Being Film #20 for Hooptober 2024 It can be a startling thing when expectations are upended. You think you're familiar with something, say, a filmmaker based on a particular film. And you hear about their new film, and it looks like it treads similar ground. And it does, except it doesn't. And in that thin... Continue Reading →
Being Film #19 for Hooptober 2024 It's always interesting to see another culture's take on some tried and true storytelling. The haunted house (or apartment in this case) riff has been going on almost as long as film itself, and seeing the variations play out in Japan (The Grudge) and Indonesia (Satan's Slaves 2) have... Continue Reading →
Being Film #18 for Hooptober 2024 I usually save the Tobe Hooper entry for the end of the marathon, but I had a few hours to kill and a pal had Spontaneous Combustion on his Plex server, so off to the races with what looks to be his last original film in terms of story... Continue Reading →
Something Like a Filmography takes a (brief) look at the filmography of Akira Kurosawa. Twice a month, Chris and Jon share their impressions of each film, both on its own terms and in terms of Kurosawa's legacy and its intersection in the Cinema Dual hosts' lives. FROM THE BOX: A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could... Continue Reading →
Being Film #17 for Hooptober 2024 You're one of the biggest comedy stars in the world. You want to branch out, try something different. Horror looks good, so you get one of the masters of the genre who's also looking to break out of his narrow confines. Sometimes that push-pull relationship can yield gold; other... Continue Reading →
Being Film #16 for Hooptober 2024 Outside of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood... I don't think there's a more personal, more fanboy love letter to movies in Quentin Tarantino's filmography than Death Proof. With overt callouts and structural similarities to the films he loves, much of this is readily obvious. But in making his... Continue Reading →
Being Film #15 for Hooptober 2024 I wish Grindhouse didn't fail as bad as it did at the box office. I remember seeing the entire experience in theaters and it was incredible. For every pale imitation (Hobo With a Shotgun, Rodriguez's own Machete) it spawned, it also remains a singular experience, both taken as a... Continue Reading →
Being Film #14 for Hooptober 2024 Oof. There is the kernel of a great concept in Return To Horror High, taking a meta, tongue-in-cheek approach to horror and genre filmmaking cliches, but unfortunately Bill Froelich isn't the guy to make it. There are a few measly pleasures to be had here, but for the most... Continue Reading →
Being Film #13 for Hooptober 2024 The beautiful thing about The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster is how much of a "first film" it is, in the best possible way. The directorial debut of Bomani J. Story, this is a film very much full of ideas, using genre to get at the heart of... Continue Reading →
Being Film #12 for Hooptober 2024 What a beautiful, messy, sloppy charmer of a film. ON the one hand, I can see what both the average movie goer - even the casual Coppola fan - would be put off by Twixt, the maestro's 2011 "return" to horror. I can also see how those fans who... Continue Reading →
Cinema Dual 