In 2019, writer/director Tilman Singer made an enormous splash with his possession thriller Luz. It’s as much an homage to the horror films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, evoking the look via cinematography and art direction, while telling a unique… Read More ›
Over the last few years, writer/director Yûgo Sakamoto’s (A Janitor) created a very specific cinematic world in which low-stakes slacker comedy meets high-stakes wet work via his Baby Assassins series. Returning for a third outing in Baby Assassins Nice Days,… Read More ›
When it comes to prison break films or life in prison films, there’s a certain level of escapism to be expected. Whether it’s Frank Darabont’s poignant 1994 hit The Shawshank Redemption or Don Michael Paul’s silly but fun-as-hell 2002 flick… 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 ›
August 2022 saw the U.S. release of writer/director Choi Dong-hoon’s cinematic hybrid Alienoid (외계+인 1부) into theaters. A mixture of martial arts, comedy, drama, and science fiction that takes place in 2022 Korea *and* the Goryeo Dynasty, Choi’s work may… Read More ›
“To have never gone to war is something to be proud of.” – Seiji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki) in Godzilla Minus One (2023) There’s this belief that the old ways are better than new. They’re tried, they’re true, and they meet… Read More ›
Shtriga, vrykolakas, strigoi, vampire — they are mythical creatures of the night who feed on human blood, exist in a perpetual outward appearance of the moment of their transformation, and can live forever under specific conditions. Stories of their existence… Read More ›
When a movie is pitched as “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) meets Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) meets Les Misérables (2012),” there is something that immediately grabs my attention because a musical that is zany and over-the-top… Read More ›
Having never seen Hwang Wook’s previous movies (Dog Eat Dog; Live Hard), I did not know what to expect when watching the latest, Mash Ville, and what was delivered was a combination of some of the zaniest wackiest things ever… Read More ›
In the first half of 2022, the dancers and staff at the National Ballet of Canada were pouring themselves into rehearsals for a historic opening: a new production of the iconic Swan Lake directed by ballet legend Karen Kain. This… Read More ›
“If you do nothing, nothing will happen.” This quote is spoken by the character So Si-Min, portrayed by Shin Hye-sun (See You in My 19th Life), as part of a class on ethics. It’s one of several concepts that particular… Read More ›
Choi Dong-hoon’s Alienoid (2022) kicked off a time-travel sci-fi adventure in which the present is saved by going to the past. However, in Return to the Future, released in U.S. theaters in January 2024, in order to keep things safe, they had… Read More ›
Every day, someone picks up a camera — 8 mm, 16 mm, 35 mm, iPhone, iPad, Android, whatever they can find — and they tell a story with it. They combine image with sound to inspire, delight, terrify, or simply… 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 ›
Imprint Films has played a great hand with their Blu-ray (debut) of The Queen of Spades, the 1949 horror film famously beloved by filmmakers like Martin Scorsese. They’ve stacked the deck with special features, including three commentary tracks, an introduction… Read More ›
Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi & I (Sisi & Ich) sat completed on the shelf for nearly two years after its initial shooting dates, and was even further delayed for release in America by almost an entire other year following its premiere… 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 ›
There’s not enough whimsy in the world. Instead, we’ve got extremes. Something is either “the greatest,” “a masterpiece,” “the best it’s ever been,” or “it’s the worst,” “mediocre,” “a blight upon our collective existence.” There’s no space, it seems, for… Read More ›
By the nature of social norms, each country includes a specific view in their art. When it comes to movies, this is very noticeable within the subgenre of action. Whereas American films almost always feature a stalwart protagonist who survives… Read More ›
If you watched The Vourdalak with no background information, you might think you’d discovered a lost made-for-TV gem from 1980-something. With its grainy appearance, humble sets, and Jim-Henson-esque puppet villain, how could this dark yet charming vampire fantasy not be… Read More ›