HISTORY OF SWEAR WORDS: Not Your Typical History Lesson

HISTORY OF SWEAR WORDS: Not Your Typical History Lesson

Netflix for the past few years has embraced the potential within strange and unusual content, utilizing its platform and unrestrained creative prowess to mine gems of artistry, storytelling and history. Tiger King and Nailed It! come to mind in recent years, with Nailed It!’s break down of staged reality TV embracing the authenticity of including…

Late Night Howls as Big Tech Censors Trump

Late Night Howls as Big Tech Censors Trump

Colbert and co. face an uncertain future. What happens when the source of your political humor, President Donald Trump, no longer lives in the Oval Office? Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWe don’t know how far-left comics will respond to a post-Trump world, but one element is crystal clear. They’re downright giddy…

PIECES OF A WOMAN: Nurturing Life & Facing Death

PIECES OF A WOMAN: Nurturing Life & Facing Death

It has been a long time since I’ve seen a movie about marriage and relationships in crisis that really blew me away. Marriage Story was almost completely inert. Abel Ferrara’s Tommaso had some pulse to it, mostly because unlike Noah Baumbach who is overly careful not to disparage his own name, Ferrara proudly displays open…

Temple of Mithras, Carrawburgh in Northumberland, England

Temple of Mithras, Carrawburgh in Northumberland, England

Today, these small ruins are all that can be seen of the Carrawburgh Roman Fort.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonMithraism was a Roman religion inspired by the god Mithras, who was originally a Persian warrior god. As the legend goes, Mithras had captured and killed a sacred bull in a cave. Mithraic…

Granger Stage Station in Granger, Wyoming

Granger Stage Station in Granger, Wyoming

For pioneers who traveled along the path of the Pony Express, the Overland Stage Trail, or the Oregon Trail, a stop in the tiny town of Granger, Wyoming was a must. Granger Station, also known as the Old South Bend Station, was originally built in 1850. It served as a way station for travelers as they made…

Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home

Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home

On a cloudy day in October, Hinemoana Baker walked into a white room at the Ethnological Museum in southwestern Berlin, dressed in all black. A New Zealand poet and musician, Baker is a descendant of both the island nation’s indigenous Maori people and Europeans. As she entered the room, she began to utter a Karanga,…

THE RECKONING Trailer

THE RECKONING Trailer

Horror comes in clusters in The Reckoning, the latest from co-writer and director Neil Marshall. Grace was never going to have it easy. Life in 1665 was a constant scramble against death, what with limited resources and the plague going around. Then her husband died and she was accused of being a witch, both of which…

Maen Achwyfan Cross in Pen-yr-Allt, Wales

Maen Achwyfan Cross in Pen-yr-Allt, Wales

The Maen Achwyfan Cross, near Whitford village, is a freestanding stone monument, or wheel-cross, dating from the late 10th or early 11th century. While it may have been built in commemoration of a person or event, Cadw, the government arm responsible for historical monuments in Wales, states that its exact purpose is currently unknown. While…

Dinosaur Crossing Signs and Statues in Ottawa, Ontario

Dinosaur Crossing Signs and Statues in Ottawa, Ontario

These signs, one depicting a woolly mammoth and the other a Vagaceratops irvinensis, are a playful homage to the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration. Accompanying each signpost are fully fleshed-out replicas of these creatures that provide a glimpse into life during the Late Cretaceous Period and the last Ice Age. Read moreA…

John Rattray Statue in Edinburgh, Scotland

John Rattray Statue in Edinburgh, Scotland

Scotland is a country known for many historic inventions and creations, including crafting the ground rules for golf.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIn the 18th-century, officials from the port city of Leith asked the city of Edinburgh to contribute funds for a silver golf club for an upcoming tournament. The city…

From ‘Fight Club’ to ‘Gone Girl’: Jeff Cronenweth’s Five Perfect Shots

From ‘Fight Club’ to ‘Gone Girl’: Jeff Cronenweth’s Five Perfect Shots

Some folks don’t have a choice. Jeff Cronenweth sprung from cinema. His dad, Jordan Cronenweth, shot Blade Runner, Stop Making Sense, and the best bits of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. From roaming his father’s sets, the younger Cronenweth absorbed his hunger for the lens. He crawled through crews, starting as a loader and…

