Sometime last year, on a lark, I went on an audition for a small play opening in a black box theatre on Santa Monica in Hollywood. The bizarre experience is another story, but in addition to a line reading, we had to fill out a short bio. One of the … Get hard
Inbetween the internet’s collective groaning about another Spider-Man reboot were whispers about the man chosen to direct it: little known director Jon Watts (The Onion News Network). Who? Anyone who sees Cop Car will no longer ask that question, because Watts is the talented writer-director of the taut thriller Cop Car, and afterwards, in spite of … Get hard
Every time a new show or movie is set in Los Angeles, I groan. Haven’t we seen that? Most movies are already made in Los Angeles; do they also all need to take place there too? Rest assured we have never seen the side of Hollywood shown in Sean Baker’s … Get hard
Over the weekend, I finally got around to watching Inside Out, the latest hit animated film from Disney’s Pixar studio. It was a wonderful film, with good humor, creative animation, and strong voice acting. It also functioned on deeper levels. I watched it and thought the story was largely an allegory … Get hard
Dan Jones’s The Plantagenents: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England is a masterpiece of a history book. It recaps nearly 300 years of British history, following along the rise and fall of the titular Plantagenent family that produced the longest line of monarchs that the English crown has ever known. … Get hard
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
SPOILERS ahead for Game of Thrones. Games of Thrones is a show largely about the terrible things that men do to one another. Throughout its five years on the air, the show, like the books upon which it is based, has repeatedly shown us all manners of death and rape and horror. At … Get hard
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
“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
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