Movie talk

  • NO TIME TO DIE Countdown: MOONRAKER Revisited

    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. One trend that has been consistent through this point in the series is the promise that James Bond would return for another adventure, and…

  • What’s New to Stream on Hulu for October 2020

    Hulu has been stuck in the third-place position when it comes to movie streaming behind Netflix and Amazon Prime because most people still see them strictly as a home for next-day television. They have movies, too, though, and more than a few of them are gems that make Hulu a destination beyond last night’s TV…

  • How PEN15 Declaws The Asian Tiger Mom Stereotype On Screen

    Over the duration of its two seasons (one and a half actually, since the second season still has seven more episodes coming out next year), Pen15 — Hulu’s middle school comedy following the 30-something Maya Erksine and Anna Konkle playing the tween version of themselves — has offered us plenty of memorable, cringe-worthy moments involving…

  • POSSESSOR: A Brilliant, Blood Soaked Techno-Thriller

    Brandon Cronenberg‘s excellent sophomore feature, Possessor, wants you to know what kind of movie it is right off the bat. It opens with a disturbing image of an unnamed young woman sticking a black, metal rod into her head. A few moments later, she goes to a party and walks up to a businessman then…

  • HERB ALPERT IS… More Than a Man and His Trumpet

    Between Allan Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh” and Herb Alpert’s “The Lonely Bull,” I was able to terrorize my sister to no end. This first song is self-explanatory. It’s fashioned as a humorous novelty.  The second one isn’t as obvious. In fact, it had nothing to do with the quality of the song itself but…

  • 10 Best Australian Horror Movies

    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…

  • SOUND OF METAL Trailer

    The drum beats whether you hear it or not in Sound of Metal, the narrative feature debut of co-writer/director Darius Marder. Ruben’s life was right where he wanted it. Having overcome drug addiction, he was able to fully invest in his relationship with his girlfriend, Lou, and their heavy metal band. An RV and an endless…

  • SAVE YOURSELVES!: Bumbling To The End

    We’ve all imagined how we’d handle the end of the world. Perhaps you think you’d fight heroically to the bitter end against the zombies or aliens, or perhaps you don’t want any part of that and plan on giving up immediately. Either way, we’ve all thought about it, and you’ve probably landed on some clean…

  • SCARE ME: One Hell of a Good Time!

    Tis the season: the spooky season! Yes, alongside pumpkin-spiced everything and the arrival of cool weather, many a film lover is feeling entitled to a good scare. The early autumn, leading up to Halloween, conjures up images of hayrides and cocoa and spooky stories shared around a campfire. For many of us, our first brush…

  • What’s New to Stream on Netflix for October 2020

    Some people spend their days arguing over the merits of Netflix, but the rest of us are too busy enjoying new movies, engaging series, and fun specials. It’s just one more way to re-watch the movies we already love and find new ones to cherish, and this month sees some of both hitting the service. The…

  • YELLOW ROSE Trailer

    A teenage girl faces crossroads in Yellow Rose, the latest from co-writer and director Diane Paragas. Your teenage years are all about deciding where you want your life to go, but most people don’t have the complications Rose faces. As an undocumented immigrant, her dream of playing country music seems especially out of reach, and…

  • Pretty Boy Bond: Reflections on the Pierce Brosnan Era

    The name’s Bond. Bondathon. With twenty-four official James Bond films to conquer before No Time To Die hits theaters, Bond fan Anna Swanson and Bond newbie Meg Shields are diving deep on 007. Martinis shaken and beluga caviar in hand, the Double Take duo are making their way through the Bond corpus by era, so…

  • NYFF 2020: NIGHT OF THE KINGS: Storytelling Magic

    In the tradition of One Thousand and One Nights, Ivorian filmmaker Philippe Lacôte’s latest narrative feature, Night of the Kings, is an ode to the power of storytelling to transport and transform. Set inside a fictionalized version of a real prison in Abidjan that Lacôte visited as a child when his mother was held there…

  • NYFF 2020: City Hall

    In a world where much of the focus is on national and international politics, the specifics of local governments remain a mystery. While we, as citizens, have some say in who takes these primary seats of office, those who keep our cities alive go beyond elected officials. What exactly happens at our local hubs and…

  • DEATH OF ME: Mystical & Terrifying

    Darren Lynn Bousman is perhaps best known for directing three Saw sequels as well as next year’s eagerly anticipated Spiral: From The Book Of Saw. Before Spiral is unleashed onto the world, Bousman brings us Death Of Me, a mystical, Thailand-set thriller. A Storm Is Coming Starring Maggie Q and Luke Hemsworth, Death Of Me…

  • NO TIME TO DIE Countdown: THE SPY WHO LOVED ME Revisited

    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. Now, this is more like it. In 1974, The Man with the Golden Gun turned out to be a box office disappointment, at least…

  • Hopeful Existentialism: RUSSIAN DOLL and THE GOOD PLACE

    Since the shift from cable TV to streaming services, we’ve seen an explosion of complex television shows that require the type of chronological viewing unique to our era. Serial TV shows thrive over their more formulaic, episodic counterparts, and they proliferate over myriad streaming services. With this saturation of affordable on-demand content, TV shows have…