Writer/director/actor Robert Townsend has played a solider, a superhero, an every man, and even himself. He’s made a point to create and tell stories that are not just specific to him and his worldview, but to the Black community, as… Read More ›
satire
Johannes Grenzfurthner’s experimental supernatural horror “Razzennest” is a disquieting sensory experience that’ll leave you stunned.
Satire is a sticky wicket requiring expert balance to nail. Films like Paul Verhoven’s RoboCop (1987) and Starship Troopers (1997) are as frequently misunderstood for their analysis of corporate greed and nationalism as Fight Club is (film (1999) or novel)… Read More ›
A Conversation with “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” cinematographer Alan Gwizdowski.
In this conversation, EoM contributor Thomas Manning speaks with cinematographer Alan Gwizdowski about his work on Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul. Gwizdowski provides technical insight on the unique visual and narrative style of this film that combines mockumentary elements… Read More ›
Actor Zoey Deutch brings top-tier villain energy in satirical comedy “Not Okay.”
When watching Quinn Shephard’s Not Okay, it may feel familiar to another movie that came out last year based on a popular Broadway show of the same name. The plot is so eerily similar, but with a wider net of… Read More ›
The choiceless choice of survival easily leads one to presume that “We Might As Well Be Dead (Wir könnten genauso gut tot sein).” [Tribeca Film Festival]
Perspective is everything. Without it, we have no way to measure one experience against another. However, the limitation of perspective is that we, as individuals, tend to forget that what we perceive exists within a narrow scope defined by our… Read More ›
The Criterion Collection offers a lovely restoration of director Jûzô Itami’s 1984 satirical comedy “The Funeral.”
It seems fair to say that we’ve all experienced a sense of loss in some form or another since March 2020. It may be literal in the form of a loved one passing or as an extended estrangement due to… Read More ›
Just because you “Don’t Look Up,” doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
Don’t Look Up is, by far, the strongest, most searing piece of cinema writer/director Adam McKay (The Big Short; Vice) has put before us. Unlike his last two films which presented real-world events through a comedic lens, Don’t Look Up… Read More ›
Celebrate 50 years of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” with a first-time 4K UHD release.
Published in 1962, Anthony Burgess’s dark satire A Clockwork Orange hit the streets of England with a 21-chapter tale of a teenager’s prevalence for extreme violence and antisocial behavior. Written in a Russian-influenced language called “Nasdat,” most of what central… Read More ›
Commodity, not religion, is played for laughs in satirical comedy “Faith Ba$ed.”
There’s been a strange trend of late where, one after the other, the films reviewed on EoM are trending toward satire. Additionally, each one has or will court some kind of controversy by premise alone and nothing else. A few… Read More ›
Jon Stewart is back and he is “Irresistible.”
Every day the world becomes more divided than united because of collective forgetfulness. On the one side is the Radical Left seeking free healthcare for everyone, diversity, and pushing toward growth from past mistakes via responsible acknowledgement. On the other… Read More ›
There is no controversy to be found in “The Hunt.” Only assholes.
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” This phrase is commonly attributed to Phineas T. Barnum, the circus owner and renowned asshole. Despite what you’d believe from the wondrous and heartfelt The Greatest Showman, Barnum was more likely to take… Read More ›
Criterion gives the special treatment to another Spike Lee joint, the 2000 satire “Bamboozled.”
When it comes to provocative storytelling, there really is no one else like writer/director Spike Lee. More than any modern artist, Lee minces no words with his films, cutting straight through the bullshit each and every time. In his 2015… Read More ›
New satire “Greed” misses the mark.
Throughout years of film criticism, it has become cliché to say that a film “defies categorization” in reference to genre. Many times, the greatest films of this nature find a way to weave together distinct tones and elements from a… Read More ›
Taika Waititi’s period comedy “Jojo Rabbit” lacks the bite satire requires. [Film Fest 919]
It used to be that everyone agreed that the Nazis were bad. It was one of the world’s universal truths, but unfortunately, because everything today has to be terrible and awful at all times, we’ve re-entered the age of neo-Nazism… Read More ›
Writer/director Aaron Schimberg’s “Chained for Life” successful satirizes the cinematic tropes of the disabled with charm, grace, and humanity.
There’s much about writer/director Aaron Schimberg’s (Go Down Death) Chained for Life that is striking. It’s the languid storytelling; the direction which shifts between extended still long takes and listless, flowing movements; and the endless sensation of a persistent dream-like… Read More ›
“Iron Sky: The Coming Race” is the rare sequel to outdo its predecessor.
When director Timo Vuorensola made his feature debut with 2012’s Iron Sky, many likely presumed – this writer included – that a film centered on Moon Nazis likely wouldn’t make a splash, let alone create a cult following, when it… Read More ›