Robert Sodmak
Home Reviews Page 16

Reviews

The Idea of You : A Couple’s Night of “Stream and Chill”

Photo by Courtesy of Prime Video – © Prime Video Solene Marchand is an early Millennial, so she can maybe partially relate to Gen X. Hayes Campbell is Gen Z, but he is relatively early Gen Z, for what that is worth. There is only sixteen years difference between them, in contrast to the full two…

The Fall Guy Video Review / Above the Line vs Below the Line Episodes 40

Check out more of our video interviews on our YouTube channel. Film Critic : Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi Works as film critic and journalist who covers stories about culture and sustainability. With a degree in Political Sciences, a Master’s in Screenwriting & Film Production, and studies at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Chiara has…

Wildcat : Ethan Hawke Delivers a Stunning Biopic of Flannery O’Connor

©Courtesy of Oscilloscope The best compliment I can give to the heartbreaking biopic directed by Ethan Hawke is that five seconds after the ending titles started I was already researching the short stories and novels published by Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). From the Queens Public Library, I borrowed her first book Wise Blood by the way. …

The Roundup: Punishment: Don Lee’s Beast Cop is Back

©Courtesy of Capelight Pictures International Det. Ma Seuk-do makes Jack Reacher and the Rock look puny and weak. South Korea’s criminal underworld refers to him as the “Beast Cop,” but he is an old softie at heart. When the mother of a murdered programmer commits suicide out of grief, he takes it hard, so he…

‘The Contestant,’ A Look Into the Origins Of Japanese Reality TV

©Courtesy of Hulu Sensationalism is the bread and butter of today’s media and entertainment industry. The competition for higher sales in the field of communications can be traced back to the circulation war between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal during the mid-1890s. This gave wave to what was…

Challengers Review: Zendaya Scores in Romantic Sports Drama

Photo by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures – © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. The complex, underlying emotions that drive interpersonal relationships are often brilliantly translated onto screen through visual means. That’s certainly the case for Academy Award-nominated Italian director Luca Guadagnino‘s latest movie, Challengers. The filmmaker has long made a name for himself in…

‘Slow’ by Marija Kavtaradzė Explores the Choreography of Desire

©Courtesy of Kimstim Films Slow is certainly an apt title for this charming little romcom about a dance instructor and a sign-language interpreter she employs while teaching a class of hearing-impaired teenagers. There is nothing forced or hurried about their relationship, which blossoms naturally as the two explore the limits and horizons of their own…

City Hunter / Review : It’s All Very Slick, But Still Faithful to the Fans

Ryohei Suzuki, Fumino Kimura, ©Courtesy of Netflix  Like all long-running manga-anime series, the “City Hunter” franchise has a complicated history of adaptations. Technically, this is the first live-action Japanese film based on Tsukasa Hojo’s Shonen series, but previous non-animated film adaptions were produced in Hong Kong (starring Jackie Chan and Gary Daniels) and France (as…

The Hazy Days of Art College 1994

©Courtesy of Dekanalog Like many young people, the Chinese art students in this film largely ignore politics. Very few of them could have conscious memories of the Cultural Revolution, unlike superstar Chinese artists Ai Weiwei, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Wang Guangyi. However, these artists-in-training consciously aspire to their level of success. They also hope to make…

‘Abigail’: Beware of That Bloody Ballerina!

©Courtesy of Universal Pictures Welcome back, bloodsucking fiend! It is always a (guilty) pleasure to return to a vampire movie where the undead is an old-fashioned, terrifying thirsty killer. Even if the dark humor behind the whole production makes Abigail some kind of horror comedy, nonetheless the main character – a young ballerina who plays…

‘An American Bombing’ Explores the Mainstreaming of Political Extremism

An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th is a sober and joyless documentary about the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, whose 29th anniversary was marked this week. Directed by Emmy-winning Mark Levin and executive-produced by TV journalist Katie Couric, An American Bombing deftly combines archival footage (including home movies and…