It’s been apparent to the discerning student of world cinema for a little while now that Indian movies are about to burst into the Western mainstream. (Modesty be damned, I mentioned this on my personal blog at the end of last year.) The ground-breaking Oscar for RRR was the beginning …
M. Night Shyamalan’s career is one of the most divisive I’ve seen in the past few decades. While he directed earlier films, such as Praying with Anger and Wide Awake, his horror film The Sixth Sense put him on the map with a twist that people still talk about today. …
Making a career in the music industry is not easy. Yes, we have stories like Justin Bieber making it to the big stage after uploading videos on YouTube, but it doesn’t mean that it would happen every other month. A lot of aspiring musicians have to go through a lot …
A lot of people believe that friendship and intimacy are different. But friendship is one of the most intimate relationships we can have. In human relationships, the boundary between friendship and romance is often clearly defined, or so we believe. In Elina Street’s short film My Best Friend, the filmmaker …
What happens when two friends explore their sexualities and end up breaking the delicate boundary between friendship and romance? Well, we get to see one of the most intimate relationships that the world has ever seen. Elina Street’s short film My Best Friend explores friendship and romance, taking viewers on …
In recent years, there have been many stories about romances between women, but Tom Nesher’s Come Closer is a bit different than what we have seen. In this story of love, grief, and friendship, we see Eden (Lia Elalouf) dealing with the difficult situation of losing her brother in an …
Ripley is the latest adaptation of Talented Mr. Ripley, this time starring Andrew Scott in the lead role; as Tom Ripley, a man who is introduced to Dickie Greenleaf’s leisurely lifestyle and quickly gets under his skin and eventually kills him – taking over his identity in a bid to become Greenleaf. It’s a queer …
Friendships can start in some of the weirdest situations and turn out to be crucial for a variety of reasons. But what happens when a friendship evolves into something unexpected, something more tender, called love? This burning question is asked in Tom Nesher’s brilliantly executed and heartwarming film, Come Closer. …
In Mira Shaib’s debut feature film, audiences are immersed in the bustling streets and vibrant life of Beirut through the compelling narrative of Arzé. The film chronicles the journey of Arzé (Diamand Abou Abboud), a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. However, she never shies away from …
Despicable Me 4 sees Gru and the family take on a different dynamic. Instead of trying to achieve world domination as a villain, the Gru crew has to accomplish the most challenging mission they have ever faced. Somehow, they must achieve the impossible feat of “blending in.” On the surface, …
Producer Kayla Foster introduced Your Monster at the Sundance London Film Festival, describing it as a romantic-comedy horror. While this may seem like an unusual combination of genres, this is truly the best way to define what the film is and what makes it utterly unique. Combining elements of the …
A Family Affair is the newest rom-com from the streaming magnate Netflix. Directed by Richard LaGravenese and written by Carrie Solomon, the movie doesn’t positively add to the company’s track record. While it’s not a copy-and-paste version of it, the film is certainly deeply reminiscent of Prime Video’s rom-com from …
Writer and Director Liz W. Garcia is the latest to take on NASA and space with her new comedy, Space Cadet. In the movie, Emma Roberts is Rex Simpson, a brilliant Florida bartender with big dreams among the stars. She doesn’t exactly have the resume of a typical NASA astronaut, …
I appreciate all genres of cinema. It’s true: there’s no style of storytelling or any fictional setting that automatically puts me off – I genuinely believe all genres have their respective masterpieces. That said, like any viewer, I have my personal preferences, and, indeed, there are a few types of …
With On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, director and writer Rungano Nyoni returns to Cannes with an exciting sophomore feature after her successful feature film debut with I Am Not a Witch. Nyoni’s latest film competed in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, where the Zambia-born director won the …
In the first seconds of the first episode, Daddy’s Dyin’, Who’s Got the Will? – the public sees an older man wearing a crown on a throne. This king is George Coulam, the founder and owner of the Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF), the biggest fair of its kind. Roughly five …
I’ve mentioned before in many of my articles that I grew up on musicals, thanks to my mother and grandmother. That was a large part of my childhood; however, as much as we were a Broadway family, the Kitson household was also big on game shows. Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, …
Directed by the Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, Limonov: The Ballad premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where the film competed for the Palme d’Or in May 2024. Serebrennikov also co-wrote the name with Ben Hopkins and Pawel Pawlikowski. The film is based on Limonov, a 2011 book by Emmanuel Carrére …
Someday, a movie in which a man defeats an attacking spaceship with a single punch will get a negative review, but today is not that day. Kalki 2898 AD is not only the most expensive Indian movie ever made, but also the first in a planned series of movies – …
For cinephiles like me, the vast majority of films watched throughout the year don’t need specific reasons to “convince” me to visit the theater or turn on the TV on one of the streaming channels. That said, there’s always a standout element in the movie to be watched that raises …