Of the complaints from audiences swirling around regarding Hollywood, the big ones usually refer to the lack of original ideas and the reliance on remakes, reboots, and sequels. Yes, movie-making is a business, so studios look for reliable intellectual property… Read More ›
Created by Belgian author Gabrielle Vincent, the characters of Ernest the bear and Celestine the mouse have been the center of several books, adapted into an award-winning 2012 film, Ernest & Celestine, and a 52-episode television series called Ernest &… Read More ›
As the ocean rises and falls, and the tide is the guarantor of its own return, so too does the astonishing black and white photography of Mami Wata step return a bygone style to modern folklore for a modern moment…. Read More ›
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage… “Butter with Butterfly Wings,” The Smashing Pumpkins There are terms and conditions within a society that we all agree to, whether consciously or not. This social contract… Read More ›
Originally premiering at this year’s Canne Film Festival, the new 4k restoration of Jean Grémillon’s Lady Killer (1937), aka Gueule d’amour (1937), is headed for the US, opening August 4th at Metrograph NYC where it will screen for a one-week… Read More ›
When a movie comes out that somehow brings something new and different to the genre and gets hailed as something interesting and innovative, of course there are going to be copycats and remakes and the like. That is exactly what… Read More ›
There is something to be noted about Criterion and Janus films; while some of their slate of films and releases can be defined as questionable, they certainly release undeniably important films and always have. Especially as someone who went to… Read More ›
The hope found in love is the only hope we have, or at least, that’s what Pietro Marcello‘s Scarlet (2023) seems to be saying. This French period piece is firmly rooted in the cynical positivity of the meta-modernist era. Everything… Read More ›
One never knows the gems they’ll find at film festivals. Sometimes they’ll be greeted by low-stakes lo-fi supernatural chillers that don’t match your vibe, other times you get to know an action comedy that delights all the same on subsequent… Read More ›
Who are you? This is a simple question that precedes an overly complex answer. You are not merely your thoughts, your feelings, your experiences, the sum total of everything you have encountered up until this moment, you are also everything… Read More ›
Fabrice du Welz’s Calvaire (titled The Ordeal in some English-speaking regions, but not here), premiering at Cannes in 2004, is a strange, but valid entry into the canon of “New French Extremity” that gripped French-language horror/thrillers from the mid-‘90s to… Read More ›
In modern society there are a number of presumptions that enable and empower those who have to look down upon those who have not. Aspects of health, wealth, occupation, and hobbies are all treated as aspects of one’s morality. Don’t… Read More ›
Content warning: Irreversible contains extreme depictions of violence, rape, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, strobe effects, disorienting cinematography and soundtrack, and whatever else you can think of. If you could be negatively affected by something, it’s most likely on full display… Read More ›
Art imitates life when it comes to timing. One can never predict how something will be received and, even things prognosticators think is a shoe-in, could fall flat. Sometimes the politics of the day get in the way, other times… Read More ›
From Pierre Morel, the action director behind District B13 (2004), Taken (2008), and Peppermint (2018), comes a brand-new film, The Ambush. The based-on-a-true-story action drama follows three United Arab Emirates soldiers fighting for their lives and is coming home courtesy of Well… Read More ›
As I type this intro, the verdict to the Darrell Brooks trial has just been read, ending a weeks-long shitshow of an abuse of a public system of representation for someone who was clearly guilty (I can say that now,… Read More ›
The French have such a knack for absurdist comedies and horror comedies (this film being the former), that it’s hard not to almost smile ear to ear and enjoy how far out there and how ridiculously things unfold on screen…. Read More ›
By 1978, writer/director Just Jaeckin was known for his erotic films Emmanuelle (1974), The Story of O (1975), and Madame Claude (1977). Seeking a break from this, Jaeckin developed romantic comedy Le dernier amant romantique (The Last Romantic Lover) with… Read More ›
There is something special about glancing briefly at a synopsis of a movie and solely making a decision to jump in on the film based on what the PR team decides to compare the film to. Reading that a film… Read More ›
If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise If you go down in the woods today, you’d better go in disguise For every bear that ever there was Will gather there for certain because… Read More ›