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Sundance Film Festival: ‘The Dating Game’ is an Amusing Look at Romance in China That’s Best When It Gets Serious

It’s not always easy to find a partner, but there can be exacerbating circumstances that make it even more difficult. As a result of China’s one child’s policy, which was ended a decade ago, there are 30 million more men than women. Those odds aren’t great even for the most socially well-adjusted individuals with unlimited…

“Dog Man” : Dav Pilkey Offers Amusing, Low-Stress Entertainment!

©Courtesy of Universal Pictures  The catalyst for this comic book character’s conception was sort of like The Breakfast Club. Technically, he was created by author-illustrator Dav (No “E”) Pilkey, through his fictional school children, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who dreamed up the crime-fighting canine while serving detention together. (The creative duo also supposedly “invented”…

Sundance Film Festival: ‘Plainclothes’ / Tom Blyth Explodes Inside the Character’s Mind & Soul

@Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Ethan Palme The ‘90 have been most likely one of the most controversial decades for gay rights in the United States. The optimism and liberalism of the Bill Clinton presidency clashed in many ways with the homophobia still reigning in many parts of the United States, especially far…

Sundance Film Festival: ‘The Alabama Solution’ is a Vital, Urgent Call for Prison Reform in a Very Broken System

Conditions within prison facilities aren’t known to be great, and they’re not invitations that many in positions of power believe to be most deserving of resources. Some argue that criminal offenders need to be kept in line and shouldn’t be treated with kindness, and therefore their needs should be at the bottom of any priority…

Sundance Film Festival: ‘Touch Me’ is a Weird, Appealing Story of Cross-Species Attraction

©Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival There are plenty of theories about the existence of extraterrestrial life, and theatrical first contact experiences like the one depicted in Star Trek are hardly the only way in which humanity could become aware of them. Touch Me offers a truly unique method of undeniable confirmation for one human that…

Steven Soderbergh’s Presence Video Review by Matthew Schuchman

©Courtesy of Neon Matthew Schuchman : In the early 90s, while at the video store with his friends who wanted to rent Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead, Matthew asked the clerk if they had any copies of Naked Lunch available. A film buff from an early age, he would turn his fascination into his…

Sundance Film Festival: ‘Omaha’ is a Heartbreaking Family Portrait with Terrific Performances

It’s hard for many people to imagine what it really means to be out of options. There are so many things that would have to go wrong and fall apart for those who live in relative affluence to lose their homes and be forced to live either on the street or out of their cars….

Sundance Film Festival : Mr. Nobody Against Putin Review

©Courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival “Hailed” as one of the most polluted cities in the world, Karabash regularly draws obnoxious YouTubers, who mock its toxic Communist-era legacy. It is exactly the kind of economically-marginalized provincial Russian city that disproportionately supplies recruits and conscripts for Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine. Karabash is 1,600 miles from…

The Colors Within Demonstrates the Advantages Offered by Animation to Depict Keenly Humanist Dramas

©Courtesy of GKIDS Honestly, in recent years, Japanese anime has delivered some of the smartest and most realistic on-screen depictions of teenagers. Amongst filmmakers of any variety, few represent teen life with as much sensitivity as Naoko Yamada. She addressed school bullying in A Silent Voice : The Movie and young love in Tamako Love…

”Back in Action” is Family-Friendly & Easy-Going Entertainment

©Courtesy of Netflix  Don’t call Emily and Matt “Boomers.” They insist they are Gen X. That makes sense, considering Gen X’ers’ reputation for adaptability and (unlike other blabbermouth generational cohorts) an inclination to keep their secrets just that—secret. Those are all good traits for successful spies, which, in fact, Emily and Matt once were. Now…

Wish You Were Here is a Melancholic Rom-Com From First-Time Director Julia Stiles

©Courtesy of Lionsgate Abandoning the disappointments of mundane life to instead pursue the excitement of true love can be an equally exhilarating and disheartening journey. Actress Isabelle Fuhrman’s protagonist of Charlotte in the relatable new romantic comedy, Wish You Were Here, effortlessly highlights that rite of passage. After the character’s seemingly perfect first date ends…