THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW Trailer

THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW Trailer

There’s a monster afoot (apaw?) in The Wolf of Snow Hollow, the latest from writer/director Jim Cummings. John already had enough going on before people started getting ripped apart. A sobriety battle, an aging father, and the joys of a teenage daughter were keeping him plenty busy, then strange murders started happening in his otherwise quiet town….

‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Was Will Smith’s Acting School

‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Was Will Smith’s Acting School

Acting is an art form, and behind every iconic character is an artist expressing themselves. Welcome to The Great Performances, a bi-weekly column exploring the art behind some of film and television’s greatest characters. This time, we turn the spotlight to Will Smith’s breakout role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Will Smith starred in The…

FILM TITLE POEM: Matching Experimental Charms With Cynical Cinephilia

FILM TITLE POEM: Matching Experimental Charms With Cynical Cinephilia

Movies love the movies. From Man with a Movie Camera to Schizopolis, many iconic films are drenched in cinephilia and self-referentiality. But no movie loves movies as much as Film Title Poem, a 67-minute experimental traversal of film history, both canonical and personal, entirely by way of title cards. Watching Jennifer West’s Film Title Poem…

ENOLA HOLMES: No Mystery To This Charmer’s Success

ENOLA HOLMES: No Mystery To This Charmer’s Success

Oh no, not a reboot of an existing universe with a female-centric spin. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, except that it’s a well-trod and fraught approach, one with naysayers coming from all sides. When it’s not the vocal few who seemingly hate women in their universes (gag me) torpedoing a perfectly fine movie…

SPONTANEOUS Trailer

SPONTANEOUS Trailer

The kids are not all right in Spontaneous, the directorial debut of Brian Duffield. They’re not okay because a bunch of high school kids are blowing up. Popping, as one character puts it as if a mysterious illness is spreading and causing the messy tragedies. In the meantime, they’re still teenagers, blithely going about their business…

Teenage Horrors Become Our Pick of the Week

Teenage Horrors Become Our Pick of the Week

Streaming might be the future, but physical media is still the present. It’s also awesome, depending on the title, the label, and the release, so each week we take a look at the new Blu-rays and DVDs making their way into the world. Welcome to this week in Home Video for September 22nd, 2020! Our pick…

Video Dispatches: ALPHABET CITY, GEMINI, EuroSleaze and More

Video Dispatches: ALPHABET CITY, GEMINI, EuroSleaze and More

Video Dispatches is a regular column covering recent home video releases. Alphabet City (1984) – Fun City Editions Alphabet City (1984) – Fun City Editions Fun City Editions (FCE) is a new boutique label working under Vinegar Syndrome that purports to be “focused on reissues of maverick repertory cinema and music that can best be…

WE BARE BEARS: THE MOVIE: A Most Adorable Social Commentary

WE BARE BEARS: THE MOVIE: A Most Adorable Social Commentary

Since its premiere on Cartoon Network in 2014, We Bare Bears showed the more playful side of modern interaction, be it meme culture, dating, creating a viral social media presence, or simply making new friends all through the eyes of three unlikely characters; Grizz, a happy-go-lucky brown bear, along with his brothers Panda, a love-sick…

SNO BABIES: A Flawed Depiction of Addiction

SNO BABIES: A Flawed Depiction of Addiction

We are drawn to new films for a variety of reasons. Many times, the pull is a particular actor or director whose work we idolize and anticipate. For others, it is the subject matter that is appealing, dramatized insight into politics, stories, and viewpoints. For others, it is simply the similarities to old films that…

Double Take: ‘Showgirls’ at 25 and the Unlikely Legacy of Nomi Malone 

Double Take: ‘Showgirls’ at 25 and the Unlikely Legacy of Nomi Malone 

Double Take is a series in which Anna Swanson and Meg Shields sit down and yell at each other about the controversial, uncomfortable, and contentious corners of cinema. And when it comes to controversial, uncomfortable, and contentious, there is only one holy grail, and it’s covered in glitter, champagne, and [redacted]. Joined by fellow trash…

NO TIME TO DIE Countdown: LIVE AND LET DIE Revisited

NO TIME TO DIE Countdown: LIVE AND LET DIE Revisited

In the No Time To Die Countdown, Jake Tropila takes a look back at every Bond film – official and unofficial – in anticipation of the release of the latest entry. With Connery officially bidding the franchise adieu for a second time, Broccoli and Saltzman had no choice but to recast 007 yet again. Many…

NYFF 2020: THE CALMING: Sweet Content is Sorrow’s Balm

NYFF 2020: THE CALMING: Sweet Content is Sorrow’s Balm

It’s hard to think of a more fitting title for Chinese filmmaker Song Fang’s sophomore feature than The Calming. A spiritual sister to Chantal Akerman’s classic portrait of female solitude, Les Rendez-vous d’Anna, The Calming follows a recently single woman filmmaker as she travels around China, Hong Kong, and Japan, showing her work and stopping…

Queerly Ever After #35: SAY YES (2018)

Queerly Ever After #35: SAY YES (2018)

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. In Say Yes, a woman, Lily (Leah McKendrick), dying of cancer decides that she wants her husband…

TIFF 2020: 180° Rule

TIFF 2020: 180° Rule

Even from the very first scene, 180° Rule is lathered with a sense of dread and unease, setting the stage for a divisive exploration of both grief and atonement on the background of customary Iranian traditions. Farnoosh Samadi’s first feature is a technically impressive debut but unfortunately falls short of being an accomplished piece of dramatic…

TIFF 2020: SHADOW IN THE CLOUD

TIFF 2020: SHADOW IN THE CLOUD

For a film that takes place mostly within the confines of a warplane cockpit, Shadow In The Cloud plays out as a ferociously entertaining thrill ride. Anchored by a strong performance from Chloë Grace Moretz, director Roseanne Liang takes an interesting concept and transforms it into something that feels grander and more nuanced than what…

DUNE Trailer

DUNE Trailer

It’s time to spice up your life with Dune, the latest from co-writer and director Denis Villeneuve. Yes, this has been tried before. David Lynch took a stab at the dense book of the same name in the ’80s to divisive results. Fitting, then, that another cerebral filmmaker with devoted followers is giving it another…

Tarantino’s Order: The Original Structure of TRUE ROMANCE

Tarantino’s Order: The Original Structure of TRUE ROMANCE

Tony Scott’s American Crime Thriller True Romance was released to strong critical acclaim in 1993. Despite an underwhelming box office performance, the film has since become recognised as one of the greatest Hollywood films of the 1990s. True Romance consists of the fusion of Tony Scott’s direction, and the screenwriting of Quentin Tarantino. This was…

TIFF 2020: VIOLATION and BEANS

TIFF 2020: VIOLATION and BEANS

The Toronto International Film Festival has always been a champion of emerging filmmakers, and the 2020 edition of the festival proves to be no exception. With Violation and Beans, coming from Canadian filmmakers Madeleine Sims-Fewer/Dusty Mancinelli and Tracey Deer, respectively, the festival has programmed two films that examine traumatic experiences in vastly different ways. Both…