Running from February 2016 until March 2020, the shonen manga Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge was adapted into an animated series by Studio ufotable in April 2019 and is set to release its latest story arc soon…. Read More ›
foreign film
Open Dialogue with “The Taste of Things” filmmaker Tran Anh Hung.
In this edition of Meet Me at the Movies: Open Dialogue, Thomas Manning talks with filmmaker Tran Anh Hung about The Taste of Things. Hung was recognized with the Best Director honor at the 76th Cannes Film Festival for his… Read More ›
Open Dialogue with “The Monk and The Gun” filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji.
In this edition of Meet Me at the Movies: Open Dialogue, Thomas Manning talks with writer and director Pawo Choyning Dorji about The Monk and The Gun, Bhutan’s submission for the Best International Feature category at the 96th Academy Awards…. Read More ›
Arrow Video elevates the look and sound of “The Shaolin Plot,” now in 2K.
You gotta love ‘70s Kung-Fu cinema. Within the first 15 minutes of Huang Feng’s The Shaolin Plot, a man is killed with a chicken leg, an assassination attempt is flawlessly averted, and a disobedient guest’s head is cut off by… Read More ›
Documentary “The Movie Man” deftly reminds that filmgoing is a social experience that requires social responsibility to maintain. [SBIFF]
Though the first moving pictures were shown in the 1800s and began as a sideshow, they transformed into a main event with the advent of the movie theater. No longer having to go into a tent or side space, people… Read More ›
Radiance Films welcome a new Damiano Damiani-directed film to their collection, the spy thriller “Goodbye & Amen.”
During the debut year for physical media boutique Radiance Films, a distributor interested in lesser-available/known international cinema, they released a wonderful three-film collection of director Damiano Damiani’s film dubbed “Cosa Nostra: Franco Nero in three Mafia Tales by Damiano Damiani.”… Read More ›
Pair “The Taste of Things” with a good meal for the perfect Valentine’s Date.
It was December 16th, 2023, when I received the text “Do u want soup tonight?” to which I replied, “Yeah I can do a soup.” The dinner invitation came from fellow film buff Scott Rogers, who, along with his partner… Read More ›
2023 lo-fi sci-fi time loop comedy “River” drifts onto home video via Third Window Films.
If you’re not familiar with Japanese theatrical troupe Europe Kikaku, they are the talent behind 2021’s lo-fi sci-fi comedy Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and 2023’s lo-fi sci-fi rom-com River. Both directed by Junta Yamaguchi and written by Makoto Ueda,… Read More ›
Wrestling doc “The Death Tour” is more than about heels, faces, or even the pop – but why the audience matters. [Slamdance Film Festival]
In the United States, names like World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Assault Championship Wrestling (ACW), and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) may come to mind when bringing up sports entertainment. But wrestling isn’t a U.S.-based sport, with countries… Read More ›
Radiance Films adds Kōhei Oguri’s “The Sting of Death” to their collection with a first-time Blu-ray limited edition.
It’s 1985 and author Toshio Shimao releases “The Sting of Death” and Other Stories, a collection of works, the primary one being described as autobiographical. Five years later, writer/director Kōhei Oguri (Muddy River) would adapt that central tale into his… Read More ›
“The End We Start From” stumbles on its own finish line.
The End We Start From is the rare conventional “we’ve seen this before” genre film that edges ahead of its competition by way of its unconventional dedication to reality. It also squanders that edge in the name of reaching some… Read More ›
Dig your claws into the Third Window Films release of Reiki Tsuno’s “Mad Cats.”
After its world premiere during Slamdance 2023, the feature-length debut from writer/director Reiki Tsuno (Crying Bitch), Mad Cats, traveled the globe jumping from one film festival to another. At each stop, audiences were invited to enter a world in which… Read More ›
Filmmaker Rafael Toledo is set to make an explosive impression with his short film “Blockbuster.” [Slamdance Film Festival]
In an era where it seems like most major studio releases are one giant computer-generated sequence after another, there’s something desirable about watching a film with practical effects. Realism is overrated when there’s something tangible before us, even if it… Read More ›
“The Goldfinger” adapts real events into a compelling cinematic crime drama.
When it comes to movie-making, which is superior: truth or manipulated fiction? To some, the facts don’t matter as long as the essence of a thing is captured (Bohemian Rhapsody); whereas, to others, if the presentation of facts is constructed… Read More ›
Filmmaker Choi Dong-hoon’s hotly anticipated “Alienoid” sequel “Return to the Future” arrives with bigger action and bigger laughs to navigate world-ending stakes.
August 2022, U.S. audiences were introduced to co-writer/director Choi Dong-hoon’s brand-new sci-fi action comedy Alienoid (외계+인 1부), a world in which an order of intergalactic peacekeepers house alien prisoners within the bodies of humans in order to keep them docile…. Read More ›
Gareth Evans’s crime actioner “The Raid: Redemption” receives a 4K UHD remaster inside a limited edition steelbook.
Before Expend4bles (2023) set him up to take on aged action stars, before Warrior (2019-2023) made him a villain, before audiences worldwide connected with the violent thrill of Indonesian martial arts in cinema, actors Iko Uwasis and Joe Taslim starred… Read More ›
“Freud’s Last Session” is a thorny bore and a great idea.
Freud’s Last Session may not have been with C.S. Lewis, Christian Apologist and author of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to be, but what this film presupposes is: maybe it was? Set on the day Hitler’s Nazi Germany… Read More ›
Dynamic ensemble shines as director Guiseppe Fiorello sets a romantic mood in LGBTQ+ drama “Fireworks.”
Italian actor, writer, and producer Giuseppe Fiorello (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Terraferma) makes his feature directorial debut with Fireworks (Stranizza d’amuri), an aspirational LGBTQ+ romance that successfully imitates its predecessors in mood and visual style. Set in Sicily in the… Read More ›
Open Dialogue with “The Kitchen” filmmaker Daniel Kaluuya and actor Kane Robinson.
In this edition of Meet Me at the Movies: Open Dialogue, Thomas Manning chats with Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya and multi-talented artist Kane Robinson (aka Kano) about their new Netflix film The Kitchen. Kaluuya co-directed this film alongside Kibwe Tavares, with… Read More ›
Enter the world of Park Hoon-jung’s “The Childe” on home video and prepare yourself to make a friend for life…however long or short that may be.
Writer/director Park Hoon-jung is not one to shy away from the darkness that exists within humanity (I Saw the Devil) or a hidden world within it (the Witch series). Whether in the bright of day or the shadows of night,… Read More ›