“It sounds so crazy now.” HBO has revealed an official trailer for a mysterious, compelling new true crime doc series titled Pray, Obey, Kill. Yeah this one joins the ranks of many other religious cult / crazy sect stories before it. On a cold night in January 2004, gunshots rang out across the remote Swedish…
It is a mango tree like no other. Standing tall in a nursery near Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, its massive canopy is large enough to seat 15 people for a picnic and its branches hang heavy with fruit. Unlike the young trees it towers over, though, the texture of the leaves on each…
Because of abundance of mineral veins in the earth, these mountains in Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province are painted with a rainbow of colors. Bands of red, white, yellow, grey, orange, and other pastel hues tint the rocky landscape. Located outside the city of Tabriz in the northwestern part of Iran, the Aladaglar Mountains are an otherworldly site. Like…
The Oak Room, directed by Cody Calahan and written by Peter Genoway as an adaptation of his play of the same name, examines storytelling and masculinity through a series of stories told within different bar settings. Atmosphere The Oak Room builds its story through setting and atmosphere. The snow-covered roads and dark neon lighting filling…
Between the 7th and 9th-centuries, the city of Gyeongju was the main cultural and political center of Korea, as the capital of the powerful Silla Kingdom that conquered most of the Korean peninsula. During this period, known as Unified Silla, many grandiose palaces were constructed in the prosperous city. The Poseokjeong Pavilion was one of…
Like the main character in one of this year’s nominees, I feel like I’m experiencing a “Groundhog Day”-like loop when I cover the Oscar Shorts nominees every year. We have a Kid-In-Peril storyline for the Live Action category, confounding animated shorts that will surely lose out to the cute Pixar/Disney offering, and documentaries of great…
Feeling dapper? Well, as visitors pass through the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas, Texas they are sure to notice this enormous sculpture of a bowler hat. Designed by Keith Turman, the enormous hat resides on an empty block between Ervay and Browder streets. The sculpture was commissioned by the British furniture brand, Timothy Oulton, as a real-life version…
The majority of tourists who visit the Kazbegi region in Northern Georgia travel to see the Gergeti Trinity Church, a famous church amid the backdrop of the spectacular Caucasus Mountains. Those who travel the short distance further up the Georgian Military Road are rewarded with this truly magnificent waterfall. Translated into English, Gveleti means “places of…
After a year spent eating many of the same meals, made in the same kitchen, in the same house, I think many of us are yearning to get out, travel, and taste a larger slice of the world. Around the globe, people have sacrificed to keep each other safe during the pandemic: We gave up…
I told Carlos Alazraqui – the iconic voice actor behind characters like Rocko, Spyro the Dragon, Mr. Crocker, and the Taco Bell chihuahua – that writing out this interview as a transcript was like putting a symphony recording inside a glass case; it didn’t do the form justice. And I was absolutely right. Our conversation about…
Located in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District is the world-famous honky-tonk, Billy Bob’s Texas. This huge country/western nightclub opened in 1981 and was named after its founder Billy Bob Barnett, a former professional football player. The building dates back to 1910 when it was once an open-air cattle barn, part of the Fort…
“Those were revolutionary times.” Screen Media has released an official trailer for acclaimed documentary Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, directed by the doc filmmaker Marilyn Agrelo (Mad Hot Ballroom). This premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival this year, and will be arriving in theaters + on VOD soon. The film chronicles…
An easel on the sidewalk suggests a pop-up-style shark museum exhibition hiding on the third floor of one of many historical buildings in the heart of downtown Westerly. A coastal town in Rhode Island, Westerly is known for its sandy shoreline access, world-renowned surf haunts, and sleepy upscale living communities. Rhode Island tracks its shark…
One of New Zealand’s most spectacular fossil sites originated 23.2 million years ago. It was formed in a valley dotted with small volcanoes, when rising magma deep below the Earth’s surface came into contact with groundwater. Lava and water don’t mix—they explode. The resulting detonation obliterated the surrounding forest and left a circular, low-rimmed volcanic…
★★★ Directed by: Jane Stephens Rosenthal Written by: Jane Stephens Rosenthal Starring: Evee White, Austin Crist, Marcus Doyle Film Review by: Vikas Yadav Jane Stephens Rosenthal’s 15-minute (approx.) short, The Hideaway, is charged with the awkwardness of a teenager. It evokes memories of a time in your life when you were walking on the bridge…
Welcome to a list of The Best Final Shots in Movie History, presented by the team behind One Perfect Shot. It could go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: this list includes spoilers for at least 75 movies. Please be sure that you’re ready for that before scrolling any further. Anyone in storytelling will…
Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers. Also, don’t forget to buy your Queerly Ever After merch right here. After his grandfather, Sam (George Coe), suffers a stroke, New York City artist Henry Hart (Arye Gross) returns…
This small Catholic church is located amid farmland near the communities of Reyes Etla and Villa de Etla in Oaxaca. It houses an effigy of Christ that is highly venerated by the locals, specially on its feast day during Lent. Known as both “El Señor de las Peñas” (the Lord of Rocks) or “Señor de…
