Kang Kyung-ja opens the door of her home on the island province of Jeju, South Korea, with a smile on her face. After offering me a cup of barley tea, she unfolds a piece of paper to sing me a song she’s written. Ieodo sana, ieodo sana, ieodo sana Where to go, where to row…
“It’s just too gray… I’m sitting here and I’m just thinking, when are we going to see Mars?” This lovely, poetic animated short film is worth a watch to bring a smile to your face. The Moon’s Not That Great is about an astronaut who embarks on a voyage to the Moon. When she returns,…
★★★ Directed by #ReneeBarron #DouglasBlush Written by #ReneeBarron #DouglasBlush #KimberleyFurst Starring #SammyHagar #GeneSimmons #MeatLoaf Film Review by George Wolf “Thanks for coming out tonight, we’re Motley Jüe..oy!” Yes, Motley Jüe was a real band, at least for a few days. Picking the perfect band name is just a small part of the fun for the…
On his last day as a detective before retiring, grizzled veteran Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) trudges aimlessly around his now-featureless office, looks out of his window, and notices an old man on the street using a walking frame. It’s not a sight that he wants to see — it’s a harbinger of the frailty that’s…
This article is part of our 2020 Rewind. Follow along as we explore the best and most interesting movies, shows, performances, and more from this very strange year. In this entry, our team counts down the 50 best movies of 2020. In the year 2019, which now feels like a lifetime ago, Box Office Mojo tracked…
Netflix for the past few years has embraced the potential within strange and unusual content, utilizing its platform and unrestrained creative prowess to mine gems of artistry, storytelling and history. Tiger King and Nailed It! come to mind in recent years, with Nailed It!’s break down of staged reality TV embracing the authenticity of including…
Colbert and co. face an uncertain future. What happens when the source of your political humor, President Donald Trump, no longer lives in the Oval Office? We don’t know how far-left comics will respond to a post-Trump world, but one element is crystal clear. They’re downright giddy to see Big Tech silence him. Facebook, Twitter and…
It has been a long time since I’ve seen a movie about marriage and relationships in crisis that really blew me away. Marriage Story was almost completely inert. Abel Ferrara’s Tommaso had some pulse to it, mostly because unlike Noah Baumbach who is overly careful not to disparage his own name, Ferrara proudly displays open…
Today, these small ruins are all that can be seen of the Carrawburgh Roman Fort. Mithraism was a Roman religion inspired by the god Mithras, who was originally a Persian warrior god. As the legend goes, Mithras had captured and killed a sacred bull in a cave. Mithraic temples often envoke a gloomy, cave-like atmosphere. The…
For pioneers who traveled along the path of the Pony Express, the Overland Stage Trail, or the Oregon Trail, a stop in the tiny town of Granger, Wyoming was a must. Granger Station, also known as the Old South Bend Station, was originally built in 1850. It served as a way station for travelers as they made…
On a cloudy day in October, Hinemoana Baker walked into a white room at the Ethnological Museum in southwestern Berlin, dressed in all black. A New Zealand poet and musician, Baker is a descendant of both the island nation’s indigenous Maori people and Europeans. As she entered the room, she began to utter a Karanga,…
Horror comes in clusters in The Reckoning, the latest from co-writer and director Neil Marshall. Grace was never going to have it easy. Life in 1665 was a constant scramble against death, what with limited resources and the plague going around. Then her husband died and she was accused of being a witch, both of which…
The Maen Achwyfan Cross, near Whitford village, is a freestanding stone monument, or wheel-cross, dating from the late 10th or early 11th century. While it may have been built in commemoration of a person or event, Cadw, the government arm responsible for historical monuments in Wales, states that its exact purpose is currently unknown. While…
These signs, one depicting a woolly mammoth and the other a Vagaceratops irvinensis, are a playful homage to the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration. Accompanying each signpost are fully fleshed-out replicas of these creatures that provide a glimpse into life during the Late Cretaceous Period and the last Ice Age. The trio…
Scotland is a country known for many historic inventions and creations, including crafting the ground rules for golf. In the 18th-century, officials from the port city of Leith asked the city of Edinburgh to contribute funds for a silver golf club for an upcoming tournament. The city of Edinburgh agreed, but on the condition that…
Some folks don’t have a choice. Jeff Cronenweth sprung from cinema. His dad, Jordan Cronenweth, shot Blade Runner, Stop Making Sense, and the best bits of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. From roaming his father’s sets, the younger Cronenweth absorbed his hunger for the lens. He crawled through crews, starting as a loader and…
Star rating (out of 5): ★★★ Directed by: #JDRothRound Written by: #JDRothRound Starring: #JDRothRound, #JohnCraggs, #DionJones Jones Film Review by: Julian Gaskell Iso-Pocalyptis is a psychological horror from J D Roth-Round, available to watch on the UK Film Channel. All shot on a Samsung Smartphone in a month for less than £300, it’s a micro-budget…
Welcome back to the newest, and at times goriest, column here at Film Inquiry – Horrific Inquiry. Twice a month, I will be tackling all things horror, each month bringing two films back into the spotlight to terrify and frighten once more. And occasionally looking at those that could have pushed the envelope further. Join…
