Ousmane Sembène’s Dark Comedy ‘Mandabi’ 4K Restoration Trailer

Ousmane Sembène’s Dark Comedy ‘Mandabi’ 4K Restoration Trailer

“When you owe, you have to pay.” Janus Films has revealed a stunning 4K restoration trailer for the classic Senegalese film Mandabi, also known as The Money Order. This originally premiered in 1968 in France, then played at the New York Film Festival in 1969. It was the second feature film made by award-winning Senegalese…

Diósgyőr Castle in Miskolc, Hungary

Diósgyőr Castle in Miskolc, Hungary

Diósgyőr Castle is situated in a small suburb in Miskolc, Hungary. It’s a window into the traditions and history of this often-forgotten section of Northern Hungary. It’s unlikely that you will find many tourists in this region of the country.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe walls of the castle were likely…

“I Started To Realize That Our Social Media Culture Hadn’t Been Explored Much in a Scripted Narrative” Interview with Mike Heslin, Star and Director of THE INFLUENCERS

“I Started To Realize That Our Social Media Culture Hadn’t Been Explored Much in a Scripted Narrative” Interview with Mike Heslin, Star and Director of THE INFLUENCERS

One of the most unsurprising social digressions that emerged when the world was forced to go into quarantine last year (and still continues to do so), is our reliance on television to give us a sense of subjective freedom when it felt like the entire globe was erupting in flames around us. While streaming services…

Buddha Peace Park in Mahamanjushree Nagarkot, Nepal

Buddha Peace Park in Mahamanjushree Nagarkot, Nepal

An hour east of Kathmandu is the small resort community of Nagarkot. The road to reach the town is steep, twisty, and rough, making a stop at the Buddha Peace Park a welcome respite. Hikers may choose to finish the journey to Nagarkot by taking the eight-kilometer Peace Park Hiking Trail into town. The trial…

Preston Market Cross in Prestonpans, Scotland

Preston Market Cross in Prestonpans, Scotland

Prestonpans, or Preston, is a small coastal region that lies some 50 miles east of Edinburgh. It currently boasts a vast number of murals painted by members of the local community and guest artists. It also happens to be the site of a historic battle. Here, Charles Edward Stuart suffered a massive defeat in an…

The Reason I Jump film review

The Reason I Jump film review

★★★★ Directed by #JerryRothwell Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by #NaokiHigashida ,,Film Review by ,,George Wolf Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Ten years ago, a Japanese teenager wrote a book that quickly became regarded as “an envoy from another world.” With The Reason I…

Zhang Heng Seismoscope in Shanghai, China

Zhang Heng Seismoscope in Shanghai, China

Located in the Sheshan Seismic Station at the foot of West Sheshan Mountain, this museum features a theater hall, an earthquake information hall, an emergency rescue drill exhibit, and the Zhang Heng seismograph exhibition hall. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonZhang Heng was a Chinese scientist and mathematician from the Han Dynasty….

Sinclair Gas Station in Elberta, Utah

Sinclair Gas Station in Elberta, Utah

This early 20th-century gas station was constructed to serve the town of Elberta and those commuting to and from a nearby gold mine. The Sinclair station on US 6 started serving early automobiles in 1917. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWhen the gold mine closed in 1949, the town of Elberta situated…

NICHOLS AND MAY: INTERVIEWS (Conversations with Filmmakers Book Series)

NICHOLS AND MAY: INTERVIEWS (Conversations with Filmmakers Book Series)

If you’re like me, you know Mike Nichols through his affiliation with The Graduate or Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Maybe you have some notion of the Nichols and May improv team that conquered the comedy circuit in the 1960s. Perhaps you’re aware of Elaine May‘s own forays into writing-directing with the likes of A…

Seeing America Through Its Roadside Signs

Seeing America Through Its Roadside Signs

Think of your last road trip. There were sights, destinations, but as much as anything else, there were signs. For businesses, public safety messages, accident memorials, threats directed at outsiders, advertisements for worms, eggs, and firewood, reminders of sin (83-FOR-TRUTH), and, of course, political campaigns. In his book Political Sign, author Tobias Carroll compares the…

