★ The breakfast wars of the 1960s were legendary. At their center: cereal rivals Kellog's and Post. Writer/director Jerry Seinfeld has apparently worked for years on developing the perfect project to harness the power of the Pop Tart. Coming on the heels of so many excellent biopics in recent years, Unfrosted opts for an entirely … Continue reading Film Review: Unfrosted
TV Review: Interview with the Vampire – Season 2
After a surprisingly stellar debut season that came with the seal of late Anne Rice’s approval, Interview with the Vampire journeys to Paris as its gripping gothic romance bites into round two. That’s right, The Vampire Chronicles continues to have a chokehold over audiences in this queer-friendly version of the familiar tale. Creatively melding various … Continue reading TV Review: Interview with the Vampire – Season 2
Film Review: Mind Body Spirit
★★ Has anyone ever looked to the found footage subgenre of horror and thought, hey, we definitely need an extended yoga influencer video from hell to be a new addition? Whether you want to experience it or not, writer/director duo Alex Henes and Matthew Merenda unleash Mind Body Spirit into the world. Hands down the … Continue reading Film Review: Mind Body Spirit
Theater Review: The Great Gatsby, The Musical
Everyone knows the story of Gatsby the wealthy dreamer, don’t they? Partially coming of age in Long Island, New York, it was impossible to escape the omnipresence of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Between the extensive English classroom dissections of the text to the impressive mansions my family and I would glimpse each time … Continue reading Theater Review: The Great Gatsby, The Musical
Film Review: The Idea of You
★★★★★ Based upon the acclaimed novel of the same name, The Idea of You celebrates boy band obsession in this gold-standard rom-com from co-writer/director Michael Showalter (Spoiler Alert, The Eyes of Tammy Faye). For anyone who has ever had a celebrity crush, imagining the fulfillment of that pipe dream seems only possible in the land … Continue reading Film Review: The Idea of You
TV Review: Knuckles
Spinning off from Sonic the Hedgehog and being set in between 2 and the upcoming third installment, Knuckles could have easily phoned it in to deliver an entertaining little side story. Take Knuckles, an outsider learning the customs of Earth for the very first time, present some manner of fish-out-of-water storyline, and sprinkle in some … Continue reading TV Review: Knuckles
Film Review: Turtles All the Way Down
★★★ John Green books in the mid-2010s had an irresistible quality to them, paving the way for a niche of young adult tearjerker that was hard to replicate. Green's prose truly struck a cord for his sharp wit and intricate characterwork. Striking while the iron was hot, the first film based on a Green property … Continue reading Film Review: Turtles All the Way Down
CIFF 2024: Unspoken
★★★★ Coming-of-age LGBTQIA+ content will probably never go out of style at this point; look no further than Cleveland International Film Festival's Unspoken, a special brand of queer feature peppered with Jewish cultural specificity. Writer/director Jeremy Borison, who came out at the age of nineteen, molds using pieces of his past. The unique perspective of … Continue reading CIFF 2024: Unspoken
CIFF 2024: A House is Not a Disco
★★★ It takes a hell of a hook to actually interest me in a non-traditional documentary feature, and A House is Not a Disco has exactly that. Admittedly, I was drawn to cover this project thanks to director Brian J. Smith's social media posts; since Netflix's revolutionary series Sense8, I have followed Smith through his … Continue reading CIFF 2024: A House is Not a Disco
Sarasota 2024: The Man in the White Van
★★★★ Simplicity reigns supreme in horror, mainly because when something feels real and believable to viewers, it holds the power to truly frighten them. Such is certainly the case in The Man in the White Van, the feature debut of Warren Skeels, co-written by his collaborator, Sharon Y. Cobb. Inspired by the chilling true story … Continue reading Sarasota 2024: The Man in the White Van