James Cameron definitely has a vision for his Avatar saga. After he blew me away, visually and sonically, with his first installment, I noticed the movie’s lack of originality in its story. Still, I was intrigued enough to see what else he had to bring to his Pandoran world. The second installment, for me, is… Continue reading AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH Reinvigorates A Saga Stalled By Second Installment
Category: MAIN
THE HOUSEMAID Has A Generous Dose Of Lifetime With A Dash of Late Night Cinemax
Perhaps I am dating myself, because I don’t know, and I haven’t known for some time, if Cinemax still features soft-core material in their late-night programming. Maybe the channel does, maybe it doesn’t. But I do know that during the late 90s and early oughts, Cinemax often featured films that were not quite pornographic, but… Continue reading THE HOUSEMAID Has A Generous Dose Of Lifetime With A Dash of Late Night Cinemax
Community and Music News: Austin Tejano Music Coalition’s14th annual Brown Santa Toy Drive
The annual collaboration with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) Brown Santa program helps to serve families in need each holiday season. AUSTIN, TX — The Austin Tejano Music Coalition (ATMC) will hold its 14th annual Toy Drive and dance that benefits the Travis County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) annual Brown Santa program to help families.… Continue reading Community and Music News: Austin Tejano Music Coalition’s14th annual Brown Santa Toy Drive
ELLA MCCAY Has So Much Going For It, Minus A Solid Script
After delivering such great films as Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good As It Gets, filmmaker James L. Brooks has yet to deliver another great motion picture. His latest entry, Ella McCay, has a tremendous cast, a talented cinematographer (Robert Elswit), and an incredible score composer (Hans Zimmer), but the direction and writing… Continue reading ELLA MCCAY Has So Much Going For It, Minus A Solid Script
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair – See Both Volumes as One and More!
I so clearly remember seeing Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) in theaters and loving the films. I was excited when I learned the movie was being released on physical media (remember the DVD format?), which was what I requested on my Christmas list at a gift exchange party I… Continue reading Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair – See Both Volumes as One and More!
AFF 2025: JAY KELLY Delivers Stellar Turns By George Clooney And Adam Sandler
This year’s Austin Film Festival had programming stacked with movies that were generating buzz at other festivals. After receiving lots of positive feedback from the Venice International Film Festival and knowing it is a Noah Baumbach film, I knew I must attend the screening at AFF. Jay Kelly does not disappoint. Baumbach’s attention to story… Continue reading AFF 2025: JAY KELLY Delivers Stellar Turns By George Clooney And Adam Sandler
LEFT-HANDED GIRL: A Sean Baker-Style Story Presented Through Chinese Working Class Culture
From writer-director Shih-Ching Tsou and co-writer/producer/editor Sean Baker (Anora, The Florida Project, The Red Rocket) comes a movie that portrays the struggles of a single Chinese woman attempting to provide for her two daughters, on her own terms, while maintaining some semblance of pride and honor to please her parents. However, they have some skeletons… Continue reading LEFT-HANDED GIRL: A Sean Baker-Style Story Presented Through Chinese Working Class Culture
Song of My City: captures the emotional essence of 1970s New York
Song of My City, a 2025 short film directed by David C. Roberts, runs just under twenty minutes and captures the emotional essence of 1970s New York through a vibrant collage of archival B-roll. Instead of telling a traditional story, the film functions like a visual poem, blending images of neon signs, crowded sidewalks, smoky… Continue reading Song of My City: captures the emotional essence of 1970s New York
AFF 2025 – Hamnet: a haunting and heartfelt act of imagination
Having taught Shakespeare for thirty years, I approached Hamnet with both anticipation and caution. The life of William Shakespeare, as most scholars understand, can almost fit on a postage stamp—an extraordinary creative legacy paired with a frustratingly sparse historical record. So, when Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel premiered, I knew I wasn’t… Continue reading AFF 2025 – Hamnet: a haunting and heartfelt act of imagination
AFF 2025: WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
Writer/director Rian Johnson is back with another installment in his Benoit Blanc mystery series. After loving Knives Out and enjoying Glass Onion, I was definitely ready to see what the filmmaker had been cooking for the past 3 years since the last movie. It certainly pleases me that each chapter of this series feels unique… Continue reading AFF 2025: WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY