The war is over, but the past is still present. Christian Petzold’s “Phoenix,” a quiet but compelling period drama about disguise and manipulation, is reticent about the dark period its heroine and others went through, but their inconvenient past becomes more palpable as we observe their gloomy post-war world. Still confused and traumatized behind her…

We are pleased to offer an excerpt from the latest issue of the online magazine, Bright Wall/Dark Room. The theme for their July issue is “Erotic Thrillers” and, in addition to Elizabeth’s piece, also includes new essays on “Crash,” “Jade,” “Body Heat,” “Piccadilly” (1929), “The Sopranos,” “Body of Evidence,” “Final Analysis,” and more.  You can read…

If there was any theme at this year’s virtual San Diego Comic-Con At Home, it was platform cross-pollination. Content, product, story-telling, or as many panelists referred to it, IP, jumped between movies, comics, graphic novels, merchandise, tabletop games, VR and video games, podcasts, animated series, live-action series, books, and even Broadway, many projects encompassing five…

Leslie Combemale’s “Women Rocking Hollywood” was back for its sixth year at SDCC to talk about upcoming projects and the progress women are making in getting more jobs as showrunners and directors. Once again, it was clear Ava DuVernay is making an enormous difference. Her commitment to providing opportunities for women at “Queen Sugar” has…

RogerEbert.com publisher Chaz Ebert’s ninth video dispatch from the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, directed and edited by Scott Dummler of Mint Media Works, features her interviews with filmmaker Lateef Calloway, Georgian journalists Anano Bakuradze and Ninia Kakabadze, critic Sarah Knight Adamson and various attendees on the Croisette. Source link…

The romantic notion of a trip to Paris, for self-discovery and artistic renewal, helps an unfulfilled aspiring writer get up every morning in Peter Sattler’s mental illness dramedy “Broken Diamonds.” Scott (Ben Platt) is looking to escape his job as a waiter and the family ties that have diminished his sense of agency. The film’s rather…