Roberta Saltzman shopped a lot on eBay. Often, her purchases fit into one narrow category: Jewish cookbooks, the more obscure, the better. Never mind that Saltzman, who died in 2014, was by all accounts not that interested in cooking. Over the years, she accumulated 700 Jewish cookbooks, with a particular focus on community cookbooks from…
On the outskirts of Hanga Roa, Easter Island’s only town, the Museo Rapa Nui has a small but striking collection. It includes a rare female version of the monolithic statues known as moai, and sets of piercing moai eyes made from white coral and red volcanic rock. Finely worked obsidian tools sit alongside displays on…
★ Written & Directed by: #ElinMargaretaNordin Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #VictorNascimento, #VonnyMcNamara, #PauloAragão, #AishaJacobWilliams Series Review by Taryll Baker Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Episodes watched: 2 Ritual is a mini-series created by Elin-Margareta Nordin; debuting in 2018, though seemingly never continuing past…
So we come to this, the final episode in Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick‘s four part docuseries Allen v. Farrow. The overwhelming feeling by this point is of a series determined not to establish the facts but to definitively portray one side’s experiences in what has been no doubt a long and difficult ordeal, especially…
To step into one of Scandinavia’s surviving stave churches is to enter the past. Shadows shift and tell stories in the elaborate carvings of intertwined beasts that are hallmarks of the churches’ unique architecture. Sounds reverberate off the timber as if traveling across centuries. The air feels dense with the tang of hewn wood, peat…
Can you imagine if every sentence of this review is accompanied by the sounds of me groaning as I type? That would get annoying real quick, wouldn’t it? You’re gonna be hearing a whole lot of sighs and grunts in this 90-minute affair, as characters react and respond to text messages from start to finish….
In the city of Tarragona, the ruins of a massive structure stand by the water’s edge. Built in the second century, this amphitheater once held up to 15,000 spectators for various events including brutal gladiator fights. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonFrom a distance this structure looks like a semi-circular Roman theatre, but…
Welcome to World Builders, our ongoing series of conversations with the most productive and thoughtful behind-the-scenes craftspeople in the industry. In this entry, Brad Gullickson chats with Tara DeMarco about WandaVision’s hidden and not-so-hidden visual effects. Uh, who the heck is that? The thought rippled through the Twitterverse the moment Disney+ launched their Assembled premiere…
There’s a blue road running by Souq Waqif known as Abdullah Bin Jassim Street. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe unconventional idea to paint the road blue was approved by Ashghal, the Public Works Authority, as a pilot project designed to reduce heat radiating from the asphalt. The exact composition of the…
Hollywood proved slow to embrace the faith-based market in the wake of “The Passion of the Christ.” Still, select studios dipped a pinky toe in the spiritual waters, witness Sony’s Affirm film slate and features like “Breakthrough” and “The Case for Christ.” Even marquee actors — think Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Garner and Joseph Fiennes —…
Umi-Shibaura Station is famed for a few things, none of them quite ordinary. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonFor one, no other train station in Japan is as close to the sea as this one. Built right above the waters of the Keihin Canal, the station’s single platform provides spectacular views of…
“The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” doesn’t make any bones about it—it’s a series-version of the teen hockey movies, which came out in the ‘90s but are accessible as anything else on streaming service Disney+. The one facet that seems different here, in its light family comedy focusing on underdogs on ice, is the reason the game is…
A woman’s past comes back to bite her in Vanquish, the latest from co-writer/director George Gallo. Victoria used to lead a tough life. As a drug courier in Russia, she was involved in her fair share of scrapes, shootouts, and close calls, but she made it through. Now with a daughter to look after she…
Buried beneath the river bed of the River Tyne is a pedestrian and cyclist tunnel that was built to provide a vital link between the communities on either side of the river. Access to these tunnels is via the longest wooden escalator in the world. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe Tyne…
The word Kilroot is derived from the Irish words “Cill Ruaidh,” meaning “church of the red” or “the red church.” This name derived from the presence of a red-brown subsoil noted in the area due to the high amounts of Mercia Mudstone, but it has also been suggested that it could have derived from a…
In a northeastern neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, a small coffeehouse stands covered with pictures of bison. For centuries here, on the land of the Cowlitz, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and Clackamas peoples, there have been no bison. But Bison Coffeehouse still pays tribute to the animal that sustained Native American communities across the country….
Holy gore hell. It’s only March, and we already have at least two incredibly unique, extremely strange mind-fuck animated films that are definitely not for kids. Dash Shaw’s Cryptozoo premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in January, and The Spine of Night just premiered at the SXSW Film Festival this month. (And let’s not…
The year 2001 gave us a slew of hall of fame comedy stinkers. While everyone tends to gang up on Tom Green’s widely despised (but not entirely laugh-free) “Freddy Got Fingered,” there are more than a few worthier contenders. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonSome will recall the part-animated, part-live action “Osmosis…
In August 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new category would be premiering at the Oscars: Best Popular Film. After significant backlash from critics and filmmakers, the Academy renounced the award, but the anxiety remains of an antiquated institution and equally prehistoric awards show falling increasingly out of step with…
★★ Directed by #JeffDesom #SamanKesh #DuganONeal Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring #JoshPeck #KypMalone Film Review by George Wolf Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’How much better would 2001 have been if there were helpful onscreen text explaining the motives of the monolith? Use that…
If the first two episodes of Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick‘s docuseries Allen v. Farrow seemed slightly one-sided, with the third episode the mask finally slips and all pretension of bipartisanship is obliterated. The third installment is markedly different from the first two and focuses purely on the facts and details of the case as…