Directing and writing your first feature is certainly a daunting task, but to also star in the vehicle, making yourself a triple threat, is certainly a large task. However, Kaniehtiio Horn (Possessor; Alice, Darling) not only decides to grab that… Read More ›
There are few names in action that command respect in the way that Yuen Woo-ping does. A stuntman turned actor, writer, and director, Yuen Woo-ping is responsible for films like Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master (1979) and Donnie Yen’s Tiger Cage… Read More ›
The Other Laurens is a movie that’s all dressed up with everywhere to go. But after it gets one foot out the door, it can’t seem to go any further. With a nostalgic neo-noir/grunge visual style that’s sprinkled with touches… Read More ›
Within the world of filmmakers Xu Haofeng (The Final Master) and first-time co-director Xu Junfeng’s new project, 100 Yards (门前宝地), there are many rules its characters must follow, but one acts as a guiding principle: no violence within 100 yards… Read More ›
“Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Of all the questions humanity has ever asked it, of all the philosophies and faiths, there’s been a guiding question behind it… Read More ›
Those not used to extreme tonal shifts, a mixture of martial arts, comedy, and fantasy in one may be in for a shock watching Yuen Woo-ping’s cult hit The Miracle Fighters (1982). Within the first 10 minutes, we witness a… Read More ›
I am not one for political movies as I don’t follow political landscapes in any way shape or form. I follow enough to understand North American landscapes, but anything past that and I am a deer in headlights when it… Read More ›
Anthology stories come in all shapes and sizes. They can be horror-based, like Satanic Hispanics (2022) or Tiny Cinema (2022); offer a western twang, like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018); or they can be mission-oriented, like Give Me an… Read More ›
In the months since the winter release of The Boy and the Heron (2023), the following events have clarified the meaning and depth of this inscrutable film in my mind: The Megalopolis (2024) trailer, the Supreme Court’s sweeping theft of… Read More ›
Before American audiences met Franka Potente as Marie, the accidental ally to amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) in 2002, she portrayed a different type of “on-the-run” character: Lola. Absent intrigue of the spy sort, Potente’s Lola is a strong… Read More ›
Comedies are always subjective. Sometimes we discover that the films we’re used to are not as good as we thought as we get exposed to so many different cultures bringing their own unique looks and flare to films. Pratul Gaikwad’s… Read More ›
Every community has its stories — tales of victories and defeats, of perilous ends and new beginnings, and of the old guard and the new. Sometimes these take the form of myths and legends born from imagination and other times… Read More ›
In Japanese folklore, there exists what’s known as “kaibyō,” a cat that possesses supernatural properties. Of the three types within kaibyō — bakeneko, maneki-neko, and nekomata — manga creator Imashiro Takashi took inspiration from the bakeneko type for his series… Read More ›
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 ›