By Gary D. Rhodes. Few filmmakers are as capable of waking the dead, and of transporting us to them, than Robert Eggers, the Charon of American cinema.” “He is coming,” we learn of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) during Robert Eggers’ new film, just as we have heard for many years […]
In with the Old, in with the New: The Sword (1980)
By Jeremy Carr. An excellent primer for those new to the genre and a satisfyingly novel entry for its more seasoned fans.” To anyone even somewhat familiar with the martial arts films that came out of Hong Kong prior to and following 1980, critic Andrew Heskins’ observation that The Sword […]
The Bombardment (2021): a Prologue, a Post-mortem, and an Antenarrative
By David Ryan. The film strikes deeply when focusing on the losses we share when innocent people, families, and children perish through the actions of tyrants and the mistakes of gallant, smart but altogether remarkably ordinary people.” A Prologue A tragic film dealing with intimate themes about the effects of […]
With No Future, All That’s Left is the Past: Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada
By Jonathan Monovich. An enthralling existential piece by one of cinema’s greatest talents.” Oh, Canada, Paul Schrader’s latest film, continues his ongoing exploration of the transcendental style. Schrader’s monumental book, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, recognized that cinema and spirituality were interconnected via style, time, and movement. It’s an […]
How Coca-Cola Stole Christmas, 2024
By Gary D. Rhodes. Once upon a time, Coke actually had cocaine in its formula. New ingredient: lumps of coal.” Coca-Cola’s controversial new series of Christmas commercials are literally inhuman, the results of A.I. Human intelligence created artificial flavoring; artificial intelligence created these ads’ “humans” and iconic “polar bears,” as […]
Getting Better with Age: Selections from the 60th Chicago International Film Festival
By Jonathan Monovich. The festival’s centerpiece was Nightbitch (2024), which included the presentation of a visionary award to director Marielle Heller. To close the festival, Chicago native Robert Zemeckis received the founder’s legacy award for his latest film Here (2024).” When October comes around, there is a special feeling in […]
A Producer’s Journey, from Tehran to Hollywood – Barry Navidi on Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness
By Ali Moosavi. I always wanted to be a director but John Huston said to me, look you’ve got the passion and the desire to make movies; why don’t you become a creative producer? This way you don’t have to always seek for jobs as director. The producer creates the […]
Exploring Collective Fear, with a Solar-Powered Cellphone: Bruce Wemple’s The North Witch
By Andrew Montiveo. Imperfect and occasionally clunky, its slow-boil tension, isolation-driven horror, and cerebral elements make it a compelling watch….” Recently, witches have become conduits for exploring folklore and collective fear, as in The Blair Witch Project (1999), where ambiguity reigns, blurring the lines between reality and myth. These varied […]
The Slow Burn – The Rebirth of Suspense: Slowness and Atmosphere in Cinema
A Book Review by William Blick. A richly researched and detailed study that contributes original perspectives on an aspect of cinema that is often underrepresented….” Being a Gen-X kid, I was raised on Hollywood blockbusters of the 1980s. With a steady diet of films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, […]
Camp with a Heart: Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker (2022)
By Thomas M. Puhr. This is the kind of movie that begs to be experienced in a packed theater, preferably with the smell of marijuana wafting down the aisles. It may very well be this century’s answer to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Although only two years have passed since […]