On the Slopes With Montana’s Avalanche Detectives

On the Slopes With Montana’s Avalanche Detectives

Just a few strides away from the snowmobile, Doug Chabot knew that something was off. His uphill-equipped skis sunk deep into the snow, deeper than they should have. Weak snow, he noted, as he followed the track left by his partner’s skis. The two figures ascended the slope of Lionhead Ridge, a popular backcountry skiing…

Amaranthine short film review

Amaranthine short film review

★★ Directed by: #EvanSchneider Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #MarcPowers Starring: #MarcPowers, #JenDrummond, #JordanTofalo Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Patrick Foley I blame The Walking Dead for ruining the entire post-apocalyptic genre. Where the likes of The Road and Children…

Found: The Lost Tlingit Fort That Defended Alaska From Russian Attack

Found: The Lost Tlingit Fort That Defended Alaska From Russian Attack

In 1804, indigenous Tlingit people living near the Alaskan town of Sitka went to war with the Russians. Russian fur traders, actually, and their battle would have far reaching consequences, not just for the Tlingit, but also for the future of Alaska, by setting the stage for it to become part of the United States….

Flora & Ulysses

Flora & Ulysses

Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery Award-winning novel about a girl who prides herself on being a cynic has been adapted into an unabashedly un-cynical and utterly winning film for families about that most unsung of superpowers: hope. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonTen-year-old Flora (a very appealing Matilda Lawler) narrates her own story, and it…

THE NIGHT: Dawn Can Not Come Soon Enough

THE NIGHT: Dawn Can Not Come Soon Enough

The horror genre is one filled with an exorbitant amount of hits and misses – too often more misses than a hits. Unfortunately, The Night from writer and director Kourosh Ahari is a miss, a horror film lacking any investment in its central cast of characters and giving an intriguing idea the lackluster treatment. It…

Neutra VDL Studio and Residences in Los Angeles, California

Neutra VDL Studio and Residences in Los Angeles, California

Just across from Silver Lake Reservoir is the building Richard Neutra once called his home and workplace until his death in 1970. The first iteration of this house was constructed in 1932 with the financial backing of a wealthy Dutch industrialist named Cees H. Van der Leeuw, which is where the “VDL” initials come from. …

Miracle Arch in Saint-Bernard, France

Miracle Arch in Saint-Bernard, France

In 2005, Pascal Sombardier discovered the largest natural arch in the Alps, Tour Isabelle or Tour Percée, with a span well over 90 feet (30 meters). He revealed the find to the world a year later in a book entitled Chartreuse Insolite, with a cover photo that triggered a passion for arch hunting across the region….

Roman Baths of Como in Como, Italy

Roman Baths of Como in Como, Italy

Excavations on this site first began during the 1970s. A carpark was added much later, constructed to suspend over the ruins of the 1st-century CE baths. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonVisitors can view the ruins from two streets and the site can be visited on a series of elevated walkways. These allow…

BOOGIE Trailer

BOOGIE Trailer

It’s an underdog story (and then some) in Boogie, the feature debut of writer/director Eddie Huang. Boogie dreams of playing in the NBA, but as a Chinese-American, no one looks at him and sees a basketball player. He’s got the skills, though, and just needs the opportunities to open up. That’s not going to come easy…

Tesoro Adobe in Valencia, California

Tesoro Adobe in Valencia, California

During the early 20th-century, the Santa Clarita Valley was a favorite backdrop for numerous western films. Dozens of western actors could be seen chasing bandits or hunting for treasure amid the hillsides and valleys of the area.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonHarry Carey Sr. was a prolific western actor, starring in…

Classic Remise in Berlin, Germany

Classic Remise in Berlin, Germany

This old tram depot in the Berlin district Moabit has been transformed into a vintage car paradise. Aficionados, collectors, and professionals share their passion for classic cars in the workshops and garages throughout this historic building.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonClassic Remise is not a museum, but instead a place where collectors and…

Double Take: They Got ‘Constantine’ Right The First Time

Double Take: They Got ‘Constantine’ Right The First Time

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. In this edition, they consider whether the reputation of Constantine as a mediocre comic-book adaptation is deserved. With remakes and reboots engulfing Hollywood, it’s easy to get the…

How Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive’ Invaded Our Dreams

How Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive’ Invaded Our Dreams

The opening of David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” is a delirious jitterbug sequence, in which figures dance all over the screen. The dancers are superimposed in a kaleidoscopic manner, their movement appearing enthralling as well as manic. Only a few minutes in and the audience needs to pay close attention — even at this point, there…

Science+ – Short Film Review

Science+ – Short Film Review

★★★ Directed by: #LeelaVarghese Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #SeatonKaySmith Starring: #AkksheyCaplash, #EmmaHarvie, #SeatonKaySmith, #VeronicaClavijo Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Short Film Review by Taryll Baker When Matt accidentally shrinks himself and is captured by the ants whom he has unwittingly been squashing,…

Biocrusts Are an Entire World Beneath Our Feet

Biocrusts Are an Entire World Beneath Our Feet

A few decades ago, a team of scientists reported in Nature that life on land is possibly over a billion years older than previously demonstrated. Their evidence came in the form of a chunk of ancient soil, or paleosol, that contained what they believed were once “mats” of microbial life, maybe including photosynthetic cyanobacteria (sometimes…

Interview With Thomas Clay, Writer-Director Of THE DELIVERED

Interview With Thomas Clay, Writer-Director Of THE DELIVERED

A film could have been made on the production of Thomas Clay‘s The Delivered (originally Fanny Lyne Deliver’d) alone. Plagued by hassle – starting with the death of Clay‘s friend and longtime collaborator Joseph Lang, and later including several attacks from Mother Nature – the writer-director knew this one needed to be finished. After delays that plowed…

ANOTHER EARTH: A Multidimensional Success

ANOTHER EARTH: A Multidimensional Success

There is magic in the art of indie film. A journey of exploration whose defined boxes of storytelling give way, warping and bending, allowing for emotional explorations and narrative oddities to fill the screen. Outside the blockbuster realm, it’s where some of the best geniuses take root. And writer-director Mike Cahill’s Another Earth is the…

The Last Plane at Tegel Airport Has Survived Hijackers and Cold War

The Last Plane at Tegel Airport Has Survived Hijackers and Cold War

On September 6, 1970, four flights heading from Europe to New York were hijacked in a coordinated action by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP). Two of the aircraft wound up landing in Jordan on a desert airstrip called Dawson’s Field. Another was diverted to Cairo. Intense hostage negotiations followed….

SEX, DRUGS & BICYCLES: Seeing America through the Netherlands

SEX, DRUGS & BICYCLES: Seeing America through the Netherlands

Children in the U.S. are taught from a very early age that they live in the greatest country in the world. Things may be difficult at times, but at least they have vague nouns that we have yet to clearly define, like “freedom.” One would imagine from the way that some Americans talk that we…