- The Personal Becomes Universal in Moving, Funny “Long Story Short” (August 22, 2025)
Raphael Bob-Waksberg has left behind the shield of talking animals in “Bojack Horseman” and “Tuca & Bertie” to deliver a deeply personal family animated sitcom called “Long Story Short,” a 10-episode Netflix comedy that plays more like a powerful short story anthology than a traditional season of laugh-inducing television. With his writing team, Bob-Waksberg jumps around chronologically in the lives of the Schwooper family, going almost randomly from character to character and time period to time period in each episode, telling self-contained stories that gain added resonance in the accumulation. I can remember after the funeral of a beloved uncle when I was just a teenager, sitting in a back room and hearing his brothers and nephews tell stories about him. “Long Story Short” has that energy, a melancholic yet joyous tribute through comedic storytelling to a family that may not be your own but that isn’t all that far off either.
The Ben Stiller in this variation on “The Royal Tenenbaums” is Avi (Ben Feldman of “Superstore”), the oldest child of the Schwooper clan, which also includes Shira (Abbi Jacobson of “Broad City”) and Yoshi (Max Greenfield of “New Girl”). We will check in with these characters at various stages of their lives, seeing both a young Avi and one post-divorce; seeing Shira at a disastrous prom and as a mother; seeing Yoshi as an awkward troublemaker and becoming Orthodox Jew later in life. All of these events are in the shadow of a figure that’s powerful to the storytelling even when she’s absent, matriarch Naomi Schwartz (Lisa Edelstein), wife to the kind Elliott (Paul Reiser). Naomi checks a few boxes of the stereotypical Jewish mother in a comedy but Edelstein voices her with such depth and Bob-Waksberg gives her such unexplored interiority that when she’s passed away in episodes set closer to present day that we can still feel her presence.
Long Story Short (L to R) Paul Reiser as Elliot Cooper, Ben Feldman as Avi Schwooper, Angelique Cabral as Jen, Lisa Edelstein as Naomi Schwartz, Max Greenfield as Yoshi Schwooper, Abbi Jacobson as Shira Schwooper and Nicole Byer as Kendra in Long Story Short. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2025
The Schwoopers have significant others, friends, and children, including Avi’s wife Jen (Angelique Cabral), Shira’s partner Kendra (a wonderful Nicole Byer), Avi’s daughter Hannah (Michaela Dietz), and Yoshi’s idiotic friend Danny (Dave Franco). Once again, the writing is unpredictable in how it will branch off to tell a story about any one of these characters. My favorite episode of the season is unexpected back story for Kendra, the kind of developmental anecdote that allows you to see someone in a different light. “Long Story Short” introduces its cast and then spins off into their backgrounds just enough that we feel like we know them so much better when they’re reunited back in present day in the eighth episode.
Co-animated by ShadowMachine, who worked on projects as diverse as “Tuca” and “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Long Story Short” isn’t the most visually striking show on TV. At times, it feels almost like it has an animation style simplified enough to be the sketches of one of the characters, something that Shira might have scribbled in a memory book. It takes some time to get used to the style, but it’s deceptively simple, able to open up in ways that live-action would never be able to do. Animation also serves the time jumping, which would require recasting of voice actors of some of that “Irishman” de-aging voodoo if it were a traditional sitcom.
Long Story Short (L to R) Lisa Edelstein as Naomi Schwartz, Ben Feldman as Avi Schwooper, Abbi Jacobson as Shira Schwooper, Paul Reiser as Elliot Cooper, Dave Franco as Danny and Max Greenfield as Yoshi Schwooper in Long Story Short. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2025
The voice act is uniformly strong, especially Feldman, Jacobson, and Edelstein, who are all on the same comedic wavelength. Most importantly, the voice actors fade into the characters, never sounding like celebrities phoning it in while alone in a recording booth. Greenfield, Byer, Reiser, and Franco are all excellent too. It’s a case of a vocal ensemble clearly invigorated by very good writing.
To be fair, some of that very good writing verges on being overly sitcomish, especially with the follies of the teenage Schwoopers, but there’s an empathy and tenderness to it that can’t be underestimated. So many shows feel cynically crafted by writers who can barely stand their own characters; the team here loves the Schwoopers in all their flaws and wonders. You will too.
Whole season screened for review. Now on Netflix.
