Featured
Screen Comment interviews WENDY GUERRERO, Bentonville Film Festival president of programming
Like all current cinema events, the 2020 iteration of the Bentonville Film Festival is taking place almost exclusively online. Next week, the festival started by Oscar-winner Geena Davis will take place in Northwest Arkansas as pure usual, but with on-the-ground screenings taking place at a local drive-in—with nearly everything else going virtual. Panel discussions, celebrity guests and a great number of films will be part of this year’s festival, and its more >
NEWS
Alan Parker left an indelible mark on me
British filmmaker Alan Parker, who left us on July 31st, 2020, was not a prolific filmmaker. He made just shy of twenty movies but what a heavy footprint these movies left on me. ... more >
ON A CONFERENCE CALL with the filmmakers of “The Fight,” a new documentary about the many battles and the many lives of the ACLU
The documentary is called “The Fight,” which could not be a more à propos title for a film about the ACLU’s ongoing quest to defend not only civil rights, but also the necessity ... more >
BRIEFLY – RZA-directed “Cut throat city” comes out July 31st
"The ninth ward isn't covered," or so goes the voiceover in RZA's new film "Cut throat city," which comes out at the end of the month. It's the story of four boyhood friends in New ... more >
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Mick Jagger as art dealer and Claes Bang (“The Square”) as artist team up in “The Burnt Orange Heresy” (review)
It’s a strange time for all of us, and perhaps it’s little wonder that the crop of films being released direct to streaming has itself gotten weird. How else to explain a movie where Mick ... more >
Adapted from the namesake Norwegian novel, “Out stealing horses” | REVIEW
“We decide for ourselves what will hurt” Ah, the past and the memories it leaves us. Be they good or bad they make a home in our mind and soul, guiding our life decisions and shaping who ... more >
Romola Garai (“Atonement”), poised for greatness, goes behind the camera to make persuasive debut as filmmaker with “Amulet” | REVIEW
The definition of amulet is “a charm (such as an ornament) often inscribed with a magic incantation or symbol to aid the wearer or protect against evil such as disease or witchcraft.” But ... more >
In “Radioactive” Rosamund Pike, direct but pragmatic, imposes herself on both a profession and an era (REVIEW)
It’s inarguable that the pioneering work of Marie and Pierre Curie changed the world, for both good and ill. “Radioactive,” the new film starring Rosamund Pike and Sam Riley as the ... more >
“Most wanted” is one of the more interesting films this year (REVIEW)
Films about investigative journalism exposing a dramatic event and/or cover-up have been popular for decades, from Billy Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole” and Sam Fuller’s “Park Row” to Alan ... more >
THREE DOCS REVIEWED: “Desert One,” “Red Penguins” and “Unsettled”
With the multiplexes shuttered, and the so-called event films on hold for months yet, it’s a boomtime for documentaries, which continue their march onto streaming platforms. Here are a few ... more >
INTERVIEW: Dawn Porter, filmmaker (“John Lewis: Good Trouble”)
Could there possibly be a more apt time for a documentary about John Lewis, the civil rights pioneer and longtime Georgia congressman, than now? In this singular moment of protest and ... more >
“7500,” there’s trouble brewing on the Berlin to Paris flight
It is rare when a Hollywood thriller can glue us to our seats. These days, big budget films in this genre are too concerned with creating big action set-pieces meant to be eye candy, rather ... more >
