A little commercial break never hurt anyone. What we see too often on broadcast stations, though, is a crush of advertising that makes TV watching a chore. We’ll put up with a few spots in between an NFL touchdown or grand slam. Sitting through a two-hour movie overstuffed with ads can be brutal. Read moreA…
As budding filmmakers, my class of film school graduates is utterly terrified to enter the real world. Not only because of the tricky environment of finding employment and a steady or not so steady- paycheck in an artistic field like film but now because we are forced to find work in an actively hostile job…
On November 2, 1920—Election Day, 100 years ago—Moses Norman of Ocoee, Florida, joined more than 25 million Americans in going to the polls to cast his vote. Unlike most of those other voters, however, Norman was Black, and exercising his rights meant putting his safety at serious risk. Just days earlier, the Ku Klux Klan…
“So we’re headed to New Earth, at the speed of light, with an alien?!” “Yeah, we got it…” Saban Films has released an official trailer for a sci-fi action thriller now known as Breach, formerly known as Anti-Life. On the cusp of fatherhood, a junior mechanic aboard an interstellar ark heading to New Earth must…
Hoi An is an old port city in central Vietnam that flourished from the 16th to 19th-century, attracting traders from Japan, China, and Europe. Its historic district, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the Hoi An Ancient Town, was divided between the Chinese and Japanese quarters, connected by a beautiful arched bridge. Read…
When a ceramic relief depicting the Madonna with Child was returned to the church of Scansano in Tuscany, Italy, after five decades of absence, the town threw a solemn celebration. The local bishop, priest, prefect, mayor, and law enforcement officials all attended. On a September morning in 2020, a crowd gathered. The torso-sized relief was…
Although the Virgin birth may be the founding narrative of the Christmas holiday, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is the urtext for how we tell Christmas stories. Ebenezer Scrooge has reached archetypal status as the misanthrope who, through various difficulties in life, becomes tight-fisted, forgets the virtues of caring for others, the pleasure of communing…
The Monument to the Fallen of Dogali (Monumento ai Caduti di Dogali) is a memorial, located in Rome, dedicated to the fallen Italian soldiers of the Battle of Dogali. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThis battle was fought in 1887 between Italians and Ethiopia in modern-day Eritrea, during the Italian colonial expansion in…
Brochs are tall, round, stone houses that date back to Scotland’s Bronze Age. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThey were constructed from two layers of drystone walls which actually supported each other, making it possible to build these tall structures. The tallest known broch is around 42-feet (13-meters) in height. Carn Laith…
Also known as the “Pepperpot,” St Catherine’s Oratory stands at one of the highest points of the Isle of Wight. The 35-foot octagonal tower is Britain’s second oldest lighthouse after Dover’s Roman beacon, and as such, the Pepperpot has overseen much of the island’s history. Its creation, however, tells perhaps its most enlightening tale. Read…
Writer/director Michael McCartney’s new comedy/horror thriller, Roommate Wanted, is an edgy cocktail of shocks, suspense, and satire with a fresh and diverse cast. Angelique Sabrina White shines as Maria, a pre-law student who shares a rented house with some carefree college roommates. Unhappy with her academic direction, and struggling with her romantic feelings for another…
Founded in 1884 by an erudite group of Victorians, The College of Psychic Studies has long championed education and research in consciousness studies, psychic mediumship, and the intuitive arts. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe college is located in a beautifully preserved 19th-century home and is a haven for all things esoteric….
The Russian torture porn throwback “Sleepless Beauty” is a nasty endurance test, the sort of calling card genre exercise whose relentless extremity—both in terms of its explicit and psychological violence—often seems to be a goal unto itself. In this badly post-dubbed locked room thriller, unsuspecting teacher Mila (Polina Davydova) is kidnapped and broken down in…
Pianist, composer and arranger Dave Zoller died at 9:40 a.m. Central time in his home in Dallas, Texas, in a hospital bed in his living room, four feet away from his baby grand piano. His death was attended by his partner of eight years, Liz Sutherland, and his older son, Matt Zoller Seitz. Liz and Matt…
“As individuals, we have an impossible battle. As a collective, we stand a chance.” Amazon has released a final “extended preview” trailer for Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, his thrilling new anthology of five films streaming on Prime Video later this month. A few of them just premiered at the New York & London Film Festivals…
The recently concluded 45th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival was the first to have been stricken by the circumstances that the entire world has been suffering from. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the folks at the Toronto International Film Festival were able to put on an incredible show with an astounding amount of variety…
★★★★ Directed by: Brian Largo Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Brian Largo Starring: Brian Largo Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’,,Film Review by: ,,Jason Knight It’s a zombie apocalypse! In the movie world that usually means viewers are going to see zombies running…
★★★ Directed by: Martin Wood Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Gregg Rossen, Brian Sawyer Starring: Kat Graham, Alexander Ludwig, Virginia Madsen Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Netflix Film Review by: ,,Chris Olson Operation Christmas Drop Film Review Kat Graham and Alexander Ludwig star…
In the early 2000s, Juan Cortez was living in New York City and battling a years-long addiction to drugs, when he noticed a crowd of people standing outside a building on East 140th Street in the Bronx. Recognizing the group as fellow users, he approached and asked what was inside the building. Cortez, who was…
Sometimes appearances aren’t deceiving. Take Tom Hanks, an actor many consider the successor to all-American superstar Jimmy Stewart. Hanks routinely plays Everyman heroes, characters who accomplish the incredible without incredible gifts or tricks. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThink “Saving Private Ryan,” “Sully,” “Cast Away” and “Captain Phillips.” Hanks isn’t a superhero…
In the early days of the automobile, before automated streetlights were common, traffic at intersections was directed by an attendant in a control tower. This attendant would manually switch the familiar red, yellow, and green lights in a regulated pattern. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIn 1925, one such tower was installed…