Family dramas are always difficult subjects and can either be rewarding or miss the mark entirely. Thankfully, Gail Maurice (Rosie) pulls off quadruple duty as writer, director, producer, and actor well, and leads Dana Solomon and Derica Lafrance (in their… Read More ›
English
“Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires (Batman Azteca: Choque de imperios)” clings so tightly to its DC roots that it stifles the flair when it embraces its Mexican influence.
In 1991, DC Comics published Batman: Holy Terror, a tale featuring an alternate history for the United States in which it remained a Commonwealth of the United Kingdom. It shifts the origin story we know of Bruce Wayne into Batman… Read More ›
Glenn McQuaid’s “The Restoration at Grayson Manor” is an alchemical mixture of melodrama and body horror which asserts some rehabs are best treated with napalm. [Fantastic Fest]
Names mean something. They hold power. Names withheld can create mystery and names known can open doors. They are the things that can be passed down from generation to generation — be it a surname, a given name, a middle… Read More ›
Make it weird, make it big, make it bloody – make it “Deathstalker.” [Fantastic Fest]
Photosensitivity Warning: There is a brief flashback sequence near the start of the film and a longer sequence during the climax wherein lights flash quite frequently. There’s no strobing and it’s somewhat predictable, but may still be triggering for photosensitive… Read More ›
“The Man in My Basement” walks a delicate moral and ethical line. [TIFF]
Co-writer/director Nadia Latif takes on double duty in their first feature while adapting Walter Mosley’s novel The Man in My Basement. While Mosley’s material has yielded something interesting in an adaptation before (Devil in a Blue Dress) and this adaptation… Read More ›
“Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi)” drops audiences into the middle of a complex daughters/father relationship complete with Hollywood drama. [TIFF]
Audiences connected with the last outing by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt as writers and Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) in a lead role in a meaningful way. Back again in the same roles, the trio brings… Read More ›
Psychological sports thriller “The Cut” takes the legs out from under otherwise well-executed mental and physical breakdowns.
Much like the horror or fantasy genres, sports films are often filled with metaphors. In most cases, the competition is about more than the event itself, it’s about something larger for the character(s) or the idea it represents. In modern… Read More ›
Vittorio De Sica’s first masterpiece “Shoeshine,” a devastating tale of innocence lost in postwar Italy, comes home in excellent restoration, courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Before he directed one of the greatest films of all time, 1948’s Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica became the face of Italian Neorealism in 1946 with his first masterpiece Shoeshine. Italian Neorealism was a post-World War II film movement which… Read More ›
“Crown of Shadows” DVD Giveaway
On August 12th, High Flier Films released Richard Campbell’s fantasy actioner Crown of Shadows on DVD. Now, courtesy of Alliance Entertainment, EoM is giving away one (1) DVD edition of the film to one lucky winner. No battling with a dragon or… Read More ›
“Buffet Infinity” is the full experience, pulling you in with curiosity and excitement and leaving you feeling over-stuffed. [Fantasia]
Trigger Warning: Viewers with audiovisual sensitivities may find elements of the film disconcerting or triggering due to various auditory elements. If you’ve seen some of the more recent V/H/S anthology movies, then you know their stories focus around a central… Read More ›
Meta movie “I Fell in Love with a Z-Grade Director in Brooklyn” is the rare one that hits you in the feels. [Fantasia]
There is something special about movies that are love letters to filmmaking, genres, and low-budget movies — it is just such a niche topic to touch upon but, when done right, it can be a cinephile’s perfect movie. Thankfully, Kenichi… Read More ›
Comedic short “Shrimp Fried Rice” may not contain shrimp (it totally does). [Fantasia]
Sometimes filmed content needs 90+ minutes to tell its story effectively. Other times, it needs less. It all depends on the story that is being told, the ability of the actors in the project to convey the story in the… Read More ›
The horror of R.T. Thorne’s alt-universe “40 Acres” is planted firmly in our past and present. [The Overlook Film Festival]
The longer one is alive, the more one learns about history, the more timeline events feel like traveling in a circle, rather than in a flat line. Communities build up, empires rise, blights come, and, eventually, the empires fall. The… Read More ›
“Deep Cover” goes mission: critical by forgetting a basic rule of delivery — don’t ask for the laugh. [Tribeca]
Given the opportunity to work with strangers or friends, chances are “friends” is going to win out every time. Doing so provides a comfortability to do things one might not ordinarily do, or, at the very least, allow one to… Read More ›
“Brazil” gets even weirder and more entertaining with two versions of the film on its Criterion Collection 4K UHD release.
Director Terry Gilliam has always been a difficult talent for me to connect with. His films relish in a level of weirdness that never lands as intended. Movies like Time Bandits (1981) and 12 Monkeys (1995) never left a significant… Read More ›
Filmmaker Po-Chih Leong’s wartime dramatic actioner “Hong Kong 1941” joins Eureka Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema series with a strong HD restoration.
In the history of the world, there have been indigenous peoples and there have been colonizers. In some cases, it’s viewed as a matter of perspective, but, by and large, if a people originated from a location, they are the… Read More ›
“Re-Creation” poses a judicial what-if of a well-known cold case. [Tribeca]
I am not going to pretend that the name Sophie Toscan du Plantier means anything to me outside of the context of the film as I do not follow famous deaths or cold cases. However, maybe if I was older… Read More ›
Director Hideo Gosha’s iteration of “Gate of Flesh” gets added to the 88 Asia Collection with a solid presentation both on and off disc.
From September 2nd, 1945, until April 28th, 1952, the U.S. American military, backed by the U.K., occupied Japan in order to supervise the surrender of their competition in World War II. It’s easy for U.S. history today to recall the… Read More ›
Propulsive and raw music doc “Metallica Saved My Life” requires no prior exposure or knowledge of the band, the only entry fee being empathy. [Tribeca]
Trigger Warning: Metallica Saved My Life features a variety of flourishes in the editing that include light bursts that may prove impactful for photosensitive viewers. Concert footage does also include expected flashing lights, but nothing out of the ordinary. Some… Read More ›
Documentary “The End of Quiet” uses a microcosm to ask big questions about the cost of modernity. [Tribeca]
In the modern era, noise is constant and everywhere. Doesn’t matter if you live in urban, suburban, or rural areas, if you’ve got some kind of signal transmission, it produces sound, whether you can hear it or not. Recognizing the… Read More ›