A veteran comedy troupe tried the virtue signaling route following the rise of Black Lives Matter. When that failed to solve racism in the Great White North, The Sketchersons took extreme measures. The long-running Canadian group canceled itself before the woke mob could do it for them. The Toronto-based group shared the grim news on…
Streaming might be the future, but physical media is still the present. It’s also awesome, depending on the title, the label, and the release, so each week we take a look at the new Blu-rays and DVDs making their way into the world. Welcome to this week in Home Video for February 2nd, 2021! This week’s…
It’s a common sight in tropical places from Nigeria to India to the Philippines. In the mornings, before the harsh sun has burned the mist away, tappers climb the palm trees. Aided with nothing more than wiry muscles and woven rope or cloth, they scale to the top, risking the steep drop to collect palm…
Even watching the trailer for Greenland, it’s easy to get carried away by the ominous comets hurling across space towards the Earth. It’s all too easy to throw yourself in the grips of that crisis, where staring up at the sky and gawking at the incoming inevitable wouldn’t be unfair. But to director Ric Roman Waugh’s credit,…
Sundance is known for its progressive approach to wide entertainment, but it also can be known for loving a crowd-pleaser. It has worked for “Little Miss Sunshine” all the way to 2019’s “Troop Zero,” so why should it stop? Enter writer/director Kate Tsang’s “Marvelous and the Black Hole,” a wholly sincere crowd-pleaser with bursts of inspired…
Nattawut “Baz” Poonpiriya‘s sophomore feature Bad Genius — a high school heist thriller, which was also the highest-grossing Thai film of 2017 — was deemed as one of the best films ever made in its original country. Now, 4 years later, he follows it up with One for the Road, a stylish and affecting road-trip…
Is there a star as consistently reliable as Denzel Washington? In today’s age, the currency of movie-stars seems to be falling — Say it ain’t so! — as IP brands take center stage. And yet, Washington has remained arguably our most endearing star, the kind of presence at the movies who can sell a project just on his name…
The Bateshwar collection of Hindu temples is believed to have been constructed between the 8th and 10th-centuries by the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty. Little is known about their construction, as once this empire fell, the temples too disappeared from the history books and were swallowed up by the jungle. They were re-discovered by British archeologist Alexander Cunningham…
Molly Lester was walking around north Philadelphia a few years ago when she saw a ghost. The specter was haunting the alabaster remains of 1513 North Second Street, a former townhouse. Lester took a picture, the first of what has become a spirited collection of Philly building ghosts—the imprints of demolished rowhouses that linger on…
Designed to highlight the agricultural diversity of the Piedmont region of the Carolinas throughout the year, this seasonal produce clock was completed in 2020. Measuring nearly 12 feet in diameter, the installation features a custom-built clock hand that makes one full rotation per year. With 12 o’clock aligning with the winter solstice, the hand slowly…
Creating a narrative that weaves together pieces of her own childhood life, Kate Tsang has crafted a striking directorial debut in Marvelous and the Black Hole. The film is a tender examination of how beautifully difficult it can be to find hope in times of darkness and features wonderful performances from a standout cast. Tsang…
Colma, California is often known as San Francisco’s City of the Dead. Olivet Memorial Park is one of the 17 cemeteries located in Colma and within its grounds lies a clown cemetery. Showfolks are buried all over the United States. The largest Showmen’s memorial resides in Indiana after a horrific train crash killed 86 circus…
★★ Directed by #AndyCollier #ToorMian Written by #AndyCollier #ToorMian #PaulKane Starring #BarbaraCrampton #SophiaStevens Film Review by Brandon Thomas If we’ve learned anything from horror cinema over the decades, it’s that Europe is a scary place and to avoid it at all costs. Werewolves on the moors, rage zombies, predatory hostels – just go to Myrtle…
Welcome to Horrorscope, a monthly column keeping horror nerds and initiates up to date on all the genre content coming to and leaving from your favorite streaming services. Here’s a guide to all the essential horror streaming in February 2021. Smell that? Love is in the air. A love…of horror, that is! Valentine’s Day may…
Matt writes: The Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation is joining the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation in presenting the inaugural No Malice Film Contest for Illinois youth and young adults. Young filmmakers between the ages of 11 and 21 are invited to create short films that explore and promote racial healing. Cash…
