• HAPPILY Trailer

    A couple gets strange and not so friendly advice in Happily, the feature debut of writer/director BenDavid Grabinski. Tom and Janet are a happy couple. Unusually happy according to their friends and a mysterious stranger who shows up at their house, and they recommend Tom and Janet come down to everyone else’s level. The stranger even…

  • The Skerne Bridge in Darlington, England

    This little bridge near the heart of Darlington has a wondrous and under-appreciated history. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe Skerne Bridge is officially the world’s oldest railway bridge in continuous operation. The bridge was constructed as part of the Darlington to Stockton railway in 1825, the world’s first public railway to…

  • ‘Monster Hunter’ Scribe Shares Cancel Culture Survival Tips

    Author Larry Correia read the cultural tea leaves before some of his peers. The mind behind the “Monster Hunter” series saw how publishers put increasing pressure on writers to toe a progressive line. Those who didn’t paid the price. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonNow, Cancel Culture is in full swing, but…

  • Strip Down, Rise Up Netflix Documentary Review

    ★★★★★ Stars Directed by: #MichèleOhayon Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #SheilaKelley, #AmyBond, #JenyneButterfly, #MeganGamble, #GenellynDriver Film Review by: Alicia Moore Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Academy Award Nominated director Michèle Ohayon’s film follows women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds who heal trauma and…

  • How ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Shattered the Horror Movie Mold

    Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs” introduces each of its main characters by showing them in their home or temporary habitat. We meet FBI cadet Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) while she’s training outside at Quantico, sprinting through the woods, a proper metaphor for her current existence and the event of her past that gives…

  • Lapsis

    The low-budget, idea-driven corner of science fiction has become a crowded place recently. “Lapsis” is the latest entry worth seeing and arguing about. Written, directed, edited, and scored by Noah Hutton, and shot (by Mike Gomes) on location in New York City and in forests upstate, this is a rare American feature that not only dares…

  • Why Won’t Disney+ Cancel Bette Midler?

    Disney took a principled stand in erasing Gina Carano from its signature show, “The Mandalorian.” Or so the mega-company suggested by severing ties with Carano for her “abhorrent” message comparing Nazi Germany to attacks on conservatives today. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonLet’s take Disney at its word. It can’t continue doing…

  • Escapism – Short Film Review

    ★★★ Directed by: #TerrellWilliams Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #ChristinaMancari, #JafethGarcia, #BobbyJRomay Short Film Review by Taryll Baker Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Lilly, living in a society that cages people like animals for not adapting to the new world order, is joined by…

  • Black (Dudu) short film review

    ★★★★ Directed by: #SimisolaoluwaAkande Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #SimisolaoluwaAkanda Starring: #MaryamAhamdu, #AnjolauluwaAkande, #OluwatoyinAkande Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film review by: Patrick Foley Whilst 2020 may have been a year when a desire for racial justice collided with institutional barriers like a…

  • How ‘Barton Fink’ Let the Coen Brothers Push Us to the Limit

    Throughout “Barton Fink,” a film producer named Lipnick (Michael Lerner, in an Oscar-nominated turn) speaks of craving “that Barton Fink feeling” in a screenplay. Namely, an honest, sublime truth that’s lacking in the normal Hollywood fare. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWhat the fourth film from writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen offers,…

  • 13 Movies to Watch After You See ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

    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 after you see the historical drama Judas and the Black Messiah. Biopics and other…

  • How a Monster-Repelling Cake Became a Lunar New Year Staple

    During Lunar New Year, a prosperous future belongs to those who eat their weight in luck. Diners slurp long noodles to ensure long lives and scarf down bone-in fish to swim to new fortunes. But the sweetest of these auspicious New Year dishes may be nian gao, a sticky cake eaten with the hope that…

  • Tapi Tapi Ice Cream in Cape Town, South Africa

    Even in South Africa, African food is not the default. And in Cape Town especially, dining can be quite Eurocentric. Centuries of colonialism erased indigenous foods and entrenched the idea that European food is somehow superior. These effects are still found today, but a microbiologist turned ice-cream maker, Tapiwa Guzha, wants that to change. With…

  • California’s Elusive Urban Lizards Can’t Hide From Citizen Scientists

    As a lizard-loving kid growing up in the San Francisco Bay area, Greg Pauly sometimes found himself running an accidental rehabilitation center for wayward reptiles out of his parents’ house. One neighbor wasn’t particularly sold on the squamates that lived around her yard, he recalls, but her cats, Crackers, Peepers, and Stinkers, kept intercepting them…

  • Interview With Kate Amundsen, Star Of DONNA: STRONGER THAN PRETTY

    Donna: Stronger than Pretty is a new film directed by Jaret Martino which depicts a fictionalized version of his mother, Donna. The film follows Donna through several decades of her life as she grapples with her expectations for her life, as well as the expectations of others and of society. After making a socially acceptable…

  • Tapi Tapi Ice Cream Is a Sweet Education on African Liberation

    “This flavor is for my grandmother,” says Tapiwa Guzha, pointing to a rooibos and fennel granita on the menu at his ice cream store in Cape Town, South Africa. “She grew fennel in her garden.” Guzha is a microbiologist turned ice-cream maker who was raised to grow and eat fruit and vegetables straight from his…

  • Horrific Inquiry: MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981)

    Welcome back to the newest, and at times goriest, column here at Film Inquiry – Horrific Inquiry. Twice a month, I will be tackling all things horror, each month bringing two films back into the spotlight to terrify and frighten once more. And occasionally looking at those that could have pushed the envelope further. Join…