To understand exactly what writer/director Jeremy Podeswa tries to accomplish with ’The Five Senses, ’ it’s first necessary to know where the idea for this quirky little film originated. After reading Diane Ackerman’s remarkable book, ’A Natural [...]
Almost ten years after completing their remarkable debut film — a masterpiece of independent filmmaking entitled ’It Happened Here’ — Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo teamed up once again to tackle another historical drama. While their [...]
When "What Lies Beneath" was trailered in theaters, I didn’t care much for the film because the story seemed predictable and the trailer obviously gave away most of the film’s highlights and plot points. As a result of this, what I [...]
Up until now, the rules have been simple. A documentary is a film that documents an actual event, person, etc. A mockumentary is a film that imitates the style of a documentary, while telling the story of a fictional person or event. (It should be said [...]
There are those who say that popular media is intellectually bankrupt and may actually be making people dumber. I personally disagree with this, as I learned everything I know from movies and television and I’m a walking encyclopedia of fun-filled [...]
Voltaire’s "Sémiramis" was already almost a century old when librettist Gaetano Rossi adapted it relatively faithfully for Rossini’s 1823 opera to debut at La Fenice in Venice. Voltaire’s own source was antiquity, a trace of history and [...]
As much as we hate to admit them, we all have our guilty pleasure movies. And typically, it’s easy to explain why we like the films. ’I like the action.’ ’I like the music.’ ’I think Bridget Wilson is beautiful.’ Whatever. But, I can’t [...]
While Michael Mann had previously directed the films ’The Keep’ and ’Thief, ’ it was not until the release of ’Manhunter’ in 1986 that he began to garner much critical and public attention. The reason for this increased focus on his work was [...]
Shakespeare raider Kenneth Branagh’s latest stab at the Bard re-imagines the slight 1593 comedy ’Love’s Labour’s Lost’ as a 1930’s screwball musical. Where to begin? The DVD from Miramax Home Entertainment indeed treats with a stellar transfer [...]
Apparently, Hollywood is still trying to capitalize on the "Baby-Boomer" nostalgia market by releasing films based on old television shows. This trend has been going on since the late 80s and the results have been mixed, as the quality of these [...]
