2020 has been a strange year for cinema, but its unpredictability has made room for reassessment. The lack of new Shakespeare adaptations hitting U.S. theaters provides us with an opportunity: to revisit Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet,” released 24 years ago this month. A modern spin on the romantic tragedy defined by Luhrmann’s affective style,…
★★★★ Directed by: Giulio Mastromauro Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Giulio Mastromauro, Andrea Brusa Starring: Giulio Beranek, Babak Karimi, Elisabetta De Vito, Christian Petaroscia Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’,,Film Review by: ,,Jason Knight A heartbreaking look into the harsh life of an…
The recently concluded edition of the AFI Fest was one of the first to have been stricken by the circumstances that the entire world has been suffering from. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the folks at AFI Fest were able to put on an incredible show with an astounding amount of variety in their lineup. However,…
Entering Lee’s Marble Museum, the first thing visitors will notice is hundreds of marble-filled jars lining the walls. All around the museum, display cases show off specific marbles, methodically organized by category. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonOwner Lee Batterton is always willing to show visitors around what began as a personal collection….
From Julia Child to Paul Bocuse to James Beard, some of the biggest names in food history are also people who have professed their love for the same french fry—a french fry that, in no exaggerated manner, birthed an empire. A french fry that no one has eaten in more than 30 years. McDonald’s original…
If it is true that every human fear is rooted in death, then Groundhog Day is the most comforting film of all time. It follows an ordinary, if unpleasant, man, as he is driven into insanity through the repetition of a single day and eventually circles back into being a good person. With its bland…
On the afternoon of February 21, 2006, Norbert Schild sat down at a desk in the reading room of the City Library of Trier, in western Germany, and opened a 400-year-old book on European geography. Working quickly, Schild laid a piece of blank white paper on top of the book, took a boxcutter from his…
The impact of Isaac Newton’s scientific work is legendary today, and now it appears that his groundbreaking treatise of 1687 reached a wider audience during his own time than was previously thought. The tome, known as the Principia, transformed human understanding of celestial and terrestrial forces, providing a mathematical basis for the movement of planets,…
Caelian Hill is one of the original Seven Hills of Rome and a pleasant escape from the bustle of the city. Across the region are churches, orchards, and the green lanes of a lesser-known park in Rome, Villa Caelimontana. It welcomes the casual visitor into a setting largely untouched since the 19th-century. Read moreA Guide…
We have been getting some incredible stories centering on gay and lesbian romances. Most of them are some of my favorite films this decade – Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Carol, and Moonlight are easily on that list. Uncle Frank is a more mainstream, entertaining entry to this type of story. It is essentially…
Located next door to the State House and the Blaine House (Maine’s executive mansion) is the quaint First Amendment Museum. Inside explores the history, nuances, controversies, and current status of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonA conversational and casual guided tour of the museum…
The Falls of Shin is a beautiful waterfall located along the River Shin, not far from the villages of Bonar Bridge and Lairg. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWhat makes this waterfall so unique is that despite its magnificent natural surroundings, the Falls of Shin were human-made. They were designed when the…
Casa dos Bicos, also referred to as the House of Beaks, is known for its unique exterior of small jutting pyramids, curiously shaped and placed windows, and manifold uses over the years. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonLocated at the foot of the Alfama neighborhood’s steep slopes, construction on the building began…
“The Croods: A New Age” is the first feature directed by animator and storyboard artist Joel Crawford. The prehistoric family led by Grug (Nicolas Cage) and Ugga (Catherine Keener) finds some other humans, pointedly named The Bettermans (Peter Dinklage and Leslie Mann). In an interview, Crawford talked about what was most fun, what was most…
Love grows on adjacent farms in Ireland in Wild Mountain Thyme, the latest from writer/director John Patrick Shanley. Rosemary and Anthony have known each other their entire lives. Their families lived right next to each other, and they both ended up staying around home and each other. Rosemary stayed because of her lifelong crush on…
In Japanese mythology, Ame no Sakahoko (“upturned sky-spear”) was a hoko or halberd used by the twin gods Izanagi and Izanami to calm the primordial chaos and create the earth. According to some legends, the weapon was later gifted to the god Ninigi-no-Mikoto, who was sent to earth as its ruler. It’s said that he…
“As long as it’s a love song.” Gravitas has unveiled an official trailer for an indie documentary titled Sing Me a Song, made by acclaimed French doc filmmaker Thomas Balmès (Bosnia Hotel, Maharadja Burger, Happiness). This originally premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and arrives on VOD in the US in early January….
★★★ Directed by: #JoeMantello Written by: #MartCrowley and #NedMartel Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #JimParsons, #ZacharyQuinto, #MattBomer, #AndrewRannells, #CharlieCarver, #RobindeJesús, #BrianHutchison, #MichaelBenjaminWashington, #TucWatkins Film Review by: Corey Bulloch Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’A lot has changed since the debut of The Boys in…
Coinciding with our new column The Noirvember Files and timed for the month of Noirvember, this list digs even deeper into the film noir genre to explain five film noir subgenres and highlight examples of each. Before we can venture into the wider subgenre sandbox, we need to define what “film noir” is, exactly. Read…
“The Joneses” is a comedic ode to the fundamental nature of the real family unit — and not the artifice constructed by four traveling salesman. Let’s back up here. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho Marathon German filmmaker Derrick Borte’s 2009 satire follows four individuals — forty-somethings Kate and Steve (Demi Moore, David…
★★★★★ Directed by: #SamAshurov, #RazaRizvi Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #SamAshurov, #RazaRizvi Starring: #MarcoBermudez, #AnaMonfared, #SydneyAmanuel Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Patrick Foley Wouldn’t it have been great to grow up in a coming-of-age movie? Even as a supporting character,…