There are certain director-actor pairings that just excite audiences when they hear about them. Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Sam Rami and Bruce Campbell. Jesse V. Johnson and Scott Adkins. Johnson and Adkins first… Read More ›
VOD
Musical dramedy hits “The High Note.”
In times of great stress like these, it’s important to remember what gets us through: art. Art, of course, can be anything from clothes, food, movies, projects, music, and more. They are the things which bring us joy and help… Read More ›
Great performances fail to breathe life into color-by-numbers dramedy “Military Wives.”
When it comes to films that are “inspired by” or “based on” an actual story, there’s a persistent battle between reviewing the film in front of me and the truth. It’s something which Darryl Mansel, The Cine-Men co-host, and I… Read More ›
Autumn de Wilde’s feature debut “EMMA.” is a delightful take on a classic scruples comedy.
There are some films which, upon even the briefest of beginnings, you realize are something special. Such is the case with director Autumn de Wilde’s first feature film EMMA., an adaption of the Jane Austen novel from writer Eleanor Catton… Read More ›
“Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time, Vol 2 – Horror and Sci-Fi” fails to coherently focus on its own subject matter.
Depending on who you ask, the term “cult classic” in regard to filmmaking may be applied as a compliment or an insult. Motion pictures acquire this status based on a variety of factors. Perhaps the film flew under the radar… Read More ›
If you grew up on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, don’t wait on watching the easter egg-filled “Scoob!”
Beyond telling an engaging story, animated children’s features have two goals: captivate the target audience and be clever enough so the parents don’t want to murder themselves on the 58th viewing. By all marks, Warner Brothers Animations’s Scoob! succeeds in… Read More ›
Genre mash-up “Samurai Marathon” gets off to a messy start but comes together mid-stride.
Described as “a lively action flick with a samurai twist,” latest Well Go USA release Samurai Marathon meets that description with a unique vigor. Directed by Bernard Rose (Candyman) and adapted from the novel “The Marathon Samurai: Five Tales of… Read More ›
Take flight anytime you want with “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” on home video.
As I left the theater in early February, I knew instantly that director Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) was not for me. The post-fight margaritas, the bullet-proof bustier, the severity of Black… Read More ›
Teen comedy “CRSHD” is a fun and colorful take on coming-of-age in the social media generation.
From Rebel Without a Cause (1955) to The Breakfast Club (1985) to Lady Bird (2017), each generation has its special coming-of-age films that it can claim as its own. These are the movies grounded in a cultural milieu that take… Read More ›
Shailene Woodley’s performance in “Endings, Beginnings” is really what makes this movie strong.
Romance movies typically skew for a certain instead of appealing to all audiences. The great ones (The Fault in Our Stars, Titanic, and The Big Sick) are the ones that can resonate and move a wide variety of people, both male… Read More ›
“Tammy’s Always Dying” is an honest, non-judgmental look into toxic relationships.
For her first feature script, Joanne Sarazen (I Came Here Alone) nails the endless pain and difficulty of a parental toxic relationship: the way the parent, an incubus born of weaponized love, cycles through terrible behavior after terrible behavior, pulling… Read More ›
Ready for home viewing, “The Rhythm Section” is an interesting twist on the spy thriller whose sum is rarely as strong as its parts.
Sometimes, no matter how many strong pieces a story has or how fantastic of a cast and crew, it doesn’t gel as expected. This is the case with The Rhythm Section, a film starring Blake Lively (All I See Is… Read More ›
“The Wretched” is a nuts and bolts monster movie, and it delivers.
The horror genre is arguably the most diverse genre in Hollywood when you take into consideration of all the sub-genres that it offers. Slasher, zombies, paranormal, and psychological are all prime examples of sub-genres of horror movies, but one should… Read More ›
Discover surrealist artist Reine Paradis in the VOD documentary “Queen of Paradis.”
The tale of Reine Paradis begins with the story of how the French-born artist came to the United States to pursue her dream of being an artist. After being fired as a photographer’s assistant, she had to make a decision,… Read More ›
Justin Kurzel’s rendering of Ned Kelly and his gang in “True History of the Kelly Gang” sizzles with punk rock energy.
Every culture has their notorious outlaws, and in Australia, probably no such figure looms larger than bushranger Ned Kelly, who famously wore a suit made of bulletproof armor during his last standoff with local authorities. While at least 10 movies… Read More ›
“Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All-Time, Vol 1” is an informative, if imperfect, beginning of a cult film documentary series.
If you’ve ever felt lost, unseen, unacknowledged, or just generally without people, chances are that something came into your live and turned all of that around. We’re not getting into something as deep as religion, but, for many, the art… Read More ›
Neo-western “The Quarry” plays by its own rules.
Adapted from Damon Galgut’s 1995 novel of the same name, director Scott Teems’s film The Quarry comes to you as a gritty, grim, and bleak Neo-Western thriller. With a screenplay co-written by Teems and Andrew Brotzman, this feature exemplifies shades… Read More ›
The Cine-Men Minisode
In this brief minisode, hosts Darryl Mansel and Douglas Davidson discuss the challenges that cinema currently faces: theater closures, shifting release dates, and a focus on VOD. If you missed of the last 27 episodes, you can jump right on… Read More ›
Brazilian director Fernando Grostein Andrade’s coming of age film, “Abe”, is a love letter to all kids who don’t know where they fit in.
Growing up is confusing for the average pre-teen boy, but Brooklyn-born Abe (Noah Schnapp, Stranger Things) has more of a task than most. Born out of a cross-cultural marriage, Abe describes his identity as Palestinian Muslim/Israeli Jewish/American Brooklyn/and Gryffindor. Family… Read More ›
Thriller “Sea Fever” unsettles, yet is somehow optimistic.
When writer-director Neasa Hardiman originally crafted the new suspense-thriller, creature-feature hybrid Sea Fever, it is highly unlikely that she could have forecasted its remarkable relevance to the current state of the world. With the pandemic of COVID-19 impacting the daily… Read More ›