A found-footage monster movie seems like an oxymoron. Found footage horror is first-person storytelling created with almost no budget and is meant to be unpolished. Monster movies, on the other hand, are large-scale productions with millions of dollars behind them to construct elaborate and terrifying creatures. These subgenres seemed virtually incompatible. But then came two…
Boston Castle, in Rotherham England, was built as a hunting lodge for the third Earl of Effingham who was, in 1775, a serving British officer. He was keen to have his military capabilities recognized and had at one time served as a mercenary for Russian queen, Catherine the Great, against the Turks in an attempt…
Sebastian Maniscalco steers clear of politics on stage. He’d rather talk about marriage, rude gym patrons and the perils of parenthood, as he did in the Netflix special “Stay Hungry.” Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho Marathon The comic turned actor (“The Irishman,” “Green Book“) carries that philosophy over to his podcast. “The…
On the terraced, steep-sided hills the locals call the Amphitheater of the Giants, Alessandro Crovara takes the monorail to work. Unlike the sleek, single-track trains cruising through cities the world over, the monorails in this corner of northwestern Italy are old tractors that pull flatbed wagons slowly along a narrow metal rail, carrying farmers and…
Casa del Venado Azul is a factory, school, musical instrument shop, lodging place, and center for spiritual journeys. This multipurpose center offers pre-Columbian musical instruments, classes in Chichimeca culture for children, workshops in the construction of pre-Columbian musical instruments. There is also onsite a traditional steam bath or sweat lodge, temazcal available with prior reservations. Read moreA…
Moving on is hard in Senior Moment, the latest from director Giorgio Serafini. There are lots of things you have to give up in life, but the pain is particularly acute when it’s linked to your independence. Independence (and a wild streak) is something Victor has always prided himself on, hence his love of fast cars….
Independence Square in Minsk and the surrounding buildings were designed in the classic, constructivist style of architecture by renowned Soviet architect, Iosif Langbard. The square is immense and is designated for various public events. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIn stark contrast to the monumental scale and austere grandeur of the square…
During the government of General Franco, pavilions and facilities began to be built in 1950 in order to hold a monographic contest on the Spanish countryside. Those pavilions of the different Spanish provinces, which were built with great care and they were the pride of that regime, today they are reconverted in restaurants or simply,…
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 March 16th, 2021! This week’s…
For seven years, Pennsylvanians have been on high alert for an invasive species: the spotted lanternfly, which hitched a ride on a shipment of stone from its native China before landing in agrarian Berks County, an hour outside Philadelphia. Since then, the leafhopper, which has no natural predators in the region, has spread throughout the…
This story was originally published in Yale Environment 360, and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. “I spent 15 years removing cats from fenced reserves and national parks,” Katherine Moseby was saying. “And then, all of a sudden, I was putting them back in. It felt very strange to be doing that.”…
The thing that drifts away in Xavier Beauvois‘ ninth feature, Albatros, isn’t just its official English title, but also the film itself, especially in its final act. Set in a quiet, coastal town in Normandy, the film starts off as a low-key police procedural drama, with a sharp observation of everyday life and issues in…
Around International Film Festival is an independent cinematic awards event that is quickly catching attention for its one-of-a-kind structure and its immense support of independent cinema. Its four festivals in Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin, reunited under the same name, present competition categories among which Best Feature Film or Documentary, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best…
“If we’re still reporting this many cases, how are we ever gunna get off the ship?” HBO has revealed the official trailer for the documentary short The Last Cruise, which will be available to watch on HBO later this month. The Last Cruise is a 40 minute doc that’s premiering at the SXSW Film Festival…
Now in its third decade, the tumultuous breakdown between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow has been highly publicised and covered from just about every angle. The advent of #MeToo and Dylan Farrow‘s open letter in the New York Times has reignited what was a dormant issue. Yet now this sleeping giant of animosity has awoken…
This story is excerpted and adapted from Will Burrard-Lucas’s The Black Leopard: My Quest to Photograph One of Africa’s Most Elusive Big Cats, published in March 2021 by Chronicle Books. I set off at 5.30 a.m., aiming to get through the center of Nairobi before the terrible rush hour traffic could build up. Ahead of…
Just north of the town of Canoa, Ecuador is a development project called Monkey Beach. Local archeologists have recently taken notice of a series of semi-circular stone walls that jut out into the sea from the beaches, located just to the north and south of this development. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho…
For a second consecutive year, our longtime local film festival South by Southwest (SXSW) has gone virtual due to the ongoing global pandemic. For movie, music, and technology conference enthusiasts around the world who have never been able to attend in the past, this actually works out nicely. For SXSW Film, this means opening up…
Happily, written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski, is a dark comedy that follows Tom (Joel McHale) and Janet (Kerry Bishé) a couple who have been happily married for 14 years. The picture-perfect nature of their relationship sometimes getting on the nerves of their friends. As Tom and Janet are visited by a stranger (Stephen Root)…
During the Battle of Atlanta fought during the American Civil War, Atlanta was famously burned to the ground by Union forces. Residents of the city were forced to rebuild from the ground up. One of the relics left remaining from that conflict are the ruins of the old Marietta Paper Mill along the shores of…
Christopher Nolan is hailed as one of modern cinema’s most successful puzzle-makers. In the perplexing Inception (2010), he broke cinematic grounds by considering the murky relationship between dreams and reality. Similarly, in his recent blockbuster, Tenet (2020), Nolan rejects ideas of linear time entirely in a manner that most viewers aren’t able to fully grasp…