After teaming up with twin sisters Ani and Alesandra Mesa on her short film Superior in 2015, Erin Vassilopoulos returns to the Sundance Film Festival with her feature directorial debut with an expansion of that same narrative world. Superior (2021) brings the trio of collaborators back together in a refreshingly nostalgic form of filmmaking, that…
When Yozaemon Chikiriya established his garment business, Chiso, in Kyoto, his primary customers were monks who required fine clerical vestments. That was 1555. More than four centuries later, the company’s intricately cut robes are coveted as luxury garments, and Chiso—having persevered through shrinking economies, shifting trends, wars, and more—has found itself among the last of…
Though it lies just a few miles off England’s southern coast, the curious, diamond-shaped Isle of Wight seems to exist in another era entirely. Once a beloved vacation destination for Victorian visitors, the island – still reachable only by boat from the mainland—remains a British family holiday favorite that capitalizes on the kitschy seaside charm…
It must be frightening to shoot another horror movie after “The Descent.” The cave-dwelling shocker stands as one of the best thrillers of the 21st century. Director Neil Marshall hasn’t fully gone back to the horror well since, dabbling in period thrills (“Centurion”), HBO glory (“Game of Thrones”) and IP reboots (“Hellboy”). “The Reckoning” finds…
Loneliness… we all experience it, we all dread it. And it’s especially tough now with the pandemic, everyone separated at home. This beautiful animated short film from Switzerland called The Lonely Orbit is about loneliness and everyone’s eternal struggle with it. The filmmakers visualize this powerful feeling following a satellite drifting in orbit quietly, lonely,…
It’s another year, and that means another Sundance Film Festival! While none of us are having the experience we truly crave, indulging in the atmosphere and ambiance of Park City, there’s still enjoyment to be had, and plenty of movies to devour. I think it’s worth a real round of applause to Sundance for what…
There aren’t many groundbreaking elements in Siân Heder‘s sophomore feature CODA. It’s a movie, part coming-of-age and part family drama, which leans heavily toward the archetype of the subgenre. And yet, in spite of all the familiarity, Heder finds a way to make the movie engaging from start to finish. Her direction, though never flashy,…
The Count’s House, with its classic Grecian style Doric columns, is not something visitors would expect to find sitting on the side of the River Wear in the heart of Durham City. The Count’s House was originally constructed in the 1820s by the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral. It was designed to resemble a…
In an area with many ancient temples and monuments sits the mostly overlooked Church of Agios Demetrios of Diakos. The church is named after Athanasios Nikolaos Massavetas, a hero during the Greek War of Independence. Massavetas was born in central Greece in 1788 into a family of Klephts (Greek highwaymen). Drawn to religion as a…
Casa Isolani is a great example of a 13th-century house in Bologna. The structure is impressive, as the oak beams of the arcade reach 29 feet (9 meters) in height to support the third floor of the building. What makes this stunning medieval structure even more intriguing are the three arrows stuck in the bottom of…
The machines come to life in Willy’s Wonderland, the latest Nicolas Cage goes berserk movie. Once a place of food, games, and fun, Willy’s Wonderland has fallen into disrepair. In need of sprucing up, the owners hire a man passing through town for a one-night cleanup job. Easy enough, the drifter thought, until the animatronic…
Since the 13th-century, water from the Lech river was drained at the retaining weir known as “Hochablass” towards the city of Augsburg to drive water mills. In the past, goods were shipped along the river to supply local industries. The weir was the place to reload goods from larger to smaller rafts, with several thousand…
On April 20, 1999, two Columbine High School seniors entered the school heavily armed and killed 12 students and one teacher in what became one of the most tragic events in United States’ history. In 2007, a memorial was unveiled in Clement Park behind Columbine High School. The memorial is a peaceful place of reflection…
★★ Directed by #PeterPalma Written by #PeterPalma Starring: #TommyBeswick #AimieGillan Film Review by Matthew Sawyer Downfalling shows us a brief glimpse of a young man’s life as he decides whether or not to take his own life. The man in question, played by Tommy Beswick, has just broken up with his girlfriend. He rejects advances…
The NEXT slate at Sundance is intended to celebrate digital filmmaking that pushes the boundaries of cinema to strange new places. For three films in this section, that means exploring love in the time of cellular. Mobile phones have forever changed the ways of wooing worldwide. More and more, couples are meeting through dating apps….