By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Some people often question why so many celebrities have so many problems and issues when they are obviously successful. What do they have to be sad about? These same people usually forget that celebrities were not always famous and that, regardless of their fame, they are… Continue reading DEMI LOVATO: DANCING WITH THE DEVIL
Category: Reviews
SXSW 2021: BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Inspired by conspiracy thrillers such as Blow Up, The Conversation, and Blow Out, writers Tim Woodall, Phil Drinkwater and director Jacob Gentry offer a more modern take on this type of story, with mostly mixed results. Though the movie has a fascinating premise, I feel that… Continue reading SXSW 2021: BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION
SXSW 2021: WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: THE HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) This year, I began my virtual festival a day early with a couple of screeners. The first of which was a screener for a lengthy and comprehensive documentary detailing horror cinema’s and television’s offerings in the subgenre of folk horror. While this film might seem like… Continue reading SXSW 2021: WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: THE HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR
SXSW 2021: WITHOUT GETTING KILLED OR CAUGHT
By Laurie Coker Rating: A Texas music has a life of its own. Whether born in the state or transplanted from elsewhere, stars like Townes van Zandt and Guy Clark left their mark on the industry beyond the Lone Star State’s borders. SXSW documentary, Without Getting Killed or Caught, takes a personal and bare look… Continue reading SXSW 2021: WITHOUT GETTING KILLED OR CAUGHT
SXSW 2021: THE FALLOUT
By Laurie Coker Rating: A As a teacher who in her final two years of a long career found herself participating in active-shooter drills and watching the aftermath of school shooting, I hesitated to choose The Fallout as one of my SXSW Festival picks. A fellow critic encouraged me to take a look and it… Continue reading SXSW 2021: THE FALLOUT
SXSW 2021: THE END OF US
By Laurie Coker Rating: C All joking aside, during this pandemic, many people found themselves “locked-down” with people with whom they already had shaky relationships. We have yet to discover the magnitude of the emotional toll this situation has taken on relationships. The End of Us, the feature film debut by directors Henry Loevner and… Continue reading SXSW 2021: THE END OF US
THE COURIER
By Renee’ C. Rating: 4.5 (Out of 5 Reels) Cold War spy Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his Russian source, Oleg Pendovsky (Merab Ninidze) try to put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis (IMDB). I am a big fan of Benedict Cumberbatch work in movies and television. Especially, the BBC version of Sherlock so… Continue reading THE COURIER
THE FATHER
By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) With an already impressive list of performances in his filmography, Anthony Hopkins delivers yet another amazing and tremendous performance in The Father. Based on the play Le Pere by Florian Zeller, the film adaptation more or less feels like a film adaptation of a theater production,… Continue reading THE FATHER
CHERRY
By Mark Saldana Rating: 2.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Anthony and Joe Russo, the filmmaking duo responsible for some wonderful entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have returned to cinema with a dark and gritty true story about post-war PTSD, drug additction, and crime. Despite their decision to part ways with the MCU, the filmmaker… Continue reading CHERRY
STILL LIFE IN LODZ
By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) The Holocaust and World War II had a massively tragic impact on the Jewish people in Europe. For the Jewish people in German-occupied Poland, especially in the city of Lodz, their lives were totally uprooted, as they were moved into camps, forced into slave labor, or… Continue reading STILL LIFE IN LODZ