- “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater” is the Definitive Way to Experience This Stealth Game Classic (August 22, 2025)
In an age of video game remakes and remasters, some developers have taken varying steps to modernize older titles. Last year, Konami and developer Bloober Team took a stab at their first remake of “Silent Hill 2,” which was built from the ground up and gave it both graphical and mechanical overhauls to modernize the horror classic. Remakes like “The Last of Us Part 1” were almost identical to their original versions, which puzzled some fans as the PS4 remaster was perfectly playable according to modern standards.
As a beat-by-beat remake of 2004’s “Metal Gear Solid 3,” 2025’s “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater” feels like a mix of both, though tilting towards the latter, but it has just enough tweaks and new additions to justify its existence. With drastically improved visuals and a modern control scheme, “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater” is the definitive way to experience one of the greatest stealth games of all time.
The game takes place in 1964 during the middle of the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union. Our protagonist, Snake (David Hayter), has to infiltrate the Soviet Union in order to rescue a Russian rocket scientist named Sokolov. It does a fantastic job utilizing real-world events to create a riveting historical fiction setting.
There’s a natural sense of escalation when Snake must also stop the Soviet Union from deploying a deadly superweapon that could destroy the US. As a result, the story manages to pull you in and keep you invested. Early on, his mentor, The Boss (Lori Alan), also defects to the Soviet Union, which adds a personal touch to Snake’s journey and makes us empathize with him more. These character dynamics and motivations elevate an already intriguing historical drama into a masterful act of storytelling.
This game is also unafraid of taking the “fiction” part of historical fiction to its limits. Along with confronting The Boss, Snake also has to deal with superhuman freaks like the bio-electrically enhanced madman Volgin (Neil Ross) and The Pain (Gregg Berger), who has the ability to control hornets. They make for eccentric antagonists and exhilarating boss fights that you wouldn’t expect in a seemingly more grounded stealth game.
It’s a wild and imaginative juxtaposition that makes “Metal Gear” stand out amongst its other stealth game contemporaries. For anyone who’s played “Death Stranding” and its sequel, you can see where director Hideo Kojima’s knack for wacky names and abilities manifested when he created the “Metal Gear” series.
Speaking of characters, “Delta” reuses the original voice lines from the 2004 game, and it’s impressive how well the voice acting has held up even after two decades. Hayter’s gruff portrayal of Snake complements Alan’s motherly tenderness as The Boss. The quality of voice acting wouldn’t sound out of place today, and that’s a testament of the original’s legacy.
For a game that was created in 2004, the original had stealth gameplay mechanics that were ahead of its time and created the foundation that many modern games take inspiration from. While you have the standard stealth game elements like choking enemies out, there are also some light survival mechanics. Snake’s stamina impacts his walking pace, aiming stability, and damage resistance. He’ll need to catch and eat the animals in the jungle to restore it. These mechanics may not be revolutionary by today’s standards, but there’s a sense of nostalgia and familiarity that kept me going.
The game’s unique stealth mechanic, however, is the camo index. You’re able to swap out Snake’s camouflage patterns at any given time. The jungle terrain is filled with various foliage, rocks, and bodies of water, so it’s important to blend in. The camo index displays how well Snake fits into whatever environment he’s currently in and that drastically impacts whether enemies can see him. It adds a strategic element to the stealth gameplay that constantly keeps you engaged with every enemy encounter.
The two aspects of “Delta” that received the biggest makeovers from the original game are the graphics and the controls. All of the characters, including Snake, The Boss, and all other villains and allies look like they underwent plenty of work to make them on par with modern visuals. The new lighting also makes the game’s lush jungle environments more vibrant than before.
However, “Delta” doesn’t take full advantage of current consoles and PC’s power. This game is a literal 1:1 recreation of the original, and that means the gameplay area segments are too. For example, a fortress you visit called Grozynj Grad is split into four different areas. When you travel between them using the doors, you’ll have to go through a loading screen, just like in the original game. Given how much more powerful modern hardware is now compared to the PS2, these segments could have been seamlessly strung together into one large area. Instead, we’re stuck with what was a byproduct of hardware limitations on up-to-date technology and platforms.
Fortunately, “Delta” feels great to play due to a new control scheme aptly called “New Style” which mirrors the one in “Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.” This lets you run around in a third-person over-the-shoulder view like in modern games such as “Mafia: The Old Country” and “God of War Ragnarok,” as well as rotate the camera freely. The original’s top-down and fixed camera is also preserved in the “Legacy Style” control scheme option for those who want to relive the authentic PS2 experience.
