Sequels are a hard nut to crack. Hollywood’s insistence on utilizing any name brand they can get their hands on doesn’t always work. It rarely does. Just because something had a name that was worthwhile at some point, or worthwhile to a niche audience, doesn’t mean it’s going to make money, and money is what […]
Month: October 2017
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9 Reasons Why “Shame” is a Modern Masterpiece
Steve McQueen’s “Shame” is a film one can rarely encounter. The director is also a visual artist, which obviously has an immense impact on his visual and narrative style. “Shame” is his second film, following his debut film “Hunger” which doesn’t shy away from showing the brutality and violence inflicted upon an individual, in a […]
Thirst Street – VIFF 2017 Review
New York-based indie filmmaker Nathan Silver (Soft in the Head, Stinking Heaven) steps out of his comfort zone for the City of Lights in his wonderfully warped new film, Thirst Street. Initially, during the film’s pre-title preface the viewer is deftly launched into what feels like a keyed up Sirkian melodrama –– imagine, if you […]
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15 Great Movies To Watch If You Liked “Black Mirror”
Since its debut on UK’s Channel 4 back in December of 2011, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror has gained the reputation of being one of the most thrilling and psychologically mind numbing shows around. The anthology series takes place in a not too far off future in the United Kingdom and makes use of different actors […]
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The 10 Best 2000s Movies Currently On Netflix
It’s difficult to discern the “best” of anything. What’s the best song? Or the best country? Or the best historical period? Quantifying anything is bound to lead to disagreement, after all. So it is with “Best” lists in general: they are, more often than not, based on opinion. Perhaps by providing a few qualifiers, however, […]
The Other Side of Hope – VIFF 2017 Review
Ostensibly the middle film in Aki Kaurismäki’s still in the works Le Havre harbor trilogy (following 2011’s Le Havre), The Other Side of Hope is another eccentric humanist tale from the forever happy-sad Finnish auteur. Once again achieving the blissful balance between melancholy and mirth, Kaurismäki offers up flapdoodle optimism in this shaggy-dog detour involving […]