Author: spotlight cinematics
[ad_1] If one goes into Below the Clouds looking for the dramatic eruptions of similarly themed films such as Fire of Love and Dante’s Peak, there is not much luck to be had. Gianfranco Rosi’s take on the famed Vesuvius is much more concerned with the quietness that permeates life around the volcano, the ordinary quality of everyday routine standing in direct opposition to the trepidation of building a home on the margins of the unpredictable natural beast that extinguished the thriving ancient Roman city of Pompeii over two thousand years ago. Named after the Jean Cocteau quote that states “Vesuvius makes all the clouds of the…
[ad_1] In 1921, three years since the end of WWI, a train departed the small town of Aquileia in northeastern Italy. Draped in flags and wreathes, it carried the coffin of an unidentified soldier to his final resting place in Rome. It was a slow, solemn ride. Along the way, crowds gathered to pay their respects––ordinary citizens, widows, and orphans watched the carriages glide past in spectral silence. The journey was immortalized in the 1921 documentary Gloria: Apotheosis of the Unknown Soldier, and glimpses of footage crop up everywhere in Pietro Marcello’s Duse, a film that’s as concerned with charting…
[ad_1] I left the 82nd Biennale of film gratefully exhausted. And to be honest, my gratitude and my exhaustion were of almost equal measure. When I was in my twenties, seeing three or four or even five films in one day seemed something I could do while retaining a spring in my step all the while. In my sixties, not so much. I filed a dispatch/roundup for this website every couple of days, and as I was packing to go home I realized I completely flaked on actually writing what should have been installment number two. Oops. These would have…
[ad_1] Something About Bears – “Honey”-Maybe it’s the lifelong Pooh Bear fan in me, but I couldn’t help but smile when I saw a song by a group of bears called “Honey.” A smackerel, as they say. I know if you read their PR information they are actually human, so on… but in my head canon, they are singing bears. 🙂 Okay, so silliness aside this is actually a great piece of folk pop songwriting. The string work is nice and open, with a real levity to it. The vocals are solid and really invite the listener into the sound,…
[ad_1] Nostalgia: It ain’t what it used to be. You can’t just look back fondly on the things you loved as a child anymore. Now you got internet jerk stores like me telling you the things you loved as a kid were never so hot to begin with.But they weren’t! Or at least, not everything you loved as a kid holds up to the harsh scrutiny of adult eyes. Some old movies are great. (By old I mean the 1980s and 1990s, because if you were born in the 1980s or 1990s, congratulations: You are now old.) Terminator 2: Judgment Day? Holds up! The Princess Bride?…
[ad_1] There’s a reason Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill speaks to Grace Pine (Barbie Ferreira). It’s the same reason her pitch endears a publisher to cut her an advance and contract to publish a 33 1/3 book on the subject: the feminist rage; the honesty; the fact that the world was willing to fork over millions of dollars to listen as a woman bared her soul. There’s catharsis in it, inspiration. What’s stopping Grace from achieving that same success through authentic voice and impeccable taste as a burgeoning music critic in Toronto? The adrenaline rush answers: “Nothing!” The inevitable crash…
[ad_1] Somewhere along the way in television history, studios decided that audiences would only flock to the biggest and most splashy shows. Their focus became mostly on series that required gigantic budgets, but that they hoped would allow them to reap the benefits of their investments. Shows such as Netflix’s Stranger Things, and countless Marvel series on Disney+ seemed to indicate that audiences required fancy special effects and over-the-top storytelling in order to tune in. However, there are actually many series, like Breaking Bad, that have been made for far less money and still have brought in major ratings and…
[ad_1] Get ready for one last scare, because the Warrens are back for their final case, and they are about to shatter the India Box Office! The final film in the iconic horror series, The Conjuring: Last Rites, hits theatres tomorrow, September 5th, and it’s already creating history before the first show has even started. Starring the beloved duo of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, this film is not just ending a franchise; it’s set to become the biggest horror opener the country has ever seen. The pre-release buzz is off the charts, and the numbers are truly staggering. Advance…
[ad_1] Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Sundance coverage. Realm of Satan is now avaiable digitally. Made in collaboration with the Church of Satan, as stated in its opening titles, Scott Cumming’s Realm of Satan doesn’t seek to expose hidden secrets of the religion, investigate the church’s place amongst belief systems, or, for the most part, even hear from those who may oppose its teachings. Rather, solely through a series of inspired cinematic tableaus, we are invited to take a look from the inside to witness the practices and everyday lives of those who follow…
[ad_1] Elsewhere, McElwee films old friends who starred in his earlier films, such as Charleen Swansea, a poetry teacher and friend of Ezra Pound who now has dementia and can’t ever remember making Charleen or Sherman’s March with Ross. “Things just disappear,” Charleen says of her memories. She remarks that she thinks the camera he uses is an ugly piece of machinery, and that it amazes her the beauty he can create from it. He films his wife, Korean documentarian Hyun Kyung Kim, who does not show her face but is seen lovingly tending to their garden, and editing her own…