Sports films are often used as a metaphor for something else. The grit, the determination required to succeed either as a team or an individual being a symbol for some other kind of battle. In the feature film directorial debut… Read More ›
foreign film
Romantic mystery “Darkest Miriam” may leave stones unturned but captivates with Britt Lower’s performance. [Tribeca Film Festival]
The first thing that I learned about Naomi Jaye’s (The Pin) newest feature, Darkest Miriam, was that it was executive produced by Charlie Kaufman (I’m thinking of ending things), and that automatically adds a level of intrigue and suspense to… Read More ›
Strong performances never give the game away in dramatic thriller “The Weekend.” [Tribeca Film Festival]
We’ve seen nearly every iteration of meeting one’s parents that could possibly exist from Meet the Parents (2000) to Ready or Not (2019) and Get Out (2017), so when audiences get another family-gathering thriller, they typically know what they’re getting… Read More ›
“The Devil’s Bath” is drawn with great performances but too much time between horrors. [Tribeca Film Festival]
There are movies that are slow-paced terrifying watches, and then there are terrifying slow-paced watches that just miss the mark and create a world of unease that just doesn’t deliver upon the promise until its too late. Unfortunately for Severin… Read More ›
Schedule your own journey on Jérémie Périn’s “Mars Express” anytime via the Shout! Studios/GKIDS Films home release.
A vicious murder, a private detective, a thread-pull revealing a larger conspiracy, and a question of robotic sentience — all the makings of a cyberpunk neo-noir. We’ve seen it before with the Blade Runner and The Matrix series, as well… Read More ›
Writer/Director Ran Huang asks “What Remains” in the darker grey areas of ethics and morality.
What Remains is a film that presents itself as a detective procedural with a possible serial killer being interviewed by his psychiatrist and a detective trying to piece together the killer’s muddled and confused confessions of murder and rape. What… Read More ›
“She Loved Blossoms More” is a welcomed head trip about grief. [Tribeca Film Festival]
Yannis Veslemes’s (The Field Guide to Evil) newest film, She Loved Blossoms More, has the aesthetic of what I assume being on acid would be like, however the come down from it is devastating and beautiful, making this psychedelic journey… Read More ›
“Blind War” Blu-ray Giveaway
The latest action thriller from The Sniper director Huo Suiqiang, Blind War, starring Andy On (100 Yards; Undercover Punch and Gun), initially released in 2022 before landing on Well Go USA’s martial arts streaming service Hi-YAH!. Now, Well Go USA is set… Read More ›
“Handling the Undead” fumbles its selected genres of arthouse drama and zombie horror.
From a modern-day perspective, zombies come in one of two flavors: they’re either creatures of chaos or walkers fueled by wacky circumstances. Yet, in the new film Handling the Undead (based on the book of the same name by Let… Read More ›
Filmmaker Tom Nesher beckons audiences to lean in in her semi-autobiographical dramedy “Come Closer.” [Tribeca Film Festival]
**Photosensitivity Warning: A club sequence includes a prolonged sequence of flashing lights that may prove triggering for sensitive viewers.** Shared joy is double joy; Shared sorrow is half a sorrow. – Swedish proverb Just about everywhere one looks, there’s a… Read More ›
“The Damned” fully delivers on its genre promises of mystery, drama, and horror. [Tribeca Film Festival]
Genuinely speaking, I don’t want to condone a movie, but the trance, anxiety, and dread that Thordur Palsson creates with his directorial debut, The Damned, needs to be studied as A Clockwork Orange-style of torture. This movie is the one… Read More ›
Sex comedy “Frivolous Lola” is the second Tinto Brass 4K UHD restoration home release by Cult Epics.
In April 2024, physical media boutique Cult Epics released a first-time world premiere 4K UHD of filmmaker Tinto Brass’s erotic dramedy All Ladies Do It (1992). This would be the first of several restorations the boutique would release in the… Read More ›
The special features on the home release of “Kingdom of Storms” will hold you over until the second part of the “Creation of the Gods” trilogy releases into theaters
16th century Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods) is the inspiration for a number of adaptions in Chinese entertainment. Adaptations in written forms, television programs, and, of course, cinema. Sometimes it’s in individual portions, such as with studio… Read More ›
The Criterion Collection welcomes the iconic horror of 1960’s “Peeping Tom” with a brand-new 4K UHD edition.
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 ›
“Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute)” releases a beautiful Criterion Blu-ray with special features.
Awards season has come and gone once again, like another overblown, overwrought, overlong thief in the night, spanning an impressive seven months from the beginning of the Venice Film Festival to that of the Academy Awards. Though, unlike other years,… Read More ›
The destined battle plays out fair and square in the theatrical adaptation of “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle.”
Mangas, like all other kinds of storytelling, come in a variety of types. Americans are familiar with the isekai (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime), shonen (Jujutsu Kaisen), and parody (One-Punch Man), with several breaking through into mainstream… Read More ›
Macabre fantasy “Pandemonium” makes its streaming debut on Arrow Player, offering a mixed bag of dark delights and dreadful disappointments.
The cult cinema streaming service Arrow Player is no stranger to the grotesque, the bizarre, and the gloriously macabre, making it the perfect home for the French dark fantasy film, Pandemonium. This visceral and nightmarish flick, which made the rounds… Read More ›
The brutality of the iconic “Shinobi” trilogy comes in high definition thanks to Radiance Films.
The shuriken throwing star, the black mask and suit, the high-flying moves — the few identifiers synonymous with the ninja archetype. Radiance Films brings home one of the most respected and influential ninja films of all time with the Shinobi… Read More ›
“Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” Blu-ray Giveaway
The 16th century Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods) has been told (and re-told) in portions in text, television, and film over the years with versions animated and live-action. In the fall of 2023, Wuershan’s Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom… Read More ›
Horror thriller “The Coffee Table” weaponizes intrusive thoughts and interpersonal tension to upend audiences from uncomfortable start to disquieting end.
“For want of a nail …” Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), and Uncut Gems (2019) are examples of a type of film which is well-made, thoughtful, subject to acclaim, and less likely to be revisited, the latter… Read More ›