WHERE THE WIND BLOWS (2025) Greetings again from the darkness. If the Hallmark Channel produced a Western Romance movie, it would likely look much like this one from writer-director John Schimke, who along with co-writer Mike Maden, adapted the 2009 novel...
Greetings again from the darkness. Real life doesn’t offer too many opportunities for ‘do-overs’. Fortunately, movies do. Dallas born-and-raised (now Los Angeles-based) Adam Saunders wears many hats for this film that was inspired by his own life. Mr....
Greetings again from the darkness. Watching this film is how I imagine it would be to view a poem. It’s meditative and slow … somehow calming us as we contemplate the topics broached. Director Charlie McDowell (THE ONE I LOVE, 2014) and screenwriter Robert...
Review by James Lindorf Three years ago, Brendan Fraser’s “The Whale” closed out the Heartland International Film Festival before going on to earn the beloved actor an Oscar. Now his latest film, “Rental Family,” is opening the 34th annual version of the...
Review by James Lindorf The famous quote from Oscar Wilde might state, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” but the art being created and, more importantly, released is influenced by the political landscape of the time. After the #MeToo boom...
When the first Black Phone movie was released, I did not really get the hype for it. I watched the first movie at some point after it was released on streaming and thought it was okay with an interesting premise, above average acting, and enjoyable...
Review by James Lindorf Eight years ago, Aziz Ansari was one of the top comedians in the world. After “Parks and Recreation” ended in 2015, he moved on to the very popular Netflix series “Master of None,” which he co-created with Alan Yang. He served as that...
Greetings again from the darkness. Co-directors Philip Delaquis and Barbara Miller opt against an on-camera Q&A session with the Dalai Lama and instead allow His Holiness (the 14th Dalai Lama) to speak directly to the camera on topics pertinent to what’s...
Review by James Lindorf Academy Award®-winning director Kathryn Bigelow sat in the director’s chair for a future film for nearly a decade. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal seemed like an unstoppable duo after collaborating on “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero...
Greetings again from the darkness. I’m not sure if pumpkins get short-changed with most of their attention coming only during one season, or if perhaps they receive more attention than deserved during that season. Either way, pumpkins are rarely at the...