Throughout the Planet of the Apes film franchise, makeup, and technology have impressed audiences. With Pierre Boulle’s novel serving as a reference point for a world ruled by apes and humanity being subjugated to a lower form, the rebooted film series that began in 2011 continues with Wes Ball’s (The Maze Runner trilogy) brilliant Kingdom [...]
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers throws more trysts and turns at a viewer than a decent thriller, as it serves up a love triangle set between a trio of tennis players, Patrick (Josh O’Connor), Art (Mike Faist) and, Tashi (Zendaya) against a wild card tennis match event in New Rochelle, NY. The story, by Justin Kuritzkes, is [...]
Talking about R. J, Daniel Hanna’s Hard Miles isn’t difficult. Based on a true story and written by Hanna and Christian Sander, the writing duo set out to tell the story of Greg Townsend (Matthew Modine). Townsend, a part of a private juvenile facility for troubled teenagers, rallied various kids through a grueling and ultimately [...]
In the opening frames of Civil War, writer-director Alex Garland brilliantly offers the audience an interesting proposition, which dually asks, are we, the audience, paying attention to our surroundings, immediately followed with a cut from black to a dictatorial president (Nick Offerman) preparing to give an update to the people of the United States. Or, [...]
Música, no matter how the word is translated between languages is a universally understood concept of music. “Musica” is the title of Rudy Mancuso’s excellent directorial debut, streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Understanding what música is helps us to understand Rudy’s journey throughout the story. The film suggests that it is a heartbeat, the lifeblood [...]
Music, more than anything, has the power to evoke powerful emotional memories in a way that no other medium can. Boston’s song “More Than a Feeling” does an exquisite job musically describing this phenomenon. Another lesser known and melancholier example is Dave Potts’ “Old Chevelle.” The Greatest Hits (Ned Benson, 2024) is trying to capture [...]
It's been just over two years since the surprisingly endearing "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" hit theaters. Jason Reitman & Gil Kenan have once again teamed up to write the script, but this time Gil Kenan has taken over directing. Many were caught off guard that Reitman had not returned to direct, given how close this franchise is [...]
Content today thrives on existing intellectual properties, where creativity feels boxed in. Rare exceptions, such as the recently released “Dune Part Two” manage to break through with audiences. The glut of content on streaming means that the audience is watching and immediately asking, “what’s next?” Cameron and Colin Cairnes’ “Late Night with the Devil” provides [...]
Right from the “get,” any reimagining of a classic, cult film is going to be scrutinized up, down, left, and right. Doug Liman’s “Road House,” a re-imagination of Rowdy Harrington’s 1989 classic film should be no exception. Yet, in this day and age, with streamers full of content and rights to retool anything in their [...]
Julio Torres’ “Problemista,” premiered a year ago at South by Southwest and has been slowly expanding to different markets over the past few weeks. It hits theaters in Phoenix this weekend. This strategy, much like the movie itself, presents an interesting duality, and it's not the first time the releasing studio, A24 has employed such [...]
