Welcome to World Builders, our new ongoing series of conversations with the most productive and thoughtful behind-the-scenes craftspeople in the industry. Before Jaws, and even after Jaws, the idea of a giant killer shark movie belonged to the territory of disposable trash cinema. The concept was fit for oglers seeking cheap thrills strapped within teeny…
Welcome to Filmographies, a biweekly column for completists. Every edition brings a working actor’s resumé into focus as we learn about what makes them so compelling. This entry spotlights the career of John David Washington. John David Washington has landed in Hollywood on his own terms. Well, “returned” could be a fitting word to describe his…
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! Pick of the Week The…
Welcome to Horrorscope, a monthly column keeping horror nerds and initiates up to date on all the genre content coming to and leaving from your favorite streaming services. This column has addressed film-burnout in the past in the context of COVID-19. And as we enter Pride Month (keeping in mind the first Pride was a riot),…
Welcome to Shot by Shot, our ongoing series of breakdowns. We’re constantly scouring movie trailers for perfect shots. In this column, we share our favorites and discuss them. The sequel we thought we’d never see is finally here. After securing their future by going into the past for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and battling…
At first glance, you might think it’s a pumpkin or a sweet potato pie. Yet bean pies, a unique specialty in some Black American Muslim communities, are made with creamy navy beans, spices, and a whole-wheat crust. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe sweet pies, sold for fundraising and at bakeries across…
During Peru’s near-300-year-period under Spanish rule, Spaniards introduced deep-fried dough balls called buñuelos to the region. As they colonized the nation, Spaniards also brought the African slave trade. It was enslaved African cooks who refitted the original buñuelos recipe to make use of Peruvian sweet potato and squash. They kneaded flour and salt with mashed…
Like many other content creators, I haven’t felt much like “sharing in my journey” over this past week. I am an American who was raised under a military-led, republican-voting, racist, white roof. I could be the poster child for the biggest internal conflict I’ve ever been witness to in my country. Read moreA Guide to…
Hulu has been stuck in the third-place position when it comes to movie streaming behind Netflix and Amazon Prime because most people still see them strictly as a home for next-day television. They have movies too, though, and more than a few of them are gems that make Hulu a destination beyond last night’s TV…
Welcome to 4:3 & Forgotten — a weekly column in which Kieran Fisher and I get to look back at TV terrors that scared adults (and the kids they let watch) across the limited airwaves of the ’70s. Horror movies set in extreme winter locales — Antarctica, Alaska, the Arctic, mountain peaks — are few and far between…
Welcome to The Prime Sublime, a weekly column dedicated to the underseen and underloved films buried beneath page after page of far more popular fare on Amazon’s Prime Video collection. We’re not just cherry-picking obscure titles, though, as these are movies that we find beautiful in their own, often unique ways. You might even say we…
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! Pick of the Week One…
This essay is part of our series Episodes, a bi-weekly column in which senior contributor Valerie Ettenhofer digs into the singular chapters of television that make the medium great. Some TV shows have just one or two standout episodes. Community has dozens. The whip-smart meta-sitcom about a group of community college students started off normal enough, but early…
Amazon Prime Video is the only streaming service with a cost that also gets you free shipping, and that my friends is a deal. They’re in the original programming game, but their biggest offering remains the ton of films available to watch anytime for Prime members. The complete list of titles hitting Amazon Prime this month…
Movie fans, moviemakers, and movie distributors are doing what they can right now to support the Black Lives Matter movement and protests. In addition to those marching in the streets and donating money, a lot of websites are recommending films to better understand the systemic racism that’s rampant in America while many streaming services are…
This is a roundtable I did last week with the fellows over at Comics Cast. Featured are indie comics publishers, artists, and writers Jim O’Riley, Michael Oden and Nick Garber. We discuss building and finishing indie comics working with artist and writers and generally the challenges behind all things Indie Comics and where that line…
Some people spend their days arguing over the merits of Netflix, but the rest of us are too busy enjoying new movies, engaging series, and fun specials. It’s just one more way to re-watch the movies we already love and find new ones to cherish, and this month sees some of both hitting the service. The…
Welcome to The Prime Sublime, a weekly column dedicated to the underseen and underloved films buried beneath page after page of far more popular fare on Amazon’s Prime Video collection. We’re not just cherry-picking obscure titles, though, as these are movies that we find beautiful in their own, often unique ways. You might even say we…
It’s not news to anyone that we’re living in a whole new world these days (and for the immediate future, at least), and it’s forced both people and businesses to adapt at a fairly quick pace. With tightly packed gatherings not currently allowed, film festivals have had to re-think the way they go about presenting…
Michael Mann is the kind of director who holds complete films in his head before he begins making them. He is a rare breed of an auteur who has everything to do with everything. In the scope of his filmography, his producing and screenwriting are no less significant than his directing. He ceaselessly communicates the…
Welcome to this week in home video! Pick of the Week Satanico Pandemonium [Mondo Macabro] What is it? A good nun makes some bad choices. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWhy see it? The nunsploitation genre is filled with pious people engaged in naughty behavior, usually of the naked and violent variety,…