★★★ Stars Directed by: #EdoardoPonti Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #EdoardoPonti, #UgoChiti Starring: #SophiaLoren, #IbrahimaGueye, #AbrilZamora, #RenatoCarpentieri, #BabakKarimi Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Alicia Moore “An ageing Holocaust survivor forges a bond with a young immigrant from Senegal who recently…
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 the making of the scene in William Friedkin’s ‘Sorcerer’ where two enormous trucks cross a rotting suspension bridge. William Friedkin‘s nihilistic opus may share its name with “Sorcerer,”…
Welcome to The Noirvember Files, a new series dropping the spotlight on essential film noir selections. The titles celebrated here exemplify the style and substance of cinema’s grimiest, most-relatable underbelly. In this entry, we’re digging into Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole. In the late 1940s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee began investigating alleged political…
To lay the groundwork of any discussion of David Fincher and his films, I’m tempted to paraphrase the opening voiceover from Gone Girl and imagine what it would be like to unspool the director’s brain in an attempt to get answers. Fincher is known as something of a mastermind; his reputation is that of a…
At the start of Gore Verbinski’s “A Cure for Wellness,” the CEO of a major corporation has gone missing and a workaholic bureaucrat named Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) has been sent to find him. It’s even more dire than that. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe missing man, named Roland Pembroke, is believed…
Everybody has a story. Everybody has witnessed agony, elation, and sadness to some degree. Humans are emotional beings, capable of submitting to rage, isolation, and compassion, but hardly do fortunate people give a second thought to homeless people. Homelessness is a prevalent problem that is worsening year after year as the stress of low income,…
The word that comes to mind when playing “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” is massive. This is more than just a linear piece of storytelling. It’s an experience in world-building that’s designed to take not just hours or days but weeks of your life. To see everything hiding in every corner of this enormous game would take…
★★ Directed by: #BenKelly Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #AlanMockler, #GregSaxton, #ChrisWorthington, #SofieFowler Starring: #KatieBurgess, #RichardMassara Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film review by: Joseph Rodgers The Wedding is an occasionally charming and humorous independent movie with echoes of The Hangover, and yet…
A portrait of disaffected, disillusioned young people who can barely imagine their future beyond the next morning, Made in Hong Kong was the first independent film to be released in Hong Kong following the handover in 1997. It is all too fitting that a new 4K restoration of the film is being released by Metrograph…
“It seems to me that that so called ‘dirty word’ is probably the most useful word in the English language.” The beloved comic book legend Stan Lee never used any curse words. Or did he…? Well, now we know the definitive answer. Honestly, who doesn’t? This amusing animated short film is made from a real…
The Dallas suburb of Irving is home to a very clever sculptural fountain. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonDesigned by Kenyan sculptor Robert Glen and installed in 1984, “Mustangs of Las Colinas” depict a herd of nine bronze mustangs galloping between a river, splashing water. This breathtaking illusion is created by small…
Anna Sewell’s “Black Beauty” has seen a number of on-screen incarnations since the Silent Era. The last adaptation from 1994 was a video store staple, its amber-colored poster illuminated a gorgeous black horse rearing up, a display of both natural beauty and strength that caught your eye every time you passed it—even if you’ve already…
Netflix’s attempted monopolization of military-focused action movies continues with “Mosul,” which ticks many of the same boxes as the streaming service’s previous offerings. Like “Extraction,” “Mosul” is produced by the Russo Brothers and stars actor Adam Bessa. Like “6 Underground,” “Mosul” is set in the Middle East, in a country struggling for liberation against oppressive…
“Do exactly as I say…” HBO has unveiled an official trailer for a documentary series titled Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults, available for streaming starting in December this year. This is the latest documentary made by filmmaker Clay Tweel, who has directed a number of my favorite docs over the years including Finders Keepers,…
There is never a shortage of films tackling the joy – and frustration – of the holiday season. Each year, former classics brought back into the spotlight for traditional binging, while new films are quickly absorbed into the future fold. The rom-com is no stranger to this time of the year, the bond, love, and…
This New York City park is named for its dominant feature: massive storage silos and hoppers that were once part of a batch-mix concrete plant that operated from the late-1940s until 1987. At that time, Transit-Mix Concrete Corporation became insolvent, after the owner was indicted on racketeering charges. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong…
Palazzo San Giorgio or the Palace of Saint George, may not be among Genoa’s top tourist attractions, but its historic significance is more than worth noting. Not only is it the site where Marco Polo’s famous memoirs were written, but it also once housed one of the oldest banks in history. Read moreA Guide to…
Dulsie is said to have its origins in the word dhulfhasaidh, which means meadow. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe current bridge dates to 1755, when it was constructed by Major William Caulfield and men from Lord Robert Manner’s Regiment. Around this time, hundreds of miles of military roads were constructed across the…
The opening shot in Peter Weir’s “Witness” is of Amish men marching out of a wheat field, heading to a funeral. From the very start of Weir’s 1985 film, there’s no mockery in the way this exotic world and those within it are portrayed. The film respects their stillness. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect…
An influential meeting is imagined in One Night in Miami, the directorial debut of Regina King. The night begins as a celebration. Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke gather to congratulate Muhammad Ali on his title win over Sonny Liston. Each man was rising or at the top of their respective fields at the time,…
The Plaka area of Athens sits on the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis and is composed of narrow streets full of neoclassical buildings, Byzantine churches, and ancient ruins. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonExaminations of artifacts from the area determined it was one of the first areas in Athens to…