By Elias Savada. For those of you who wondered if another reboot could find itself an audience after Christopher Nolan did such a fine job with his trilogy, please wonder no more….” Nietzsche would have a field-day analyzing the latest reimagining of DC Comics’ masked vigilante. (Bat) Man might not […]
A Disaster Waiting to Happen: The Burning Sea
By Anees Aref. An activist film that also works as a solid piece of entertainment.” What would it be like to watch a pending natural disaster, only seeing it now, that is? That’s the feeling one gets watching The Burning Sea, a timely new Norwegian film directed by John Andreas […]
Enchanting But Overstuffed: Brian Petsos’s Big Gold Brick
By Elias Savada. Petsos likes to mix some old-fashioned, heavy-handed whimsy with oddball characters, then sprinkle in a ton of exuberance. Maybe too much.” You might recognize the name Brian Petsos, but most of you are thinking “Who?” After watching his feature directorial debut Big Gold Brick, you might be […]
A Birth Raising Social and Moral Dilemmas in Iran: Until Tomorrow (Berlinale 2022)
By Ali Moosavi. Asgari has delivered his most accomplished socially aware thriller.” Ali Asgari made his name in cinema by making short films. These films were often co-written or co-directed with Farnoosh Samadi and won many awards at various festivals. These successes did not go unnoticed by the US Academy […]
A Continual Journey: The Truth at Twenty-Four Frames Per Second by Anthony Slide
A Book Review by Tony Williams. It’s a quarter to three. There’s no one in the place except you and me.” What does one do in these pandemic times when travelling to the UK to interview surviving family members of a now forgotten British comedian becomes impossible, let alone finding […]
A Big Slice of Fondness: Lisa Hurwitz’s The Automat
By Elias Savada. The Automat shouldn’t be looked at as a eulogy [1902-1991], but as a celebration of its long and mostly successful life.” “The food was delicious…the price was right.” So says the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in Lisa Hurwitz’s affectionate look at the lost era […]
Drifting Through New York: Justin Zuckerman’s Yelling Fire in an Empty Theater
By Thomas Puhr. As a whole, Lisa’s journey feels all the more real thanks to this unpolished packaging – proof positive that you can achieve all kinds of magic with one camera and some game, engaging performers in front of it.” The “love letter to New York” subgenre is beyond […]
Everything I Expected, and Too Much More: Moonfall Crashes Big
By Elias Savada. If you want an ear-smashing IMAX presentation, you’ll get one…. If you’re a reasonable person, you should avoid being in its vicinity.” Critics haven’t taken kindly to much of the escapist entertainment from German-born producer-director-writer Roland Emmerich. So, why should his latest be any different? It’s not. […]
‘Uncanny Sonic Novum’: Liz Faber’s The Computer’s Voice: From Star Trek to Siri
A Book Review by Paula Murphy. The Computer’s Voice offers a lively, engaging study and makes an important contribution to our understanding of the ways in which film and television both reflect and shape our attitudes to technology.” Conversing with smart devices has become an everyday occurrence: ‘Alexa, what’s the […]
“Just Look at It!”: Iván Zulueta’s Arrebato (Altered Innocence)
By Thomas Puhr. Altered Innocence’s reissue will hopefully not only satiate fans, but also seduce more viewers into joining the Zulueta fold.” On paper, José (Eusebio Poncela) has a life many aspiring filmmakers would happily take. A director of B-level horror movies with titles like The Curse of the Wolfman, […]