From the Fourth Row!

I have worked at a school for twenty years or so so I am always interested in films set at schools because of how the directors set them or the writer writes them. In the case of Miller’s Girl the writer and director are the same. Her name is Jade Halley Bartlett and her film is quite the educational experience.  That’s putting it mildly.  Mr. Miller (Martin Freeman) is an English teacher at a…

 Masters of the Air is the third series from producing partners Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.  The first two Band of Brothers and the Pacific both aired on HBO, while this new one airs on Apple TV Plus. It’s the culmination of these two greats in the film industry’s three-part saga, celebrating the men and women of our armed forces during WWII. The first two were widely celebrated, and the…

Hollywood can be a difficult place sometimes for some people. Some people can handle the hustle and bustle of the city of angels more than others.  Look at Me: A Fictional Biography is a documentary about one particular individual named Taylor Olson. He wrote, directed, and starred in this movie, which is more than an autobiographical look at his life. Taylor Olson is a struggling actor in…

I’ve had a pretty rough life. I’ve lived in some places I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to live in. My current home is falling down around me, but I still have a place I can live in that I’m fine with. My home is like a palace compared to the places the two women featured in this documentary live in. On the Way Home shows their journey from a difficult living situation into better living…

Bliss is the second of a planned trilogy of films from writer, director, and producer Joe Maggio. The first film Virgil Bliss came out in 2001 and starred Clint Jordan as the title character Virgil Bliss. He gets paroled from prison and ends up in a halfway house. While outside walking he befriends a hooker on the street in New York City named Ruby (Kirsten Russell). Virgil wants to have a…

“The Film Was Shot Between 2005 and 2021 in Afghanistan for the Duration of America’s Longest War, but this is not a war movie.” I’ve seen a lot of documentaries but none quite like One Bullet.  Carol Dysinger has documented her journey to Afghanistan from 2005-2021. She is part of the subject matter but not totally the subject matter. She ends up getting drawn into her own film whether she…

Greece Cinema is primarily known as a film industry that mainly focuses on dramatic or sensual types of movies. Though they have been threatened by war or political strife they have had a successful film industry throughout history.  Brando With A Glass Eye from writer/director Antonis Tsonis is another film in a long line of these types of films which Greece has come to be known by.  Luca…

Lately, there have been a lot of movies that tackle LGBT characters and stories: A Fantastic Woman, Kokomo City Passages, and Down Low come to mind. The latest LGBT story is from director Lily Lady, who also stars in the lead role, Sam’s World, following a young non-binary sex worker living with a secret and not knowing how to break it to their lover Rex. Sam (Lily Lady) is a young…

Every once in a while there will come a film where someone in said film has an identity crisis. They are treading water because they don’t know what to do in life. The movie The Worst Person In the World from a couple of years ago comes to mind. Now there is a new film with a similar premise although a bit different narratively called Chaperone. A young 29-year-old woman named Misha (Mitzi…

Chris Jericho is an entertainer, musician, writer, and world-renowned wrestler. He has done it all in his career, including being a contestant on The Masked Singer as The Bride. He cut his teeth in Canada while training in the Dungeon under the tutelage of Stu Hart. He also performed in The Death Tour. A series of wrestling events in the Northern Territories of Canada in Manitoba. He knows how…

I’ve seen quite a few vampire movies in my day. Sunrise is unlike any vampire movie I’ve ever seen. The director Andrew Baird gives this movie the most unlikely vampire in a long time. The main character of the film is the antagonist, not the protagonist but the odd stranger aspect of the story makes the protagonist not as outgoing or out front as far as the story goes.  Edward (William Gao) is…

“The Creation of The International Space Station (ISS) served as a symbol of United States and Russian Collaboration after the Cold War. The ISS is used primarily as a research facility where the crew makes advancements in medicine, technology, and space exploration. Today, both American Astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are living on board the ISS. The Soyuz Rocket Transports Astronauts From…

Daniel Kaluuya has been a prolific actor for a while now. I first saw his talents on 15 Million Merits, in an episode of Black Mirror season 1 on Netflix. Ever since he’s been in Get Out the breakout hit horror film by Jordan Peele, Sicario by the great director Denis Villueve, and won an Academy Award for his role as Fred Hampton, the leader of the Black Panthers, in Judas and the Black Messiah.…

Action films come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they take the shape of a rom-com. That’s the case with the latest film from director Thomas Vincent, written by Seth W Owen, Role Play. Similar in a way to Mr. and Mrs. Smith or True Lives in a sense this movie has a lot of secrets it’s keeping from some of its characters. This is a lesser version of those two films though. A married couple…

Crime films come in all shapes and sizes. They are a big part of the American Film landscape but also a huge part of the Asian Film market as well. I Did It My Way is the latest movie with a crime-centric storyline from director Jason Kwan in it. It is a crime thriller with a twist which makes it all the more interesting and entertaining than the average crime movie. Ho Sau (Gordon Lam) is an…

Jason Strathairn didn’t have a very good year in 2023. In fact, a couple of his movies The Meg 2 and The Expendables 4 were downright terrible. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre and Fast X were possible movies to watch. They had some redeeming qualities to them, Jason Strathairn is back! His latest action era is The Beekeeper, where he returns to form.  Adam Clay is the titular “Beekeeper”; he…

Mean Girls was a sensation when it came out back in 2004. I remember because I worked at a high school at the time. This movie was a cultural phenomenon.  It changed how girls dressed, talked, and even acted in their everyday lives. Whether it was for the good or bad this movie became part of the lexicon. Now there is a remake based on the Broadway play based on the original movie. Did we really…