Comic Michael Loftus: ‘I’m Getting Clobbered on Social Media’

Comic Michael Loftus: ‘I’m Getting Clobbered on Social Media’

Comedian Michael Loftus didn’t lock down as long as many stand-ups did last year. The right-leaning comic returned to the stage weeks after the pandemic hit the states. He also kept on writing, recording his “Loftus Party” podcast and dodging social media censors. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe latter proved only…

First Trailer for Lovecraftian Horror ‘Sacrifice’ Set on Norwegian Island

First Trailer for Lovecraftian Horror ‘Sacrifice’ Set on Norwegian Island

“We just call him… the ‘slumbering one.’” Epic Pictures Group has released a trailer for a mysterious indie Lovecraftian horror film titled Sacrifice, made by filmmakers Andy Collier & Tor Mian. This film originally premiered at FrightFest in the UK last year. Inspired by the Paul Kane short story titled “Men of The Cloth”, Sacrifice…

Why 1920s L.A. Went Wild for an 18th-Century Scottish Novelist

Why 1920s L.A. Went Wild for an 18th-Century Scottish Novelist

On a hot November day in 1926, a 13-year-old boy dressed as the Pied Piper led more than 1,000 children not out of town, but to the Central Library of Los Angeles. He marched at the head of a parade held to celebrate the opening of the children’s reading room. The piper, who had earned…

Bolue Vience short film review

Bolue Vience short film review

★★★★ Directed by #JordanTetewsky Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by #JordanTetewsky and #JoshuaPikovsky Staring #HunterZimny , #MeganDecino , #PaulSouthard , #DannyFrye , #SarahHarper , #MichelleGirolami Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by Jasmine Holly Bullock Bolue Vience is a 2016 satirical short film…

FISH S1E1: Not Fun. Not Funny. Not Worth It.

FISH S1E1: Not Fun. Not Funny. Not Worth It.

It boggles the mind how something so short in length can be so incredibly awful. Fish, the new pilot from writer/creator Curtis Johnson and Dog Den Films, seemingly managed to figure out the formula for such dreck. Let’s begin with the synopsis and try to take it from there. According to the IMDb- When Jacob Fiskel,…

Three Sisters Lighthouses in Eastham, Massachusetts

Three Sisters Lighthouses in Eastham, Massachusetts

Lighthouses have played a critical role in the daily life of maritime towns as nautical landmarks that provide directional signals to ships. They are traditionally located very close to the water.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe Three Sister Lighthouses were originally located on Nauset Beach atop a cliff, just a quarter-mile…

Lincoln Park Nursery Ruins in Lemont, Illinois

Lincoln Park Nursery Ruins in Lemont, Illinois

Chicago’s Lincoln Park is known as the largest park in the city. However, it’s much less common knowledge that many of the trees and plants originally came from a forest preserve more than 20 miles away.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonLincoln Park has expanded from its much smaller origins into the…

Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery in Cannock, England

Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery in Cannock, England

The construction of this cemetery was agreed upon between the British and German governments in 1959. It was designed to re-locate the remains of German service personnel and internees who died in the United Kingdom  during World War I and II.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonA dedication ceremony took place in…

THE HUMAN VOICE Trailer

THE HUMAN VOICE Trailer

I’m hyping a short today because The Human Voice pairs Pedro Almodóvar with Tilda Swinton, and I think we’ll all take as much of that as we can get. With a reported run time of 30 minutes, this is nowhere near feature-length, but there’s still plenty of time for stuff to go down. From the trailer, what…

Phimeanakas in Angkor, Cambodia

Phimeanakas in Angkor, Cambodia

Phimeanakas was a Hindu temple constructed in the Khleang style. The name Phimeanakas actually translates to “Celestial Palace.” Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonConstruction started at the end of the 10th-century during the reign of Rajendravarma II and was completed by Suryavarma I. It went on to become the state temple of Suryavarman I and…