“I whipped up a kick ass divorce mix playlist for ya.” Gravitas Ventures has debuted an official trailer for Before/During/After, an indie drama written by and starring Finnerty Steeves. The film earned good festival buzz taking home Dances With Films’ “Industry Choice Award”, Greenpoint Film Festival’s “Best of the Fest” award, San Diego’s “Best Ensemble…
The study and sweep of history tends to turn real life into myth. In hindsight we imagine it unfolding in grainy footage, or in black and white, set to a sweeping cinematic score. It’s less like it physically happened, and more like it has always just been. Throughout 2020 and into 2021, we’ve been reminded…
Chrissie Mayr knew the media fix was in long before the Jan. 6 rally that descended into chaos last week. The podcaster and stand-up comic figured the press would downplay the crowd’s size by covering its earliest stages to minimize Trump’s support. “Oh, look there are 40 people there. It’s a non-event,” says Mayr, who…
In 1979 during restoration works in an apartment near the center of Vienna, a sensational find was uncovered. After removing plaster from the walls, a set of ancient frescoes were revealed. These works of art were ordered by Michel Menschein, a wealthy merchant who wanted them as decorations for a private dance and banquet hall in…
There are certain films that proudly declare themselves British, not through accents or by waving the Union Jack but by evoking a certain feel, sweeping through with such grandiosity and delicately measured emotion that they evoke the essence of the British film tradition. I suppose many countries have these trademarks, but few put it on…
Tucked away in the middle of the suburbs near Mission Hills, visitors will find one of the best places to view Modern architecture in Fremont. The California School for the Blind was originally founded in 1867 in Berkley. However, the Board of Education determined the school did not meet earthquake, fire, and accessibility codes, so…
Penmon’s history dates to the 6th-century when a monastery was established here by Saint Seiriol. Seiriol created a cell at Penmon Priory and was the son of King Owain Danwyn of Rhos. Many Celtic churches were associated with these wells. Holy wells were springs thought to have miraculous healing powers and were often visited by…
Wilson Bentley called snowflakes “nature’s wonder gems,” possessing “an infinity of beauty,” and wrote that when they fell, “the mysteries of the upper air are about to reveal themselves.” The self-educated meteorologist was the first person to make a successful picture—“photomicrograph”—of a snowflake in 1885, and the first to claim that no two are alike….
Nestled above a charming general store near the Quechee Gorge, the Vermont Toy Museum’s vast collection of dolls, action figures, lunchboxes, yo-yos, and matchbox cars is a hidden treasure right off the White River Junction. Around 100,000 toys are housed inside the museum. The museum’s items largely came from members of the local community. They were…
A couple have a difficult night in Malcolm & Marie, the latest from writer/director Sam Levinson. The night was supposed to be a celebration. Malcolm’s movie premiered earlier and it seemed inevitable that acclaim would roll in. In the meantime, though, they’re stuck waiting, and in these quiet moments, personal grievances come to the fore. Turns…
The Brady Bunch first aired on September 26, 1969, and ran until March 8, 1974. It was based on a blended family with Carol Martin Brady having three girls, and Mike Brady having three sons. The family also had a live-in maid named Alice Nelson, whose character was a major part of the show’s success and…
A lock ladder or staircase is used to raise canal boats over large vertical distances within a small horizontal range. They operate by allowing the lower gate of one lock to form the upper gate of the adjacent lock. To avoid wasting water, they require very careful management. Passage through such lock systems often involves…
The sands of time ravage all, stripping structures from the Parthenon in Athens to monuments in Persepolis of their color. But in rare cases, the past prevails, and structures retain hints of their once-vivid polychromy. The sandstone vestibule (or pronaos) of the temple of Esna, abutting the Nile about a half hour south of Luxor,…
[Note: Spoilers ahead.] I sit staring at my laptop, and let my eyes go out of focus. I have just received a message from a dear friend. By message, I mean an apology about never believing that I was raped. I read phrases like “I can’t believe I did this to you” and “I should have…
“I’ve never yielded to anyone.” Netflix has unveiled the official trailer for an indie Italian drama titled The Last Paradiso, also known as L’ultimo Paradiso originally in Italian. This film tells the true story of an impossible love, a dream of an indomitable man who has a sense of rebellion and justice coursing through his…
Ratatouille: The Musical, the musical of our dreams. What started as a meme last year on TikTok — that the 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille has Broadway musical potential — unexpectedly exploded in popularity, with hundreds of creators contributing songs, performances, choreography, set design, costuming, and even a playbill. The internet’s favorite “musical that’s not a…
This story is excerpted and adapted from Kristen J. Sollée’s Witch Hunt: A Traveler’s Guide to the Power and Persecution of the Witch, published in October 2020 by Red Wheel Weiser. To German witches—hexen—the Harz highlands of northern Germany is home, a mountain range steeped in pagan lore. Here, Quedlinburg, a dazzling medieval town untouched…
This story was originally published on SAPIENS and appears here under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license. On South Africa’s southern coast, above the mouth of the Matjes River, a natural rock shelter nestles under a cliff face. The cave is only about three meters deep, and humans have used it for more than 10,000 years….