Film Feature Articles

Since when do rock stars not want to be rock stars? Since Hillsong United came into being.

Robert Eggers’ “New England folktale” The Witch is the most highly regarded horror film in years. It is so highly regarded that some critics who dismiss horror as mere shock and exploitation place The Witch outside the genre due to its thought-provoking artfulness. Ironically, on the opposite end of the spectrum, some horror fanatics, red of tooth and claw, also dispute the film’s horror bona fides, seeing its slow-burn moody virtues as pretentious and dull.

Young (born 1984), twin (Matt and Ross) upstarts, the Duffer Brothers seem to have come out of nowhere, but of course they didn’t. The Duffer Brothers began making films in 3rd grade, and not long after they graduated from film school, they had written and signed on to direct virus-apocalypse horror/thriller Hidden for Warner Brothers. Hidden cleverly and with deep empathy takes the familiar zombie apocalypse survivor scenario and flips it on its head, calling into question all of our usual preconceptions about good guys, bad guys and the ethics of survival.

The Evil Dead universe consists of the original film trilogy, all starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams – The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead ll (1987), Army of Darkness (1992); video games; comic books; a musical; film reboot (sans Ash) – Evil Dead (2013); and now a hit television series on Starz – Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Art house theaters are succumbing under the pressure of chains like AMC and Regal. They are unable to compete with what those theaters offer, like big parking lots, multiple concession stands that sometimes include a dinner menu, and wide leather reclining chairs.

Elvis and Nixon premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in April. I enjoyed the film immensely because of the sardonic humor, the performances and the director’s approach to the meeting of these two iconic figures. In a press conference at the Conrad Hotel back in April, my colleagues and I had …

Robert L. Camina discusses the making of his documentary that screened at last week's San Antonio Film Festival.

"Olympic Price, American Predjudice" explores the real story behind the 1936 Olympics, Hitler and 18 African Americans who represented the Olympic Team USA.

The most interesting Draculas of the 2000s are Jonathan Rhys Meyers' principled, love-sick, brilliant inventor/entrepreneur in the short-lived NBC TV series; Richard Roxburgh's rattled, sardonic, paternal, philosophical, yet ultimately villainous portrayal in the vastly underrated Van Helsing; and Luke Evans' family man and conscientious prince who must sacrifice his own humanity to protect his people from the rapacious Ottomans in the 15th century of Dracula Untold.

Every day I went to work wanting to make this the best film that it could possibly be.