“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” —James Baldwin The sometimes-brilliant ABC comedy “Black-ish” focuses on an upper-class mixed race family as they try to hold on to some of their culture while existing in a mostly-white community. A few weeks ago the show did […]
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Death Wish of a Salesman
Iranian master Asghar Farhadi returns with a new film set in Tehran
In what is probably the only-on-the-nose metaphor of the entire film, “The Salesman” opens in an apartment building nearing collapse. Due to construction next door the foundations of the building are falling away, evidenced by the deep cracks forming along our protagonists’ bedroom walls. Married couple Emad and Rana rush around their crumbling apartment grabbing […]
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Black Lives Shatter
This “social thriller” shows social consciousness can be terrifying
Racial issues are an emotionally charged subject in the world right now, but then again, they long have been. Many films explore this tension to great dramatic effect, but very few of them are horror films. Taking cues from horror classics that use repulsive subject matter to bring the thrills, debut director and screenwriter Jordan […]
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Your Desert Island Movie
Bleak is beautiful
Most mainstream moviegoers consider animation to be child’s play. Disney has dominated the industry since the ’40s, so cartoons and kid flicks have been almost inextricably synonymous. That’s the norm in the U.S., at least. While U.S. audiences for animation still might have some growing up to do, the premier animation studio in Japan, Studio […]
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Oscar Sunday Returns
The Source picks the winners (or tries to)
It’s time once again for the Superbowl Sunday of Cinema: The 89th Annual Academy Awards. Since it’s so much fun to predict which way the Academy will vote, only to get mad when the things you love lose horribly, this year we’ll look at the movies and people we WANT to win, versus the things […]
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Maybe a Superhero Will Save Us!
With Lego Batman, not quite everything is awesome
Lego Batman might not be the hero we need, but he’s the hero we deserve. In a city where super villains run rampant and the police and regular citizens are helpless to stop them, we need a masked vigilante to step up and protect us. I’m not talking about Bernie Sanders and Washington, D.C., I’m […]
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One Ring to Fool Them All
Another horror franchise fails to care
Suspension of disbelief in the horror genre is a tricky thing. Horror movies are mostly about rules. Michael Myers is an unstoppable killing machine, but we don’t know why…he just keeps getting up. Freddy Krueger kills in dreams, but can’t do much damage in the real world. Jason Voorhees can take a lot of damage, […]
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The Fault in Our Mars
Love and Rockets
As a human male grown to maturity, I am not the target demographic for “The Space Between Us.” Judging from the trailers, I would have thought the demo would be teenagers, spinsters or possibly cats left at home with the television on. Instead, I now believe the film is for no one. It should be […]
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Timeless
20th Century women is a small wonder
Dorothea Fields is a specific and contradictory type of free spirit. Played by Annette Bening, Fields has a shrewd smile and an open heart, viewing the world as a giant ball of mystery. Her 15-year old son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), is in love with his best friend, the 17-year old Julie (Elle Fanning), who […]
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A Flood of Movies
2017 will be a milestone year in film
Now that we’re ever so slowly inching our way out of January, the theatrical doldrums of the post-holiday world will be mostly behind us. While 2017 will see a ton of new sequels, reboots, remakes and the like, there are also quite a few interesting original properties headed our way. Here’s a look at just […]