Tetris might be a popular computer and video game but the game’s origin is a non-stop thrill ride that nobody could have guessed. Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) first discovered Tetris back in 1988 during the Consumer Electronics Show. He was hooked immediately and knew it would but popular but there was a question of who held the rights. His journey took him to find the game’s rightsholders in Moscow. This was towards the end of…
"Tetris: The Social Network of Video Game Movies – SXSW 2023"Category: Film Festival
A Disturbance in the Force is the Star Wars Holiday Special documentary that Star Wars fans have been waiting years to watch. November 17th will mark the 45th anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special. Thirteen million viewers would tune into the 98-minute disaster in the making on CBS. What better time than now than to present a documentary? At long last, fans might begin to get answers. How did this happen? Why did this…
"A Disturbance in the Force – SXSW 2023"
Another Body follows a college woman and her search for justice after finding deepfake pornography of herself circulating the internet. You know how you’ll sometimes get those suspicious links in a Facebook message from a friend. In this particular instance, it’s easy to see why it might be a suspicious link. But as it turned out, someone used deepfake technology to take her face and place it in a porn video. Why people are so…
"Another Body – SXSW 2023"
Late Bloomers is a coming-of-age dark comedy about a recently single musician who ends up in physical therapy and has to grow up. Director Lisa Steen and screenwriter Anna Greenfield return to SXSW for the first time since short film Step Daddy premiered in 2019. Steen directed all four of Greenfield’s short film scripts–including Sundowners in 2019–so it’s only natural that she’s behind the camera for the feature film. This time around, Greenfield’s script focuses…
"Late Bloomers – SXSW 2023"
Delegation focuses on a trio of high school friends during a class trip to visit historic Shoah sites in Poland prior to joining the IDF. In America, Jewish high schoolers often get the chance to participate in the March of the Living. If I recall correctly, it’s a trip that sees students spending a week visiting Shoah sites in Europe before spending a few days in Israel. Things aren’t much different in Israel except their…
"Delegation (Ha’Mishlahat) – Berlinale 2023"
Documentary filmmaker Lana Wilson returned to Sundance with a powerful two-part documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. Each part of Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields runs 68 minutes for a combined run time of 2 hours, 16 minutes. When I was growing up, I didn’t know Brooke Shields from her work as a child star. No, I mainly knew her from the NBC sitcom, Suddenly Susan. A lot of what happens in the film came as news…
"Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields – Sundance 2023"
Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Kinda Feel Left Out is a comedy that could have very well been released by Amblin in the 1980s. I feel like there’s some sort of rule where everyone must try their hand at paying homage to Steven Spielberg at some point in their career. Or, at the very least, films paying homage to the films that inspired filmmakers to get into filmmaking. The Spielbergian sort of movies…
"Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Kinda Feel Left Out – Sundance 2023"
A teenager struggles within her fundamentalist community in The Starling Girl but things change when she’s drawn to the youth pastor. If not for its Kentucky setting, I might not have watched The Starling Girl during Sundance. This is more or less because of the fundamentalist aspect. At the end of the day, I am glad that I gave it a chance. I’ll likely end up watching on the big screen when it is time…
"The Starling Girl – Sundance 2023"
Jonathan Majors is on a role as the actor made his return to Sundance with a strong performance in the very intense Magazine Dreams. I’m not kidding around when it comes to the intensity of the film. It is not an easy film to watch. There are many times when the lead character loses his temper. At the same time, there are instances where it appears that his temper gets the rest of him, only…
"Magazine Dreams – Sundance 2023"
Daisy Ridley returned to Sundance in a starring role in the feature-length adaptation of Sometimes I Think About Dying. It’s not often that a fellow Louisville native directs the first feature film I watch on the ground during Sundance but here we are. Lambert previously premiered her first narrative feature, In the Radiant City, in Toronto back in 2016. Anyway, Lambert’s newest film–a feature adaptation of Stefanie Abel Horowitz‘s short film–premiered on Sundance’s opening night…
"Sometimes I Think About Dying – Sundance 2023"