This story was originally published on Undark and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden…

When CBS created “Walker, Texas Ranger” in the ‘90s, it had a very simple, effective purpose—an action show for conservative America. Most episodes were showcases for star Chuck Norris to show off his martial arts skills, and it had a very black-and-white view of the world in terms of good and evil. It was a…

Character actor James Le Gros (Drugstore Cowboy) grizzles his soft-spoken persona for Nick Frangione‘s semi-autobiographical feature, Buck Run. Set in the woodlands of Pennsylvania, the story follows Shaw Templeton (Nolan Lyons) in the wake of his mother’s death. Unable to comprehend the loss, he lives with the corpse for nearly two days before he is sent to live with…

“You can endure it all, my dear Dara.” 101 Studios has debuted an official US trailer for the Serbian WWII drama Dara in Jasenovac, made by acclaimed Yugoslavian filmmaker Predrag Peter Antonijevic. This is Serbia’s official Academy Awards selection for Best International Feature this year. In the summer of 1942, the family of twelve-year-old girl…

For visitors traveling through Senegal and desire to catch a glimpse of wildlife in their natural environment, the National Park Niokolo Kobe located in the eastern section of the country is the ideal place to visit.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe park was established as a reserve in 1925 and was…

Carl Sandburg was a highly accomplished poet and journalist with three Pulitzer Prizes to his name. He was also very active during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1945, Sandburg moved from Michigan to a 265-acre estate in Flat Rock, North Carolina for the weather, solitude, and land for his wife to raise her prized goats….

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Agnieszka Holland (Europa, Europa, Mr. Jones) with her daughter Kasia Adamik, Spoor won a Silver Bear at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival and was Poland’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 Academy Awards. That it is only just now becoming available widely in the United States via on-demand…

Aaron Sorkin’s cinematic blast from the past just scored another win for Netflix. The streaming giant’s original film “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” written and directed by the “West Wing” creator, earned Best Picture honors from the Denver Film Critics Society. The film also scooped up best Original Screenplay and a Best Supporting Actor…

Mention the name of Sir Issac Newton and most people will think of the discovery of gravity under an apple tree. However, the actual story has been embellished a bit over the centuries to ferment a narrative that has roots in reality. What few people are aware of is that the aforementioned tree actually exists….

It’s hard to describe the wilderness and abandonment of this spectacular archaeological site. Norchia was a satellite settlement of the powerful Etruscan city of Tarquinia, which dominated the coast of northern Lazio during the 4th-century CE. Norchia was likely established as one of the city’s outposts inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea, which also crossed several important…

Because of Covid-19 quarantine restrictions, the eligibility period for Oscar contenders has been stretched from the standard December 31 deadline to February 28, 2021. While a considerable number of lauded films have either have had short runs in theaters before landing on streaming platforms or a VOD format already, the extended period into 2021 has led…

It’s another white women period romance in The World to Come, the latest from director Mona Fastvold. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that we’re getting more queer romances with larger budgets, big actors, and meaty themes, but with so many hewing to similar setups, they’re in danger of becoming rote. What does The Favourite, Portrait of a…

Known as one of the more impressive art displays in Lithuania, this garden contains 21 large scale sculptures made of cement, concrete, and metal. Artist Pranas Sederevičius created these statues in the yard of his home between 1951-1979. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonPranas was fascinated by horses, therefore many of his…

★★★★ Stars Directed by: #StanleyNelson Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #KoeRodriguez, #SamsonStyles, #CarlHart, #MitchCredle, #SusanBurton, #ToniaTaylor Film Review by: Alicia Moore Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’ “In the early 1980s, the crack epidemic tore through America’s inner cities like a tsunami, ravaging all…

Hollywood is getting out of the Resistance racket. Four years of attacking all things Trump will soon give way to peace, love and understanding. Celebrities suddenly heart America again, down to its red, white and blue undergarments. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThey’re assembling to welcome the Biden-Harris ticket into the White…

The name’s Bond. Bondathon. With twenty-four official James Bond films to conquer before No Time To Die hits theaters, Bond fan Anna Swanson and Bond newbie Meg Shields are diving deep on 007. Martinis shaken and beluga caviar in hand, the Double Take duo are making their way through the Bond corpus. In this entry,…

In 1967, manga artist Kazuhiko Katō — known better by his pen name, Monkey Punch — was tasked with making an “adult-oriented series” for publication in Weekly Manga Action, a seinen-genre (intended for older boys and young men) magazine published by Futabasha. What Katō created was Lupin III, (a.k.a. Lupin the Third) an adventure-comedy featuring the titular gentleman…

In Sam Pollard’s superb, infuriating documentary, “MLK/FBI,” Andrew Young quotes comedian and activist Dick Gregory: “If you’re Black and not slightly paranoid, you’re sick.” It’s a fitting line for a film about J. Edgar Hoover’s widespread surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1963 to April 4, 1968. Tapes of these wiretaps and bugs…

Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee became the 34th recipient of the American Cinematheque Award during a two-hour virtual ceremony held yesterday, January 14th, and I couldn’t agree more with their choice of recipient. Lee was a filmmaker greatly admired and championed by my late husband, Roger Ebert, and I shared his admiration of Lee. I have…

★★★★★ Written & Directed by: #MarcellusCox Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #StephenCofield, #DavidChattam, #KimberlyChristian, #CharlzWilliams, #RashadHunter Short Film Review by Taryll Baker Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’A young sketch artist visits a renowned psychiatrist as his life begins sprawling out of control after…

Welcome to How’d They Do That? — a bi-monthly column that unpacks moments of movie magic and celebrates the technical wizards who pulled them off. This entry explains how they shot the locust swarm scene in Terrence Malick‘s Days of Heaven. Terrence Malick and cinematographer Néstor Almendros wanted Days of Heaven to feel like a…