There was a popular book written in the late 1980s by Robert Fulghum named “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” It is filled with tried and true lessons about growing up: “Hold hands and stick together,” “play fair,” “look at yourself,” and other snippets of suggestions we learn about early in…
Censor is a film that works on multiple levels. It is an enveloping and chilling horror that both disturbs and shocks. It is a meticulous period piece that creates a sense of the past while also treating the politics and attitudes of that period with a sharp satirical edge. It is a brilliantly designed, shot…
In recent years, Hollywood has taken a renewed interest in Russia, specifically as a threat to the US. The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) continues this pattern, following the trend of such films as “The Sum of All Fears,” “The Bourne Supremacy,” “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Salt” and the TV series…
2021 has been an incredible year for absurdist comedies that push the boundaries of socially acceptable humor to the extremes. Josh Greenbaum’s “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” is still the funniest (and best) film of the year (so far), but there’s a new competitor in town that dares to go back to…
There’s no denying that being a teenager is a struggle. From the ever fluctuating emotions to the miscommunications between friends, its an uphill battle. And in the case of media depictions, it can be hard for current adolescents to find something to genuinely relate to. Sure, there’s once-revolutionary representation within 80’s films, along with the…
The juxtaposition of comedy, tragedy and horror is a tricky thing to pull off. Lean too hard one way and the comedy can be inappropriate or just lame and unfunny. Lean another way and the tragedy can be unintentionally comical or painful. And lean the third way and the horror can be silly. Those films…
The Invisible Man has been the cinematic subject of effects extravaganzas (most notably James Whale’s 1933 adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic novel), wartime propaganda (“Invisible Agent”), deadpan comedy (“Memoirs of an Invisible Man”), and psychosexual satire (“Hollow Man”), but rarely has he ever led a straight horror film. This is the hole that filmmaker Leigh…