Iso-Pocalyptis Film Review

Iso-Pocalyptis Film Review

Star rating (out of 5): ★★★ Directed by: #JDRothRound Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #JDRothRound Starring: #JDRothRound, #JohnCraggs, #DionJones Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Jones Film Review by: Julian Gaskell Iso-Pocalyptis is a psychological horror from J D Roth-Round, available to watch on…

Horrific Inquiry: SPLINTER (2008)

Horrific Inquiry: SPLINTER (2008)

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…

Finnerty Steeves in End of Marriage Film ‘Before/During/After’ Trailer

Finnerty Steeves in End of Marriage Film ‘Before/During/After’ Trailer

“I whipped up a kick ass divorce mix playlist for ya.” Gravitas Ventures has debuted an official trailer for Before/During/After, an indie drama written by and starring Finnerty Steeves. The film earned good festival buzz taking home Dances With Films’ “Industry Choice Award”, Greenpoint Film Festival’s “Best of the Fest” award, San Diego’s “Best Ensemble…

For Sale: Papers From the Planning of the 1963 March on Washington

For Sale: Papers From the Planning of the 1963 March on Washington

The study and sweep of history tends to turn real life into myth. In hindsight we imagine it unfolding in grainy footage, or in black and white, set to a sweeping cinematic score. It’s less like it physically happened, and more like it has always just been. Throughout 2020 and into 2021, we’ve been reminded…

Chrissie Mayr: NY Comics Making a ‘List’ of Pro-Trump Stand-Ups

Chrissie Mayr: NY Comics Making a ‘List’ of Pro-Trump Stand-Ups

Chrissie Mayr knew the media fix was in long before the Jan. 6 rally that descended into chaos last week. The podcaster and stand-up comic figured the press would downplay the crowd’s size by covering its earliest stages to minimize Trump’s support. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho Marathon“Oh, look there are 40…

Neidhart Frescoes in Wien, Austria

Neidhart Frescoes in Wien, Austria

In 1979 during restoration works in an apartment near the center of Vienna, a sensational find was uncovered. After removing plaster from the walls, a set of ancient frescoes were revealed. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThese works of art were ordered by Michel Menschein, a wealthy merchant who wanted them as decorations…

THE DIG: An Old Tale Of British Excellence Never Quite Brought To Life

THE DIG: An Old Tale Of British Excellence Never Quite Brought To Life

There are certain films that proudly declare themselves British, not through accents or by waving the Union Jack but by evoking a certain feel, sweeping through with such grandiosity and delicately measured emotion that they evoke the essence of the British film tradition. I suppose many countries have these trademarks, but few put it on…

California School for the Blind in Fremont, California

California School for the Blind in Fremont, California

Tucked away in the middle of the suburbs near Mission Hills, visitors will find one of the best places to view Modern architecture in Fremont. The California School for the Blind was originally founded in 1867 in Berkley. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonHowever, the Board of Education determined the school did…

St Seiroil’s Well in Beaumaris, Wales

St Seiroil’s Well in Beaumaris, Wales

Penmon’s history dates to the 6th-century when a monastery was established here by Saint Seiriol. Seiriol created a cell at Penmon Priory and was the son of King Owain Danwyn of Rhos. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonMany Celtic churches were associated with these wells. Holy wells were springs thought to have…

The Microphotographic Wonders of Vermont’s ‘Snowflake Man’

The Microphotographic Wonders of Vermont’s ‘Snowflake Man’

Wilson Bentley called snowflakes “nature’s wonder gems,” possessing “an infinity of beauty,” and wrote that when they fell, “the mysteries of the upper air are about to reveal themselves.” The self-educated meteorologist was the first person to make a successful picture—“photomicrograph”—of a snowflake in 1885, and the first to claim that no two are alike….