After 29 years, the Sanderson sisters are back and better than ever in the highly anticipated ‘Hocus Pocus’ sequel.
All of the recent celebratory reviews of “Moonage Dream” are a showcase of sparkling design that is worthy of a grand display.
I love desserts. I never thought that that would be a statement that was needed to be said but as I venture further and further into adulthood and my dreaded thirties, I have noticed and unsettling trend: desserts are as unfashionable as cowboy hats in Times Square. I mention this because Netflix’s recent forays into animation have very much struck me with a sinfully sweet aftertaste. Let’s think about Arcane. Much like the tiramisu at Pecora Bianca, it’s not the reason you showed up but it’s the keynote to end off a great experience. Very few subscribe to Netflix for its animated content but it proved that it’s more than just a cherry on top, it’s a palpable final note.
Now not all desserts are great. For example, much to the chagrin of many fall lovers, I can’t stand pumpkin pie. But Wendell & Wild, the most recent Netflix animated film, is not quite that. It’s something like Paris Baguette – it’s like and fluffy and slightly sweet, but not quite the sugary punch you’d expect. You know dessert would be a satisfying meal, but you at least expect something that could excite your senses without destroying too many teeth. You don’t need it to fill you with nutrients. In the film world, that’s what Nolan and Tarantino are here for. Wendell & Wild, especially given the creative minds behind it, left me feeling a bit disappointed and bored while altogether remembering “right, this is a movie for children, after all”.
The strongest part about this film is the creative mind behind it all: Henry Selick. His animated art style is by far one of the most inventive visual experiences in the world of film today. He manages to push the boundaries of his iconic clay style animation to the limits and just when you think he’s exhausted the limits of his medium, he goes even further and creates something entirely new. He wasn’t the only creative talent at play here. In fact, there were many incredibly talented voice actors who were able to help bring this film to life, for example, Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael-Key. Their performances helped to carry the movie and it’s hard to imagine this movie working without them.
Back to talking about desserts. The reason why animated children’s movies and especially Wendell & Wild instantly brought my mind to think of dessert was because like many of the overpriced bakeries that are speckled across Manhattan, they look better than they taste. Every detail is precise, prim, and pretty but leaves me longing for the unassuming masterpiece that is my mother’s baked goods. The one thing Wendell & Wild has is that polish. It is an incredibly inventive and beautiful movie and it’s a joy to watch. It is a quintessential exemplar of the phrase “every frame a painting”. However the themes are explored at a surface level, character development is so rushed as to feel overlooked, and the plot can best be described at simplistic. Pixar showed that animated films can explore deeper themes in a real way nearly thirty years ago, but to compare the two even with Pixar’s weak recent releases would be a disservice. In the end, Wendell & Wild is a beautiful mediocre pastry in a world where Michelin starred outputs has been the established bar for years.
The Harbinger, acquired by Screen Media, was released in theaters and On Demand on September 2nd.
Joslyn Rose Lyons will make her directorial debut with Showtime’s Sports Documentary STAND, scheduled to air in early 2023.
Participant documentary Invisible Demons by filmmaker Rahul Jain is a visually stunning attempt to raise awareness about an emergency in Delhi. Pollution and climate change has made the heat unbearable, turned the air poisonous, and killed all life in the river. The film is a visceral introduction to this new reality. Interviews are interspersed with granular visuals. A cow’s nose, a melting ice block, and foam on the river are emblematic examples of Invisible Demons visual style. There is something almost tactile to it. The film captures particles of pollution darting through the air, or “poisoned arrows” as Jain calls it.
Coughing is an upsettingly prominent noise throughout the film. From children living on the streets, to an elderly woman who can’t fully exhale without falling into a coughing fit; the human cost of pollution is audible. Except in conversation with the workforce of Delhi, who are quick to say they don’t complain about what they can’t change. A boatman says it must be the gods.
Invisible Demons is a familiar story of the poor being trampled on. Most westerners will experience several instances of certainty that this could never happen in their own capital city. The people of Delhi are well aware that the rich are heavily insulated from this public health crisis. From within air conditioned offices, politicians refuse to speak about pollution. A rickshaw driver says air conditioning is only for those who always have it. Acclimating to cool temperatures causes sickness upon return to the streets of Delhi.
Every aspect of the film speaks just as much to class as it does to the environment. All the interviews grapple with some form of powerlessness. Invisible Demons invites urban westerners to locate themselves on the ladder of privilege. The film is an expansion of awareness, impressed through granular examples, and an influential way to spend an hour and ten minutes. Go check out Invisible Demons while it’s in theaters.
The film releases September 23rd in NYC (theatrically) and will be on MUBI starting October 4th.
Don’t Worry Darling, the highly anticipated Olivia Wilde film starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, about a housewife living in the idyllic community of Victory, can only be seen one way: at Dolby Cinemas.
Pugh, who plays Alice Chambers, a woman wholly devoted to her husband, Jack (Styles), begins to question her surroundings as she experiences vivid dreams and hallucinations. She also starts to challenge the founder of the Victory Project, Frank (played by Chris Pine), who has a stronghold on the residents of this seemingly utopian community.
The film is visually stunning, featuring vibrant colors of a Palm Springs-like atmosphere contrasted with scenes showcasing a vast desert landscape. With Dolby’s high resolution screen, viewers were truly able to see the beauty of the film so viscerally that at times we almost felt as though we were in the desert with Alice. Dolby’s visual experience is further augmented by the sound quality, wherein viewers can hear and feel the complementary music score composed by John Powell.
