Jia Zhangke is one of the most intriguing chroniclers of contemporary Chinese life in cinema today. His latest feature, Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, is his first documentary since his lyrical ode to the city of Shanghai, I Wish I Knew, was released in 2010. (That film was conveniently re-released and screened in…
In a yellow taxi in the Jordanian capital of Amman, a photo of Saddam Hussein dangles from Mustafa Khalid’s rear-view mirror. The dictator’s face is printed on one side of an air freshener; the other side shows Jordan’s late King Hussein. As Khalid drives through the packed city streets, the two faces seem to trade…
★ Written, directed and produced by Rahul D. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: Sudarshana Das and Sumit Ghoshal Film review by Will Jones Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’I have always found it somewhat charming that older and plenty of newer Indian films, from…
On November 4, 1857, a notice appeared in the Cambridge Democrat, the local newspaper of Cambridge, Maryland. Submitted by one Dr. Alexander Hamilton Bayly, it offered a $300 reward for anyone who could locate and kidnap a 28-year-old woman named Lizzie Amby, whom Bayly had enslaved. She had fled Bayly’s house some days before, bound…
The fourth installment of Fargo — Noah Hawley‘s crime anthology series based on the Coen Brothers‘ 1996 movie of the same name — opens with a fictionalized history lesson, narrated by a clever 16-year-old biracial girl named Ethelrida Pearl Smutny (E’myri Crutchfield), who, for 24 minutes, explains the power dynamic of Kansas City crime in…
★★★★ Directed by: Christopher Deakin Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Christopher Deakin Starring: Katherine Farquhar, Adam Cryne Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film review by: Joseph Rodgers Ever had one of those conversations where heavy words lingered in the air for longer than…
★★★ Directed by: #ChadFerrin Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #ChadFerrin, H.P. Lovecraft (inspired by) Starring: #GinaLaPiana, #JackieDebatin, #JohannUrb, #RobertMiano, #SilviaSpross Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Grimmfest Film Review by: ,,Darren Tilby If you have seen one cultist community film, you have seen them…
CW: domestic violence, abuse There is a shot in Phyllida Lloyd’s exceptional Herself, during a wince-inducing scene of domestic violence, that reminded me of something out of a horror movie. Our heroine Sandra lies on the floor, hair over her face, arm outstretched, as she tries to get away from her abuser. It is an…
★★★ Directed by: Erik Bloomquist Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Erik Bloomquist, Carson Bloomquist Starring: Caroline Williams, Nicole Kang, Nicholas Tucci, William Youmans, Adam Weppler Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Grimmfest Film Review by: Darren Tilby It is a surprisingly perceptive little vampire…
The village of Ose, tucked among Norway’s western fjords, is what one might call prime Scandinavian real estate, if you’re into the misty essence of storybooks and sagas. It’s not surprising then that there’s a market for new housing in the area, or that it once hosted temples to leading figures of the Norse pantheon….
Detention is a ghost story that’s pretty much atmosphere all the way down, more haunted house than horror film. It excels at presenting a ghoulish ambiance and creepy scenery, but when it has to make anything of its characters or plot, the film runs out of tricks. Appropriately, Detention — which I saw at Nightstream’s…
October is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “31 days of horror.” Don’t bother looking it up; it’s true. Most people take that to mean highlighting one horror movie a day, but here at FSR, we’ve taken that up a spooky notch or nine by celebrating each day with a top ten list. This article about…
A new drug can really take you places in Synchronic, the latest from the directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Dennis and Steve are among the first to see the drug Synchronic creeping into their community. As paramedics, they begin getting strange calls linked to the drug, and when Steve finds out he only…
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 October 13th, 2020 and our…
Winner of the Golden Shell for Best Film at this year’s San Sebastián International Film Festival, and chosen as Georgia’s entry for the Academy Award for Best International Film, Beginning signals the arrival of a bold new cinematic voice in the form of writer-director Déa Kulumbegashvili — though, as you watch it, it’s hard to…
There are arguably three different kinds of Pixar movies. There are the Exclusively-For-Kids movies (think Cars, The Good Dinosaur, A Bug’s Life), then there are the For-All-Ages movies (The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, recently released Onward), and finally, there are the ones that transcend age entirely and manage to break out of the traditional structures of…
Edward James Olmos has been in the business for over 45 years, establishing himself as one of the go-to Latin talents of his generation. From Blade Runner to Miami Vice, Battlestar Galactica to the recent Sons of Anarchy spin off, The Mayans, Olmos has cropped up in a variety of different roles – each one…
October is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “31 days of horror.” Don’t bother looking it up; it’s true. Most people take that to mean highlighting one horror movie a day, but here at FSR, we’ve taken that up a spooky notch or nine by celebrating each day with a top ten list. This article about…
“The Simpsons” is officially part of the Hollywood Resistance. The term refers to any show, or performer, dedicated to removing President Donald Trump from office by any means necessary. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIn the case of Matt Groening’s iconic show, it often requires weaponing gags and storylines to promote progressive…
In the No Time To Die Countdown, Jake Tropila takes a look back at every Bond film – official and unofficial – in anticipation of the release of the latest entry. At ten years and six films, Roger Moore had officially become the longest-tenured Bond at this point in the series’ time. He had matched…
On the beloved space Western series Firefly, there are creatures called reavers, introduced as the worst beings alive. These homicidal cannibal pirates rape and pillage their way through the universe Joss Whedon created, striking fear in the hearts of all who encounter them. However, when Serenity, the movie based on the series, came out, it…