FEATURED
Film Reviews
Film Review – The Magician’s Elephant
The Magician’s Elephant (2023) is an animated fantasy that operates by the numbers. It’s colorful, bright, and has a strong central message about never giving up. Characters believe that anything is possible if we push beyond our comfort zones. There’s nothing egregious about the film –…
READ MORE
SXSW Review – If You Were the Last
Sometimes a SXSW screening is chosen just because you love the actors involved, regardless of everything else. The choices do not always work out, and you see a not-so-great film. In the case of If You Were the Last (2023), the opposite happens, and it…
READ MORE
SXSW TV Review – The Big Door Prize
The Big Door Prize is a new television series on Apple TV+, premiering March 29th—the first three episodes screened at SXSW. The trailer reveals an intriguing premise, with the source material coming from a novel of the same name written by M.O. Walsh. The Big…
READ MORE
SXSW Review – Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Dungeons & Dragons has long been a game played by kids who grew into adults or just adults who fell in love with the gameplay and imaginative scenarios. Personally, I never played the game; my only exposure is through films and television shows. For some…
READ MORE
Film Review – Scream VI
When the first Scream (1996) was released, it revitalized and recontextualized the horror/slasher genre. It was a self-aware send up, upending the tropes established in the 1980s. The result was such a surprise that it felt like anything could happen – no one was safe, the killer…
READ MORE
Film Review – One Fine Morning
For many, life is not made up of big sweeping moments, but of small intimate struggles. Going to work, making money, taking care of our loved ones – these are the responsibilities that make up our daily existence. But the small things can eventually build…
READ MORE
Film Review – The Strays
We all want a better life, but what lengths should we go to obtain it? Is wealth and privilege worth suppressing our very souls? That is at the heart of writer/director Nathaniel Martello-White’s feature length debut, The Strays (2023). He weaves a tale that has beats of the horror…
READ MORE
Film Review – Hidden Blade
There are few films that evoke atmosphere and mood as well as Er Cheng’s Hidden Blade (2023). A spy thriller set in Japanese-occupied China during the height of WWII, the tone and visuals have such rich textures that every frame looks like an oil painting. Compositions place characters…
READ MORE