Commentary

Albeit a very different style, DC-Area native writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s “Green Room” competes with “The Invitation” as the best horror/thriller of the year. While the latter is a subtle, clever twist on the “Ten Little Indians” premise, Saulnier’s follow-up to “Blue Ruin” is more like a grenade going off in an over-crowded sub-genre.  It’s tense, smart, and […]

Every once in a while, I like to chime in on a big film after heated opinion has waned (i.e., I couldn’t make the press screening). The big question is: is the clash of the cleft chins as bad as all the reviewers are saying it is? Though I had the same reaction to the battle between […]

A few years back, I spoke with a guy named Sevé Schelenz, who was out peddling a found-footage flick that he wrote and directed called “Skew” on the festival circuit. I caught him at the Spooky Movie Fest in DC where I took maybe the best photograph of a Canadian horror filmmaker ever. Then I found […]

We sat down with Kung Fu Panda 3 directors Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni earlier this month. Click here (or use the embedded player below) to hear about the journey Po (Jack Black) has taken, what he’s learned, and the things that go into making one of the best-looking animated films to come out […]

Betsy Cox delivers an urgent message in a twenty-year-old story….still in the making. This is not a film about Washington, DC, or political ideologies concerning education, though its socioeconomic undercurrent is critical in establishing the odds of the era. This is a film about people and what they are capable of when afforded the opportunity […]

Here’s a quick Top 20 list to supplement my End-of-Year Review. But first, some brief thoughts on Thursday’s Oscar nominees (Full List Here): Opinion: As for period dramas, “Carol” should have taken the “Brooklyn” slot; “The Revenant” and “The Big Short” absolutely, one hundred percent, belong on that list (both in my Top 5); an unbelievable 8 nominations for “Mad Max: […]