In 1979, When Rodrigo Carvalho was nine years old, his mother took him to Rio De Janeiro’s largest outdoor market, Feira Nordestina, where more than 600 vendors from Brazil’s Northeast region came to sell their wares. These include food, folk medicine, handicrafts—and cages upon cages of wild animals. “I very much remember the snakes, because…
Hollywood isn’t keen on creating content targeting the “other” half of the country. Consumers can easily find fare aimed directly at Progressive USA. In recent weeks alone we’ve learned about three such efforts: Hulu announced a “1619 Project” series based on the deeply flawed, far-left New York Times endeavor Showtime hired anti-Trump zealot Billy Ray…
In 1933, a giant ape was discovered on a mysterious island, brought to New York, and wreaked havoc on the city before falling from the top of the Empire State Building — distracted by his love for a beautiful blonde. In 1954, an ancient monster was awakened by nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean and…
A beloved beast in bronze sits beneath the central arch of a historic edifice, one of two visible clues that point to the past life of this Beaux-Arts building. The other symbol is a concrete slab directly above the elk’s head engraved with the letters “B.P.O.E.” Land for the headquarters of the Alexandria Elks Club…
The Basilica di Sant’Andrea stands in Mantua’s historical center, overlooking the Piazza Mantegna. In the crypt are kept two reliquaries with earth soaked in the blood of Christ. Christian tradition holds that while Jesus was being crucified, a Roman soldier named Longinus pierced his side with a lance. After Jesus died, Longinus repented for his sin and…
The inaugural No Malice Film Contest for Illinois youth and young adults has extended its deadline to Monday, May 31st. The content is presented by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation and the Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation. Young filmmakers between the ages of 11 and 21 are invited to create short…
In a small, sparse workshop in Chennai, Tharun Sekar spends hours building and perfecting the yazh. A distant cousin of the harp, the 2,000-year-old instrument was once a mainstay in royal courts, and produced “the sweetest sound.” Then, it disappeared, preserved only in historical texts—until now. The yazh is one of a handful of lost…
On the evening of July 6, 1957, John Lennon was introduced to Paul McCartney by a mutual friend after Lennon’s band played a small show at St Peter’s church in Woolton, a village on the outskirts of Liverpool. The meeting took place in the hall across the street from the church. (Today, a plaque on the front of the hall…
“You’re not big on trust, are you?” Marvel + Disney have revealed a full-length official trailer for their next new series titled Loki, debuting on Disney+ streaming starting this June. They know how to keep the flow going! After Wanda Vision and Falcon & The Winter Soldier this year already, they’re moving right into Loki…
Grief spins into something more sinister in The Night House, the latest from director David Bruckner. Beth was not expecting her husband to die, and the reason he went out on a boat with a gun is as mysterious to her as any of it. Perhaps ill-advisedly, she tries to process all this alone in their…
The Box SF-Historic Pressroom and Mercantile is a recreation of a historic 1850’s mercantile specializing in all things printed in San Francisco, California. With over 15 million individual pieces for sale, The Box SF is perhaps the most extensive ephemera, antiquarian paper, and vintage advertising store in the United States. Located in the heart of…
Off the coast of Uruguay, five miles (eight kilometers) south of the sea resort of Punta del Estelies is the small Isla de Lobos. The island is located along the outer limit of the Rio de la Plata estuary and belongs to a natural reserve with Gorriti Island. The island was known to the first…
★★★ Stars Directed by: #ÉricPinéda Written by: #ÉricPinéda Starring: #JustineAllame, #AlexMesnil & #XavierGojo Film Review by: David Richards Éric Pinéda’s ‘Anna’ strikes intrigue in the mystery of how the plot unfolds. Like most non-linear narratives, this short focusses not on what the climax will become, but how we journey to the climax. This is clearly…
Amazon’s “Them” wants its own shelf in the modern horror echelon, especially when it comes to recently made stories about being Black in America. In its response to a nation currently examining the on-camera murder of a Black man by a white police officer, the series created by Little Marvin speaks in serious extremes—it’s ten episodes…
★★★ Directed by: #SidDuit Written by: #SidDuit Starring: #DirkGuntherMohr #ErinJoHarris Film Review by: Patrick Foley Writing seems to be a profession that has a knack for driving one crazy. From Hemmingway to Hunter S. Thompson, through to fictional cases like Jack Torrance, there seems to be something about putting words down on paper that overtakes…
In the sixth episode of Pretend It’s a City, Martin Scorsese‘s new Netflix docuseries starring himself and Fran Lebowitz, the filmmaker and the author are asked a simple question: How did you meet? While neither is quite sure, the legend goes that the two always found themselves in conversation at the kind of parties that icons of…
Welcome to Movie DNA, a column that recognizes the direct and indirect cinematic roots of both new and classic movies. Learn some film history, become a more well-rounded viewer, and enjoy like-minded works of the past. This entry recommends movies to watch next if you like Godzilla vs Kong. If all you know of kaiju movies…
“We have to go back to where it all started.” Disney reveals one more trailer for Marvel’s Black Widow, which was delayed from its opening last May for more than a year due to the pandemic. It’s now set to open in July and will be available on Disney+ in addition to theaters at the…