Robert Sodmak
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Reviews

One with the Whale, on PBS’s Independent Lens

©Courtesy of ITVS St. Lawrence Island is part of Alaska, but geographically, it is located closer to Russia. Many of the indigenous Yupik people have adopted Christianity and an American identity, but they still retain their traditional customs. By necessity, that also includes diet, notably including whale meat. Without successful whale hunts, the entire Yupik…

Spy x Family Code: White / Review

© 2023 Crunchyroll LLC You could compare the anime Forger family to “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”—the Doug Liman movie more than the neurotic Donald Glover series. Loid Forger, a.k.a. Westalian secret agent “Twilight,” recruited Yor Briar to act as his pretend wife for a long-term mission. Just as she believes Twilight is a psychiatrist, he remains…

‘Civil War’: When a Strong Idea Remains On the Page…

In his previous three movies as a director, Alex Garland has demonstrated the courage to bring the genre he picked almost to its extreme consequences, delivering stunning, contemporary nightmares capable of insinuating under the viewer’s skin. Ex Machina, Annihilation, and particularly Men were developed through solid stories, complex characters, and the vision of a cinematic…

Julio Quintana’s ‘The Long Game’ Celebrates the American Dream via Golf

Directed by Julio Quintana and based on the novel Mustang Miracle by Humberto G. Garcia, The Long Game is a heartwarming tale of how five Mexican-American high-schoolers overcome bigotry and stereotyping to form an award-winning championship golf team with the help of a coach who refuses to give up on them. It is also a…

Searching Through the Wasteland of Fallout

Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV series didn’t have to wait for the success of HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us to get the green light. The adaptation of the Bethesda entries of the popular game series was already filming around the same time the Naughty Dog adaptation was wrapping. It isn’t necessary for one production…

SXSW Review: Diane Warren: Relentless Writes a Prolific Portrait

©Courtesy of Broken Road Production A story is only as good as its characters. Hollywood has long embraced that mantra, particularly in crafting the ideas that are featured in its films and in the soundtracks that accompany them. Emmy-nominated documentarian Bess Kargman has done just that with her new feature, Diane Warren: Relentless, about the…

‘Brandy Hellville: The Cult of Fast Fashion,’ A Fine Consumer Guide

©Courtesy of Max Saving the planet begins from our wardrobes. This is mission of the Fashion Revolution, a movement born in 2013 following the collapse of a clothing factory in Bangladesh, which awakened spirits globally. This initiative of activism encourages consumers to ask themselves: “Who Made My Clothes?” The same question and social themes are…

Should You Fear Monkey Man?

Photo by Universal Pictures – © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. Everyone loves Dev Patel. It’s been great to see him grow and tackle so many different roles since his break out performance in Slumdog Millionaire after jumping from TV to film. But, for as many sides he has shown of himself, it seems there’s one…

Review: Royalty, Sensationalism and Journalism in ‘Scoop’

The British royal family hasn’t had an easy time over the past decade with the explosion in popularity of the Netflix series The Crown. Audiences eagerly watch and digest episodes, often taking its content as historical gospel rather than an occasionally (if not often) fictionalized version of the truth which, at the very least, imagines…

‘Sasquatch Sunset’ : Review / A Dark Tale Daring to Fail

At the end of this movie’s press screenings, it was honestly impossible to form a clear opinion about it. A few days after, the feelings and ideas about Sasquatch Sunset are still mixed. It is in fact quite difficult to fully embrace the work of David & Nathan Zellner due to its many issues, but at…

Review: Unmasking ‘The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem’

Anyone can say anything from behind a computer screen and isn’t likely to immediately, if ever, experience consequences for their words. In most cases, harassment and threats don’t lead to anything in the real world, but when they do, it highlights the fragility of a system that’s been created with the potential for enormous destruction…