Greetings again from the darkness. Haroula Rose is an extraordinary talent. She’s a singer, actor, writer, producer, and director, and she’s continuing to prove she’s very good at all of the above. This is her first time directing a feature length film, and she also...
Greetings again from the darkness. Herb Alpert’s music was played frequently in my home as I was growing up, so I became a fan early on. His impact on the music industry seems not to be celebrated or remembered today the way it should, and documentarian John...
Greetings again from the darkness. There is an odd line early on in which the psychologist says, “Don’t fight depression. Make friends with it.” What makes this an odd line is that Jane is a paranoid schizophrenic, and depression doesn’t seem to be a driving force in...
THE GLORIAS (2020) Greetings again from the darkness. Who hasn’t dreamt of having a conversation with their younger self in hopes of instilling some wisdom to improve the forthcoming life decisions? Writer-director Julie Taymor (FRIDA, 2002) and co-writer Sarah Ruhl...
Review by Lisa Payne At the site of the La Brea Tar Pits, a new museum is about to be built. The residents of an office building have a deadline, so they are all in the office packing late one night. Cue an ancient monster who rises up from the pits and kills people....
Review by James Lindorf Director Darren Lynn Bousman is best known for his involvement with the “Saw” series, having directed three of the previous installments and the upcoming reboot “Spiral.” Bousman is at home again in the horror genre, but his latest film, “Death...
Greetings again from the darkness. I watch dozens of documentaries each year, and I always learn something from the best ones. However, I don’t recall ever being so emotional over a documentary as I was while watching this one from Christian Taylor. Ms. Taylor...
Greetings again from the darkness. There are many reasons that might force a kid to grow up too fast. But when it’s in conjunction with having to care for a parent, we can consider it ill-fated. Director Inon Shampanier co-wrote the script with his wife, Natalie...
Review by James Lindorf Life is complicated, and funds are tight for millions of Americans due to the COVID pandemic. Those two facts have a chance to exacerbate the long-running opioid epidemic that was already claiming around 70,000 lives every year. Better Noise...
Greetings again from the darkness. Fairy Tales traditionally have happy endings so that our kids form an optimistic view of the world. Unfortunately, director John Ippolito brings us a real life baseball fairy tale with a tragic ending. Tony Conigliaro and his...