The Shape of Water, 2017. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, Nick Searcy, and David Hewlett. SYNOPSIS: At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity. Not […]
Movie Review – Face 2 Face (2016)
Face 2 Face, 2016. Directed by Matthew Toronto. Starring Daniela Bobadilla and Daniel Amerman. SYNOPSIS: Over a series of video chats, a teenage outcast reaches out to his childhood friend, but finds that behind the veneer of popularity and a seemingly perfect life, she hides a disturbing secret. In sophomore year of high school, I […]
Waco Episode 3 Review – ‘Operation Showtime’
Red Stewart reviews the third episode of Waco… “Operation Showtime” (taking its name from the real-life ATF raid) opens up with a scene we saw in the pilot: Koresh walking outside to plead with the surrounding ATF agents. At the time, we didn’t know when that was happening. Now that we do, there’s a retrospective […]
Black Lightning Season 1 Episode 4 Review – ‘Black Jesus’
Red Stewart reviews the fourth episode of Black Lightning… On the outset, it would be easy to criticize ‘Black Jesus’ for being a remake of the Arrow season 1 episode ‘Vertigo’. After all, both deal with the surge of a street drug marketed at high schoolers, that consequently leads to the hero having to confront the source. […]
Exclusive Interview – Early Man composer Tom Howe on composing for television, animation, and his biggest influences
Red Stewart chats with Early Man composer Tom Howe… Tom Howe is an English composer who has been working in the film and television industry since the mid-2000s. Though starting relatively recently, his works have been heard by millions, with British audiences in particular no doubt being familiar with his compositions for programs like Autopsy: The […]
Waco Episode 2 Review – ‘The Strangers Across the Street’
Red Stewart reviews the second episode of Waco… A storm is alluded to a couple of times in ‘The Stranger Across the Street’, first as a Biblical event entailing the opening of the Fifth Seal and subsequent arrival of the Armies of Babylon, and second as a literal hurricane. In most cases I would have […]
Exclusive Interview – Costume Designer Karyn Wagner Talks About Her Career and Intense Experience Working on Waco
Red Stewart chats with costume designer Karyn Wagner about her career and her work on the new series Waco… Karyn Wagner is a costume designer who has been working in the entertainment industry since the 1980s. She is an accomplished artist in the wardrobe department, and has been responsible for creating beautiful apparel present in […]
Black Lightning Season 1 Episode 3 Review – ‘LaWanda: The Book of Burial’
Red Stewart reviews the third episode of Black Lightning… In my review of last week’s episode, “LaWanda: The Book of Hope,” I theorized that it would be the first part of a mini arc continued with this week’s “LaWanda: The Book of Burial.” The two entries, combined with the pilot, would form a trilogy of […]
Waco Episode 1 Review – ‘Visions and Omens’
Red Stewart reviews the first episode of Waco… I remember first learning about the Waco Siege during the Bundy Standoff in 2014. Many news outlets at the time were making comparisons between the two, leading me to look it up on Wikipedia. I don’t remember much about it, and I’ve refrained from revisiting that article […]
Movie Review – Attraction (2017)
Attraction, 2017. Directed by Fedor Bondarchuk. Starring Irina Starshenbaum, Alexander Petrov, Rinal Mukhametov, and Oleg Menshikov. SYNOPSIS: After an alien ship crash lands onto a Russian city, many who saw it and the occupants start to question their own existence while there are those who demand the aliens leave Earth. Russian cinema has been the source of some of the […]