The film begins by showing the passion between Alice and Jack, who are newlyweds as well as new residents of Victory. Every day, Jack drives to work through the desert and over to a large, ominous dome that sits atop a hill, miles away from Victory’s city center. Alice begins to experience lucid dreams and visions at varying hours of the day and night, which become unsettling to her as she begins to confront Frank and his wife, Shelley (Gemma Chan), about what is really going on at Jack’s workplace and what the purpose of the Victory Project really is.
Between Alice’s visions of black and white synchronized swimmers, being pressed between a wall and a glass door, and surrounding her own head with saran wrap, Don’t Worry Darling creates a visually stunning and yet incredibly tense experience for the viewer with an mind-blowing twist at the end.
Our suggestion? Put aside the off-screen drama and go see this visual masterpiece at a Dolby Cinema near you.
The stars and director of the highly anticipated psychological thriller talked all things ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ at the film’s New York City premiere.
Are celebs just like you and me when it comes to pandemic travel? We caught up with a few you may know — and others you may not have heard of — to hear their travel tales.
Jacques Torres, celebrity pastry chef
I went to Bandon, a city between Toulon and Marseilles in Provence for five weeks in 2021. I grew up there. It’s famous for wine. I went to the beach. I enjoy the south of France for wineries and tastings. I felt safe traveling because this is a house I own.
Photo Courtesy of Facebook
Ben Johns, pro-pickleball player
No international travel. We go all around the US for tournaments. We don’t vacation. We just play pickleball. Even in 2021, there were full crowds. In July of last year, I played pickleball in Hawaii. October 2021, Las Vegas. I did go to Ecuador, but not too recently. I own a pickleball vacation company called Pickleball Getaways.
NOTE: Johns and his business partner, pro-pickleball player, Dekel Bar, have led trips to destinations including Riviera Maya, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Richmond, British Columbia.
Photo Courtesy of Facebook
Collin Johns, pro-pickleball player
A lot of times the pickleball tournaments are in locations where there are vacations. The PPA Masters November 2021 in La Quinta, California was like a hotel. It’s a nice area — essentially like a vacation. I go on all of the same tours as Ben. In the height of Covid-19, they were shut down for a couple of months, and there were travel restrictions.
Photo by Laurie Heifetz
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, artist
I did a trip from Barcelona to New York. We were in lockdown in Barcelona in the middle of the pandemic when no one was flying — May of 2020. I did an homage piece next to the Queens Museum to a Latino doctor who passed away. That flight was bizarre. It was a huge plane with two passengers. There was no food in the airport. The reason why the plane was larger was that it was used for cargo. It was filled with cars on the bottom floor!
Photo by Laurie Heifetz
Jet Tila, celebrity chef (“Food Network”)
I took my family to Hawaii in the height of Omicron, November/December of 2021. We were on the island of Oahu, which I love. We based ourselves at the Disney Resort, but we’d take day excursions. One callout excursion families need to know is Kamoauli, a 100-year old wooden canoe from Tonga staffed with teachers and native experts who tell the history. Basically, you’re whale watching, while they’re preparing native foods and teaching native history. It’s like a luau in a boat!
Photo by Laurie Heifetz
Photo by Pat Lambert
Deana Martin, singer-actor
My trip to Toronto last year was fantastic! I had light drinks — “sippy-poos,” as my dad would say — on the plane because you didn’t have to have your mask on. I did a debut of the documentary, “Dean Martin, King of Cool,” and won the IItalian Contemporary Film Festival (ICFF) Excellence Award. It was one of those experiences where you go to this party and this press conference. We had excellent meals in Toronto.
Interviewed in NYC at: “Taste of the Upper West Side”; “Live with Kelly & Ryan”; “The Hug” statue unveiling for me2music.org’s “Monumental Moments” at Lincoln Center; CAMP’s flagship store Visit California media event; and Frank Sinatra’s birthday party at Patsy’s Italian Restaurant.
The interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity.
R and R stands for rest and relaxation. RRR stands for anything but.
RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt) is a three hour Telegu language epic about India’s fight for independence against the British, replete with over the top gun battles, spontaneous dance-offs, CG rendered wild animal attacks and no shortage of gratuitous TNT explosions.
The film is a sensation, standing at the third highest grossing film in India ever. It’s also found quite a bit of success overseas.
Director S.S. Rajamouli sat down for a Q & A after a screening of his film at the IFC Center in lower Manhattan. On whether he expected the film to be such a success across the globe, the director said, “Absolutely not. I never thought I’d appeal to the sensibilities of the West.” But the universal themes clearly tap in to a broad audience. He said, “Any creator will agree: a good story is a good story across the globe for any race, any language, for any people.”
Rajamouli wrote the film with his father, V. Vijayendra Prasad, another commercially successful Tollywood director. Rajamouli cut his teeth in film by working as an assistant in the editing room on his father’s films. Rajamouli said that his father spurred him on to make his latest film. “Initially I was doing nothing,” he said. “He was constantly nagging me.”
After relenting to his dad’s nagging, the next step in the creative process was forming the film’s iconic images. The film is full of striking images: a tandem shoulder riding gunfight, a flurry of disparate wild animals escaping from a cage, a man draped in an Indian flag as he barrels through a raging fire to save a little boy.
“The iconic images come first even before the story,” he said. He had the basic idea for the film down at the beginning: “Let’s get these two freedom fighters together. Initially they would be against each other, then they would come together against a common enemy. That was the basic line. Then it would come into discussion with my father. Then I look for iconic images for scenes. I tried to figure out what iconic images would tell this story and build the scene towards it.”
RRR is in theaters and available for streaming on Netflix.