What a strange year for films. Most of the blockbuster films planned for the summer and awards season are hiding out from COVID-19. Maybe they?ll find their ways to open theaters sometime this year. Many films wound up going straight to streaming services. In some...
The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes is credited with saying, ?Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.? Those of us who drink may recognize that concept. A touch of alcohol can make us just a bit more outgoing, more...
Switzerland?s entry for Best International Feature, My Little Sister (Schweterlein), from directors St?phanie Chuat and V?ronica Reymond, is the story of a bond between siblings. It also asks the existential question of what is life if we cannot live it out? Lisa...
I recently had the chance to take part via Zoom in a roundtable interview with Paul Greengrass to discuss his film News of the World. The film tells the story of Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an itinerant newsreader, who is tasked with returning Johanna, a young girl...
Latvia?s official entry for the Best Foreign Feature Oscar is Blizzard of Souls from director Dzintars Dreiberg. The film is based on a book by Aleksandrs Grins, which was banned in the Soviet Union. The film has been the most watched film in the history Latvian...
Films have to ability to take us into unknown worlds?maybe through science fiction, or a setting in a different culture or time period. When I?m in a theater (ah, those were the days!) and the lights go down I feel a bit of excitement about where we will travel to...
Sometimes what is going on around us colors what we see when we watch a film. For example, today (I?m writing on January 6, 2021) I chose to watch the wonderful documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble. Part way through, my wife came out and told me to turn on the news,...
Some stories and the worlds they bring to us are too big for a single film. Sometimes that means trilogies or ongoing sequels without end (like Star Wars). But for Steve McQueen to bring us a vision of the world he grew up in, it required the Small Axe anthology. This...
?Don?t most hotels have the courtesy to leave you in the drawer? Jesus Christ!? Sometimes, I miss those all-night bull sessions I would have with roommates in college. We would delve into deep questions about God, morality, and the meaning of life. We would sometimes...