After teaming up with twin sisters Ani and Alesandra Mesa on her short film Superior in 2015, Erin Vassilopoulos returns to the Sundance Film Festival with her feature directorial debut with an expansion of that same narrative world. Superior (2021) brings the trio of collaborators back together in a refreshingly nostalgic form of filmmaking, that…
When Yozaemon Chikiriya established his garment business, Chiso, in Kyoto, his primary customers were monks who required fine clerical vestments. That was 1555. More than four centuries later, the company’s intricately cut robes are coveted as luxury garments, and Chiso—having persevered through shrinking economies, shifting trends, wars, and more—has found itself among the last of…
Though it lies just a few miles off England’s southern coast, the curious, diamond-shaped Isle of Wight seems to exist in another era entirely. Once a beloved vacation destination for Victorian visitors, the island – still reachable only by boat from the mainland—remains a British family holiday favorite that capitalizes on the kitschy seaside charm…
It must be frightening to shoot another horror movie after “The Descent.” The cave-dwelling shocker stands as one of the best thrillers of the 21st century. Director Neil Marshall hasn’t fully gone back to the horror well since, dabbling in period thrills (“Centurion”), HBO glory (“Game of Thrones”) and IP reboots (“Hellboy”). Read moreA Guide…
Loneliness… we all experience it, we all dread it. And it’s especially tough now with the pandemic, everyone separated at home. This beautiful animated short film from Switzerland called The Lonely Orbit is about loneliness and everyone’s eternal struggle with it. The filmmakers visualize this powerful feeling following a satellite drifting in orbit quietly, lonely,…
It’s another year, and that means another Sundance Film Festival! While none of us are having the experience we truly crave, indulging in the atmosphere and ambiance of Park City, there’s still enjoyment to be had, and plenty of movies to devour. I think it’s worth a real round of applause to Sundance for what…
There aren’t many groundbreaking elements in Siân Heder‘s sophomore feature CODA. It’s a movie, part coming-of-age and part family drama, which leans heavily toward the archetype of the subgenre. And yet, in spite of all the familiarity, Heder finds a way to make the movie engaging from start to finish. Her direction, though never flashy,…
The Count’s House, with its classic Grecian style Doric columns, is not something visitors would expect to find sitting on the side of the River Wear in the heart of Durham City. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe Count’s House was originally constructed in the 1820s by the Dean and Chapter of…
In an area with many ancient temples and monuments sits the mostly overlooked Church of Agios Demetrios of Diakos. The church is named after Athanasios Nikolaos Massavetas, a hero during the Greek War of Independence. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonMassavetas was born in central Greece in 1788 into a family of…
Casa Isolani is a great example of a 13th-century house in Bologna. The structure is impressive, as the oak beams of the arcade reach 29 feet (9 meters) in height to support the third floor of the building. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWhat makes this stunning medieval structure even more intriguing are…
The machines come to life in Willy’s Wonderland, the latest Nicolas Cage goes berserk movie. Once a place of food, games, and fun, Willy’s Wonderland has fallen into disrepair. In need of sprucing up, the owners hire a man passing through town for a one-night cleanup job. Easy enough, the drifter thought, until the animatronic…
Since the 13th-century, water from the Lech river was drained at the retaining weir known as “Hochablass” towards the city of Augsburg to drive water mills. In the past, goods were shipped along the river to supply local industries. The weir was the place to reload goods from larger to smaller rafts, with several thousand…
On April 20, 1999, two Columbine High School seniors entered the school heavily armed and killed 12 students and one teacher in what became one of the most tragic events in United States’ history. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIn 2007, a memorial was unveiled in Clement Park behind Columbine High School….
★★ Directed by #PeterPalma Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by #PeterPalma Starring: #TommyBeswick #AimieGillan Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by Matthew Sawyer Downfalling shows us a brief glimpse of a young man’s life as he decides whether or not to take his…
The NEXT slate at Sundance is intended to celebrate digital filmmaking that pushes the boundaries of cinema to strange new places. For three films in this section, that means exploring love in the time of cellular. Mobile phones have forever changed the ways of wooing worldwide. More and more, couples are meeting through dating apps….
Guess who’s back?! Toho Pictures has unveiled the first teaser trailer for the monsterverse adventure Shin Ultraman, an update on the beloved ’60s TV character from Japan. Toho convinced filmmakers Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi to re-team again after making Shin Godzilla in 2016, updating the classic Ultraman character for modern times. The new Ultraman…
★★★★ Directed by: #DanielGreenway Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #DanielGreenway Starring: #DeeHarris, #RuthPownall, #DaisyHobbs Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Patrick Foley Inverting animal and human relationships is hardly a new metaphor to demonstrate uncomfortable truths about animal rights, factory-farming, or…
One of the happy byproducts of Sundance’s digital incarnation is time. Space to first consider, more space to reconsider. On first blush, Jessica Beshir’s abstract anthropological directorial feature debut, “Faya Dayi,” left me underwhelmed. Bewildered. In a normal festival setting, short on time, and with other movies to see, I would have bitten the bullet…
Harrison Ford’s character in “The Mosquito Coast” is a genius, a quality he goes out of his way to ensure everyone around him knows. Ford’s Allie Fox is a tireless inventor who has never received the recognition and respect he feels he deserves. He passive aggressively butts heads with anyone who disagrees with him or…
Welcome to How’d They Do That? — a bi-monthly column that unpacks moments of movie magic and celebrates the technical wizards who pulled them off. This entry explains why the “Ave Maria” sequence in Disney’s Fantasia was one of the most challenging filmmaking moments in animation history. Fantasia was Walt Disney’s greatest and weirdest experiment….
Nothing can compare to that experience of watching a film premiere for its first time, knowing that from this point on it will reshape the industry. That’s the case with CODA (which stands for Child of Deaf Adults) – one of the Opening Night films at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Despite all the hardship…