Tucked within the mountains of Japan’s Gifu prefecture, in the middle of Takayama, lies Funasaka Sake Brewery. With its dark-wood walls and stacked sake barrels, it looks typical. But inside is a surprise: Funasaka sells top-notch kosher sake. Less than one percent of the Japanese population identifies as Jewish, but according to Hiroki Arisu, the…
“We are coming back, aren’t we?” This is an outstanding short that is undoubtedly worth a watch. Ruth is a one-take narrative short film by filmmakers Arturo M. Antolin & Paul Romero Mendez. This was made using the same kind of equipment and technique as with 1917, and was exec produced by ARRI and Directors…
Julian De Zotti‘s intimate mini-series For the Record becomes especially tender for those of us who still prefer collecting over streaming. The six-episode anthology series strings together the stories of people whose lives revolve, in some romantic, harmonious way, around music. Anna Hopkins of The Expanse fame loads the series’ first two episodes with some hefty star…
In the depths of a Wisconsin winter, a few days before the end of 2020, Emily Ford went backpacking. Nearly 1,200 miles of snowy trail stretched before her when she set off from Potawatomi State Park in Sturgeon Bay, on the edge of Lake Michigan. Accompanied only by Diggins—a friend’s sled dog, borrowed for the…
You can always count on SXSW to deliver some thrillers that, through their low-budget limits, find a new style or storytelling form to stand out. Here Before provides the creeps with an extra layer of grief, The Spine of Night throws fantasy genre conventions out the window by embracing cosmic horror elements, and Broadcast Signal…
In the center of Tatra Mountains, one of the smallest mountain ranges in Europe, is a mountain that straddles the border of two countries. Almost one-fifth of the High Tatra mountain range is situated in Poland, the rest in Slovakia. This national border runs for 40 miles from the west on the main ridge to the…
Hidden behind the famous Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee is a dark alley that was once nothing more than an urban shortcut. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThat was until 2016, when a group of local artists turned the alley into a showcase of street art. The alley now features artwork from local…
The current “Saturday Night Live” is as edgy as a spork after a few passes with a belt sander. Irreverent shows like “SNL” struggle to maintain their sense of impropriety. Shocking western culture rarely allows for second acts, and the novelty wears off eventually. Think Sacha Baron Cohen, Madonna and Howard Stern, although the latter…
The Putt-Putt of Warren is over 59 years old and is the oldest remaining Putt-Putt Course in Ohio. Only 39 authentic Donald Clayton-designed Putt-Putt courses remain in existence. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThis course is regulated by the Professional Putters Association (PPA) and was created by Clayton. This course has pro…
It’s round two for the bumbling villains in The Suicide Squad, with James Gunn taking over writing and directing duties. Gunn is sort of the perfect guy to take over the franchise after 2016’s Suicide Squad fell flat on its face. Critically panned and generally reviled, it was an ill-timed misstep for the already struggling DCEU, and…
In 2003, Canberra was hit by a horrific firestorm. The fire destroyed the Mount Stromlo Observatory, as well as its historic Yale-Columbia Refractor telescope. The telescope had been observing the stars since the 1920s and even helped with a few NASA missions. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonBut from this tragedy came…
This “Hospital” was never a medical institution. It rather uses the older definition of the term, which refers to a type of almshouse. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonLord Leycester Hospital is a group of medieval timber-framed buildings on High Street in the historic city of Warwick, England. It dates back to…
★★ Stars Directed by: #VitorBrandt Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #VitorBrandt, #DenisNielsen Starring: #EdmilsonFilho, #MatheusNachtergaele, #LetíciaLima, #LeandroRamos, #VictorAlen Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Alicia Moore “Two hapless cops find themselves in over their heads as they cross paths with dangerous…
“One way or another, I’m gettin’ home to my dog.” Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for an acclaimed time loop short titled Two Distant Strangers, which is arriving streaming on Netflix in April. It’s already nominated for Best Live Action Short at the Academy Awards this year. In the film, cartoonist Carter James’ repeated…
Check the Gate is a column where we go one-on-one with directors in an effort to uncover the reasoning behind their creative decisions. Why that subject? Why that shot? In this edition, we chat with Adam Wingard and discuss how you shoot a title match as epic as Godzilla vs. Kong. There can be only…
Western culture looked radically different seven years ago, but it still gave us a preview at what was heading our way. Woke warriors willing to take down anyone for any reason. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonCancel Culture remained years away, but special interest groups were looking for offenses both large and…
★★★ Directed by: #RyanWadeStott Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #RyanWadeStott Starring: #ChristienBartGittens, #JodiHutton, #SophieWhitebrook, #CarlBeech Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Julian Gaskell This short begins at a business motivational conference (The 5 Steps to Success) with the organiser (Jodi Hutton)…
Martin Scorsese’s “Cape Fear” is a remake of a good movie, the 1962 Robert Mitchum/Gregory Peck thriller of the same name, and it’s better than the original. The 1991 film begins with a roaring Bernard Herrmann score (faithfully recreated by Elmer Bernstein), an opening title credits sequence by Saul and Elaine Bass and shimmery imagery…
Located off the northwest coast of Lombok in Indonesia are the three Gili Islands: Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. These islands are renowned for their sandy white beaches, swaying palm trees and pristine waters. They are home to a booming green sea turtle population, and in recent years the islands have become the…
It’s possible that if you lived or went through some sort of ‘80s music phase at the right age, you might have some fun spotting the dozens of references throughout Stephen Kijak’s cinematic tribute to The Smiths, “Shoplifters of the World.” Or, it’s possible you’ll roll your eyes at popular lyrics woven into the dialogue…
That wink. Over six decades in film and television, from her breakout film work playing characters as varied as obsessed stalkers and sharp coeds, to her TV ubiquity on various hour-long procedurals about lawyers and the FBI, to her memeification as two of TV’s most formidable mothers, that wink told you Jessica Walter was willing…