2021's Western "The Harder They Fall" was writer/musician/filmmaker Jeymes Samuel's feature-length directing debut and an intoxicating film full of energy and ideas. For the most part, the same can be said of his latest, "The Book of Clarence." While the film is clever and holds one's interest, it suffers from a cinematic Multiple Personality Disorder, as its later half finds jarringly abrupt tonal changes that blunt

We’re used to watching Jeremy Piven be funny. His darkly humorous turn during eight seasons on “Entourage,” to say nothing of his earlier work in “PCU” and “Grosse Pointe Blank,” have made the Chicago native a favorite of directors seeking to realize edge, slightly (or more than slightly) dangerous obsessives fond of four-letter vocabulary.

Indeed, while appearing on

Sav Rodgers discovered Kevin Smith’s “Chasing Amy” at a crucial time in his life. Rodgers connected with Smith’s comedy about a straight comic book artist (Ben Affleck) who falls for a fellow artist (Joey Lauren Adams) who also happens to be a lesbian. Hijinks ensue, leading to a bittersweet ending not atypical of Smith’s work.

Rodgers watched the film dozens of times, if not more. However, as the fanboy came into adulthood, he began to see “Chasing Amy,” perhaps, as somewhat “problematic.” For one, the idea

Nearly four years ago, I watched one of the most incredible films I’ve ever seen at Sundance. Cedric Cheung-Lau took to the stage at a theater in central Salt Lake City to introduce “The Mountains Are a Dream That Call to Me,” which I described at the time as “hypnosis in motion.” I shook his hand after the screening, thanking him for this unique cinematic experience.

I named it my best film of 2020

The Christmas season is upon us; it's time for holiday cheer. The houses are decorated with bright lights, children have made their lists for Santa Claus, the stores are flooded with Christmas music, and there will be terror; viciously bloody terror in the form of writer/director James Crow's "Nightmare on 34th Street," a mostly entertaining collection of British horror tales just in time

Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel "The Color Purple" is a literary masterpiece. Steven Spielberg's 1985 cinematic adaptation is an emotional classic and one of the director's finest. Blitz Bazawule's "The Color Purple" (the big screen version of Marsha Norman's Broadway musical reinvention) has some excellent moments and a strong cast, but fails to capture the full emotional power of Walker's book, nor does it reach the heights

Filmmaker Billy Luther's first film, 2007's "Miss Navajo," was an involving documentary that used the determination of one contestant in the Miss Navajo Nation pageant to examine the importance of keeping culture and tradition at the forefront in the Native American way of life. The honest look at identity was personal to the filmmaker, whose mother won the title in the mid sixties. With his first feature film, "Frybread Face and Me," Luther takes