Mention the name of Sir Issac Newton and most people will think of the discovery of gravity under an apple tree. However, the actual story has been embellished a bit over the centuries to ferment a narrative that has roots in reality. What few people are aware of is that the aforementioned tree actually exists….
It’s hard to describe the wilderness and abandonment of this spectacular archaeological site. Norchia was a satellite settlement of the powerful Etruscan city of Tarquinia, which dominated the coast of northern Lazio during the 4th-century CE. Norchia was likely established as one of the city’s outposts inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea, which also crossed several important…
Because of Covid-19 quarantine restrictions, the eligibility period for Oscar contenders has been stretched from the standard December 31 deadline to February 28, 2021. While a considerable number of lauded films have either have had short runs in theaters before landing on streaming platforms or a VOD format already, the extended period into 2021 has led…
It’s another white women period romance in The World to Come, the latest from director Mona Fastvold. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that we’re getting more queer romances with larger budgets, big actors, and meaty themes, but with so many hewing to similar setups, they’re in danger of becoming rote. What does The Favourite, Portrait of a…
Known as one of the more impressive art displays in Lithuania, this garden contains 21 large scale sculptures made of cement, concrete, and metal. Artist Pranas Sederevičius created these statues in the yard of his home between 1951-1979. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonPranas was fascinated by horses, therefore many of his…
★★★★ Stars Directed by: #StanleyNelson Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #KoeRodriguez, #SamsonStyles, #CarlHart, #MitchCredle, #SusanBurton, #ToniaTaylor Film Review by: Alicia Moore Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’ “In the early 1980s, the crack epidemic tore through America’s inner cities like a tsunami, ravaging all…
Hollywood is getting out of the Resistance racket. Four years of attacking all things Trump will soon give way to peace, love and understanding. Celebrities suddenly heart America again, down to its red, white and blue undergarments. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThey’re assembling to welcome the Biden-Harris ticket into the White…
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. In this entry,…
In 1967, manga artist Kazuhiko Katō — known better by his pen name, Monkey Punch — was tasked with making an “adult-oriented series” for publication in Weekly Manga Action, a seinen-genre (intended for older boys and young men) magazine published by Futabasha. What Katō created was Lupin III, (a.k.a. Lupin the Third) an adventure-comedy featuring the titular gentleman…
Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee became the 34th recipient of the American Cinematheque Award during a two-hour virtual ceremony held yesterday, January 14th, and I couldn’t agree more with their choice of recipient. Lee was a filmmaker greatly admired and championed by my late husband, Roger Ebert, and I shared his admiration of Lee. I have…
In Sam Pollard’s superb, infuriating documentary, “MLK/FBI,” Andrew Young quotes comedian and activist Dick Gregory: “If you’re Black and not slightly paranoid, you’re sick.” It’s a fitting line for a film about J. Edgar Hoover’s widespread surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1963 to April 4, 1968. Tapes of these wiretaps and bugs…
★★★★★ Written & Directed by: #MarcellusCox Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #StephenCofield, #DavidChattam, #KimberlyChristian, #CharlzWilliams, #RashadHunter Short Film Review by Taryll Baker Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’A young sketch artist visits a renowned psychiatrist as his life begins sprawling out of control after…
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 how they shot the locust swarm scene in Terrence Malick‘s Days of Heaven. Terrence Malick and cinematographer Néstor Almendros wanted Days of Heaven to feel like a…
Nearly four and a half decades since its release, Larisa Shepitko’s 1977 film The Ascent remains a crowning achievement like no other. Shepitko additionally helmed the films Wings (1966), Beginnings of an Unknown Era (1967), In the 13th Hour of the Night (1969), and You and Me (1971), but the Soviet director’s career was tragically cut short in a…
Every father is a bundle of contradictions. But in Ira Sachs, Sr.’s case, the contradictions are more extreme than most. Filmmaker Lynne Sachs tries to make sense of them—up to a point—in “A Film About a Father Who,” an unraveling of her family’s complicated history, drawn from footage that she’s been gathering between 1984 and the…
“So we did it – actually moved in together… Scary, isn’t it?” “Terrifying.” Indeed it is… Strain Pictures has debuted this “fun little horror short film” titled Burnt, both written and directed by British actor Danny Morgan. A young couple move into a new home and find a little gift leftover by the previous tenants….
“There’s no one up there… Your mind is just playing tricks on you.” Lionsgate has revealed a second trailer for the indie psychological thriller Fear of Rain by filmmaker Castille Landon. A girl with schizophrenia struggles with the terrifying hallucinations as she begins to suspect her neighbor has kidnapped a child. The only person who…
★★★ Directed and Written by: #TommyGillard Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #TomGreaves, #NiallKiely Film Review by: Alex Matraxia Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’From the opening shot, Shuttlecock is about much more than badminton: the sound and sight of sweat dripping from the tip…
In The Simpsons Movie, there is a funny and profound moment when Grandpa Simpson has a frantic and prophetic religious experience, and Homer is asked to do something about it. He flips through the pages of the Bible and says, “This book doesn’t have any answers.” For people who read the Bible as a straightforward…
In December 2018, the Black Sea was experiencing a pattern of various storms. The Rio cargo ship was navigating the waters when the crew encountered one of these massive storms. Calls for assistance were made to port in nearby Novorossiysk. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonHowever, due to the weather conditions, the rescue…
When Trisha Costello bought the Talkeetna Roadhouse 25 years ago, she was given three things: the deed, a set of keys, and a sourdough starter that the previous owner said dated back to 1902. The year-round population of Talkeetna, Alaska, hovers around 900 people, but in a normal year, Costello’s crew churns out hundreds of…