In Zeina Durra‘s Luxor, nothing much happens. It is a poem of a movie, drifting patiently from moment to moment, allowing each scene to slowly unfold. It rewards both patience and focus in equal measure, although it doesn’t demand either. Instead, you feel almost like floating through the ether as you’re watching Andrea Riseborough‘s Hana…

Constructed in 1614 by funds donated by local benefactor Robert Smythe, this building was designed to house a school for impoverished children from the town. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonChildren that attended the all-boys school were provided with bibles and were taught Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Many of the students went…

The Tōshōgū Shrine complex of Nikkō, Japan, is famed for its architectural and sculptural beauty, most notably the Three Wise Monkeys and the “Sleeping Cat”. These are two of the so-called Three Sculptures of Nikkō. The final sculpture is the least known of them, commonly referred to as “Sōzō-no-Zō”, the “Imaginary Elephants.” Read moreA Guide to…

“When you love someone, you’ve gotta trust them. There’s no other way. You’ve got to give them the key to everything that’s yours. Otherwise, what’s the point? And for a while, I believed that’s the kind of love I had.” The opening lines from Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” immediately set it apart from other films about…

On the heels of garnering a nomination for Best Sports Documentary at the 5th Annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, Mary Mazzio’s acclaimed film “A Most Beautiful Thing” has now been honored with a limited-edition shoe from FILA. The signature FILA x “A Most Beautiful Thing” shoe was unveiled earlier this month on Instagram, with designs that honor…

Hiding in plain sight near Kathmandu’s government center is a giant mandala that has become a central location for political protest. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonEvery day, thousands of commuters drive past an outsized tribute to Nepal’s rich Buddhist heritage. Lying in a traffic circle near Singha Durbar, the Nepali government…

Two strangers must pair up to survive a strange world in Chaos Walking, the latest from director Doug Liman. That’s right, it’s here. Or at least the trailer is, which at this point is a miracle in and of itself after extended delays. Much like this year’s long if not optimistically awaited New Mutants, Chaos Walking has been…

Believed to be one of the seven sons of King Seithenyn, Saint Tudno and his brothers all studied at St. Dunawd’s college. According to legend, this was done to repent for their father’s drunken incompetence. It’s said, Seithenyn failed to protect the legendary kingdom Cantref y Gwaelod in Cardigan Bay due to his drunkenness, and…

In 2018, when an international team of anthropologists unearthed 9,000-year-old human remains in the Peruvian altiplano, on the western shore of Lake Titicaca, they assumed two things. Because the person was buried with a trove of hunting tools, the researchers figured the individual, dubbed WMP6, had been a powerful, male hunter, able to take down…

Some sexual harassment cases are more problematic to Hollywood than others. We learned that early in the 2020 presidential campaign. Joe Biden, a potential front runner and the future nominee, entered the race under a cloud of abuse suspicion. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWe’ve all seen the images of Biden sniffing…

★★★ Stars Directed by: #EdoardoPonti Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #EdoardoPonti, #UgoChiti Starring: #SophiaLoren, #IbrahimaGueye, #AbrilZamora, #RenatoCarpentieri, #BabakKarimi Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Alicia Moore “An ageing Holocaust survivor forges a bond with a young immigrant from Senegal who recently…

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 the making of the scene in William Friedkin’s ‘Sorcerer’ where two enormous trucks cross a rotting suspension bridge. William Friedkin‘s nihilistic opus may share its name with “Sorcerer,”…

Welcome to The Noirvember Files, a new series dropping the spotlight on essential film noir selections. The titles celebrated here exemplify the style and substance of cinema’s grimiest, most-relatable underbelly. In this entry, we’re digging into Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole. In the late 1940s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee began investigating alleged political…

To lay the groundwork of any discussion of David Fincher and his films, I’m tempted to paraphrase the opening voiceover from Gone Girl and imagine what it would be like to unspool the director’s brain in an attempt to get answers. Fincher is known as something of a mastermind; his reputation is that of a…

At the start of Gore Verbinski’s “A Cure for Wellness,” the CEO of a major corporation has gone missing and a workaholic bureaucrat named Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) has been sent to find him. It’s even more dire than that. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe missing man, named Roland Pembroke, is believed…

Everybody has a story. Everybody has witnessed agony, elation, and sadness to some degree. Humans are emotional beings, capable of submitting to rage, isolation, and compassion, but hardly do fortunate people give a second thought to homeless people. Homelessness is a prevalent problem that is worsening year after year as the stress of low income,…

The word that comes to mind when playing “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” is massive. This is more than just a linear piece of storytelling. It’s an experience in world-building that’s designed to take not just hours or days but weeks of your life. To see everything hiding in every corner of this enormous game would take…

★★ Directed by: #BenKelly Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #AlanMockler, #GregSaxton, #ChrisWorthington, #SofieFowler Starring: #KatieBurgess, #RichardMassara Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film review by: Joseph Rodgers The Wedding is an occasionally charming and humorous independent movie with echoes of The Hangover, and yet…

A portrait of disaffected, disillusioned young people who can barely imagine their future beyond the next morning, Made in Hong Kong was the first independent film to be released in Hong Kong following the handover in 1997. It is all too fitting that a new 4K restoration of the film is being released by Metrograph…

“It seems to me that that so called ‘dirty word’ is probably the most useful word in the English language.” The beloved comic book legend Stan Lee never used any curse words. Or did he…? Well, now we know the definitive answer. Honestly, who doesn’t? This amusing animated short film is made from a real…

The Dallas suburb of Irving is home to a very clever sculptural fountain. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonDesigned by Kenyan sculptor Robert Glen and installed in 1984, “Mustangs of Las Colinas” depict a herd of nine bronze mustangs galloping between a river, splashing water. This breathtaking illusion is created by small…