankly, it’s just a whirlwind of content as text lays out the plot amid rapid images from the film all while “Wasted… Read More ›
It’s hard to truly comprehend just how much of an institution soccer (or “football” literally anywhere else but here, to which I will be referring to it as) is beyond the American borders. Throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and… Read More ›
From the opening shot of director Alexandre Moratto’s Brazilian coming-of-age drama, Socrates, audiences will recognize that they are in for a very personal, brutally honest, and unrelenting emotional journey following the life of a struggling young teen in São Paulo…. Read More ›
No matter the genre, the most compelling stories are the ones which tap into something primal in the audience. Fear, delight, rage, and joy are ingrained in us as a means of survival in an uncontrollable cosmos. A good writer… Read More ›
If you’re a child of the ‘80s, there’s one car that pops into your mind the moment you think about the era; a vehicle made famous by Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future series and infamous throughout automotive history. The… Read More ›
It is quite a challenging task to touch on every element that makes a Quentin Tarantino film work. It would not even be a stretch to say that one could write an entire dissertation essay on over a dozen individual… Read More ›
Ode to Joy, Jason Winer’s return to the cinema screen after 2008’s Arthur remake, takes the traditional romantic comedy story arc and adds a genetic disease into the mix. Unlike films that came before it, the mix of a humorous… Read More ›
Ask virtually anyone and they’ll tell you that the only thing in the theaters these days are reboots, remakes, and superhero films. To a degree, that’s pretty spot on. Studios make more of what audiences pay to see and nostalgia… Read More ›
Often in cinema, acclaim comes to non-disabled performers telling the stories of members of the disabled community. Jon Voight in Coming Home, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, and Sean Penn in I Am Sam are just a few which come… Read More ›
The act of creating is a cathartic experience for most. That feeling of something welling up inside which must be written, crafted, or molded or else the creator will burst. Sometimes this results in an extremely personal work which resonates… Read More ›
Time has a way of putting things into perspective. In our youth, we think it a limitless resource. In old age, we think it precious. Often, the older we become, the less concerned we are for how things look or… Read More ›
Art is, by and large, up to the individual to determine its value. What is beloved by one can be reviled by another. While some engage in heated debate, others forgo intellectual discourse for out-right verbal fisticuffs when others don’t… Read More ›
At their start, children are nothing but raw potential. As they grow, they are either lean into their potential or they run from it. Sometimes it’s a reaction to their environment, sometimes it’s in their nature, but it informs who… Read More ›
Note: Saving Zoë deals with some dark elements that might trigger some, specifically in regards to sexual violence and/or violence against women. The concept of the “teen movie” has evolved over the years. Initially used as a rebellion against the… Read More ›
It’s not uncommon for film to offer a catharsis in an environment far safer than any other. Emotionally, audiences go on a journey — can be comical or horrific or anywhere in between — and when the credits roll, everyone’s… Read More ›