TNT?s limited series I Am the Night is a large dose of noir for the small screen. It is moody and ominous, but with a certain moral light flickering amidst overwhelming darkness that envelops the story. It is the kind of story that will eat the characters alive.
Since most of the films (exceptions: Boni Bonita and This Teacher) I?m reporting on today are docs, I?d like to highlight some documentary filmmakers who have premiered work at Slamdance: Marilyn Agrelo (Mad Hot Ballroom), Seth Gordon, (King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters), Kurt Kuenne (Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His…
Slamdance is designed to focus on new and emerging filmmakers. Over the last 25 years it has produced an impressive alumni list, including (with some of their more well known films): Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, Batman Begins, Memento), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamiite), Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), Anthony and Joe Russo…
Welcome to Slamdance. While most of the world is familiar with the Sundance Film Festival, they may not have heard of Slamdance, a renegade festival also held in Park City, Utah, the same week. Slamdance?s mantra is ?By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers?. It is celebrating its 25th year in 2019, and seeks to serve new and…
At the end of the first season of Netflix’s?The Punisher, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal, The Walking Dead) is worn-down, bloody and wounded, but unbeaten by his friend-turned-nemesis Billy Russo (Ben Barnes,?Westworld). As the second (and final?) season of the bloody vigilante series unfolds, we recognize that Castle has bounced back physically, but that he wrestles…
Dolphin movies never get old. There is probably a scientific or biological reason for this, but at the core, I think it?s because humans and dolphins share an intelligence and desire for community that translates well onto both large and small screens. From Flipper?to Dolphin Tale, dolphins are often portrayed as the heroic animal that…
Directed by Oscar-winner Damien Chazelle (La La Land), First Man?tells the story of one of the most iconic moments in history as it tracks NASA?s quest to be the first to put a man on the moon. Following the journey of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling), the film explores the human side of the mission, without…
It would be an oversimplification to call this a Black Lives Matter film, although it most certainly fits that description. But it is also a far deeper examination of not only African-American identity, but of the importance of finding oneself in order to know one?s place in the world and how that fulfills what one is meant to do with their life.
An optimist sees a glass as half full; a pessimist sees it as half empty. A nihilist will dump the water from the glass and marvel at the emptiness. Bruce Thierry Cheung?s Don?t Come Back from the Moon is a study of such emptiness.
Jacques Rivette?s La Religieuse (The Nun) was the center of controversy in France. Banned for over a year by the Minister of Information in 1965, the film was a battleground of the culture wars of the day.
