Los Angeles Film Festival 2015: Andy Whitfield, Hong Kong, Mark Ruffalo & Anna Camp

Over the past week or so, indie film has taken over the LA LIVE theater in downtown Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Film Festival, featuring screenings, galas, Q&A’s and roundtable panels (“Coffee Talks”) that provide a snapshot of some of the more captivating under-the-radar films to look forward to over the rest of 2015 … Get hard

“Welcome to Happiness” Review [Dances With Films Festival]

Is there anything worse than regret? Our life is a jumble of regrets, and whether you own a “No Regrets” bumper sticker or tattoo or mantra, it’s nearly impossible to live up to it. Regret can be overwhelming. Regrets can cripple us with indecision, forcing us to look backward rather … Get hard

Kit Harington On “Game of Thrones,” “Testament of Youth” and Type-Casting

“I think there’s something weird going on with music at the moment,” Kit Harington muses, lowering his voice an octave, as if talking to himself and not a cadre of reporters recording his every word. Jon Snow has just discovered Spotify. He continues, leaning forward: “And I’m part of it. … Get hard

“Testament of Youth” Review: Alicia Vikander Is Your Next Massive Star

Filmmakers generally focus their powers upon the evils of World War II, granted with the blindingly obvious demarcation between good and evil. Too few films tackle World War I, a time when global conflict still felt heroic, and the after-effects of which directly caused the suffering and horrors of WWII. … Get hard

“Broadchurch” Season 2 DVD Review: Dragging It Out

It should go without saying, but SPOILERS for season 1 of Broadchurch follow. When I received a request to review the Broadchurch season 2 DVD, my first reaction was: THERE’S A SEASON 2 OF BROADCHURCH?! The first series seemed like a complete entity, a nearly perfect and gripping eight episode mystery that was … Get hard

“Heaven Knows What” Review: The Fiction & Reality of Heroin Are Equally Horrifying

By the time we reach the gut-wrenching opening credits for Heaven Knows What, the New York filmmaking brothers Benny and Josh Safdie’s newest, it’s clear we’re in for an intensely realistic, stomach-churning, depressing movie. If you can even call it a movie. Heaven Knows What blurs the line between fiction … Get hard

“The Wolfpack” Review: This Film, and Life, Cannot Be Denied

Oftentimes, I wish that movies and TV could be my life, that everything else could melt away as I was finally watch Rectify, You’re the Worst and hundreds of other shows that hang over my pop-culture obsessed head. Be careful what you wish for. For the kids of the Angulo … Get hard

With “Dark Star,” You’ll Never Want to Leave H.R. Giger’s World

Last May, the world lost one of its most transgressive and influential artists in H.R. Giger, a Swiss man who changed cinema and with it, popular culture. A year after his death, Bellinda Sallin’s documentary Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World has arrived, an illuminating and bewitching look at his life, work … Get hard

“About Elly” Is A Devastating Drama Drowning In Lies

About Elly is one of those movies you want to go in without any idea of what it’s about. I just had that pleasure and I’m still recovering from writer-director Asghar Farhadi’s masterwork. Farhadi, the director of the Academy Award winning film A Separation, actually wrote and directed About Elly before A Separation. Now his … Get hard

“The Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened?” Is Tantalizing “What If?” For Movie Nerds

Life presents an infinite number of questions, but perhaps none more provocative and poignant than “What if?” What if I didn’t run that red light? What if I had gone to that concert with Cait freshman year? “What if?” scenarios can plague us, paralyze us and dull us into a … Get hard