Greetings again from the darkness. Very few actors are more proficient than Oscar winner Casy Affleck at taking on the role of a tortured soul and making us care. If you are one (like me) who wiled away many hours scouring LP bins at music stores, then you likely...
Blu-ray Review: ‘Clerk’
Greetings again from the darkness. Despite his 30-year career and devotion to independent cinema, none of writer-director Kevin Smith’s films have ever really clicked with me. Because of this, I was hesitant to review Malcolm Ingram’s documentary on the filmmaker...
Documentary Review: ‘Carlos’
Greetings again from the darkness. Although I was too young to attend Woodstock in 1969, I vividly recall the first time I saw the 1970 concert film, as I was stunned by the energetic performances, the dedicated attendees, and the mass of people making the best of...
Movie Review: ‘The Origin Of Evil’
Greetings again from the darkness. Dysfunctional families are common fodder in films for the simple reason that most of us can relate … or at least walk away being grateful that ours isn’t THAT bad. I do trust (and hope) that your family bears little resemblance to...
Documentary Review: ‘Man On The Run’
Greetings again from the darkness. Remember that time you paid pop star Brittany Spears one million dollars to jump out of a birthday cake at your party? Or the times you paid huge appearance fees to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, and Paris Hilton to...
Movie Review: ‘A Million Miles Away’
Greetings again from the darkness. A tongue-in-cheek note just prior to the closing credits provides us with one final smile: “Jose is the first migrant farmworker to have traveled to space.” This footnote encapsulates what this biopic is all about – dreams,...
Documentary Review: ‘Radical Wolfe’
Greetings again from the darkness. There have been many great writers over the years, yet only a handful of these have become celebrities themselves … in contrast to celebrities who become “writers”. Tom Wolfe was one whose personality was as big (sometimes larger)...
Movie Review: ‘Cassandro’
Greetings again from the darkness. One of the possible indicators that a movie is well done and interesting is when it draws you in despite having no similarities to the world you live in. I was transfixed by this film from writer-director Roger Ross Williams (Oscar...
Movie Review: ‘Sitting In Bars With Cake’
Greetings again from the darkness. By coming clean up front, my hope is that forgiveness and understanding is in order, and maybe others will be diverted from the same path I took. Between the film’s title, the trailer, and knowing it was based on Audrey Shulman’s...
Documentary Review: ‘American: An Odyssey to 1947’
Greetings again from the darkness. Let’s begin with this: Danny Wu’s documentary ties legendary filmmaker Orson Welles into one of the most tumultuous periods of history. This is done not so much in a FORREST GUMP or ZELIG style, but more like one of those push pin...