For fans who’ve played the original, this new version will feel right at home. Chronologically, this entry is a prequel, so those who’ve never played a “Metal Gear” game won’t feel intimidated by the franchise’s extensive history and can start with this one. It’s unknown whether we’ll ever get a “Metal Gear Solid 6” given that Kojima has long since departed Konami and his quirky idiosyncrasies would be difficult to replicate, but in the meantime, “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater” is subsistence enough.
The publisher provided a review copy of this title. It launches on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on August 29.
- Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can’t Lose: The Enduring Legacy of “Friday Night Lights” (August 21, 2025)
“It was in Odessa that I found those Friday night lights, and they burned with more intensity than I ever imagined… As someone later described it, those lights become an addiction if you live in a place like Odessa…As I stood in that beautiful stadium on the plains week after week, it became obvious that these kids held the town on their shoulders.” — H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream (1990)
If the conversation is about the most significant and enduring book ever published about high school football, the universally acknowledged GOAT is H.G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights.
When we’re debating the best movies about high school football, my vote goes to Peter Berg’s adaptation of “FNL” (2004), just ahead of “All the Right Moves” (1983) and “Remember the Titans” (2000) and light-years ahead of the admittedly entertaining but borderline cartoonish “Varsity Blues” (1999).
As for TV series in this category, let’s broaden the discussion to include series covering all sports, at any level. I have a fond place in my memory bank for “The White Shadow” (1978-1981), and I loved “Ted Lasso” so much that I’m cautiously optimistic about the somewhat surprising news of a Season 4, even though I thought Season 3 wrapped things up in note-perfect fashion. Still, it’s the television adaptation of “Friday Night Lights” (2006-2011) that has remained atop my rankings of the best TV sports shows ever made.
High school football season is here. Hawaii and Alaska have already begun their 2025 seasons, with the vast majority of states kicking off their campaigns in the third or fourth weeks of August. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the legacy of “Friday Night Lights”—the book, the movie, and the TV show.
The Book
By the fall of 1988, the brilliant, then 34-year-old H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger was already a star journalist. Bissinger had won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting while writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he made another big splash with a Vanity Fair article titled “Shattered Glass,” an exposé of the fabulist catalog of work by Stephen Glass. (Writer/director Billy Ray’s adaptation of that piece was one of the best films of 2003.)
Bissinger spent a year in Odessa, TX, and immersed himself in the football-crazed community—and the result was the sensational bestseller Friday Night Lights, told in the “New Journalism” style pioneered by the likes of Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, and Gay Talese. The book was about so much more than high school sports; Bissinger took us inside a West Texas community where solid, small-town values were stressed—but racism was prevalent, and football was given priority over academics, with the locals placing an inordinate amount of importance on the Friday night gridiron performances of a bunch of 17-year-olds.
The most tragic figure is the star running back Boobie Miles, who seems bound for Division I and perhaps even NFL greatness, until he suffers a brutal injury in a preseason scrimmage. At a time when Boobie most needed the support of the community, the easy grades teachers were handing him disappeared (at a time when education required to be stressed), and some members of the coaching staff reportedly made cruel and racist jokes about Boobie being useless. Even in the most tragic of passages, there is a poetry to Bissinger’s narrative, and this is a work of complexity and subtlety. He includes positive portrayals of head coach Gary Gaines and several players, including Brian Chavez, Ivory Christian, and Brian Winchell, but he never shies away from showing us the darkest side of those Friday night lights.
(Sidebar: Over the years, Bissinger provided financial and emotional support for the struggling Miles and published a 34-page afterword titled “After Friday Night Lights” in 2012 that detailed their relationship–but to no avail. Miles has made a mess of his own life and has seriously harmed others; he has been convicted of multiple crimes and is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence.)
The Movie
Rewatching director Peter Berg’s 2004 adaptation of Bissinger’s book (Berg co-wrote the screenplay with David Aaron Cohen), I was struck by the gritty authenticity of the football sequences, whether it was preseason practices, weight room sessions, or the climactic championship game at the Astrodome. (Berg wisely kept the story planted in the past, capturing the atmosphere of the Odessa of the late 1980s.) In subsequent films like “Battleship” and “Lone Survivor,” Berg and the talented cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler would sometimes overdo it with the whip-around, herky-jerky camera moves. Still, on their first collaboration with “FNL,” the style is just slick yet raw enough to create a docudrama effect without being too showy.
Although Berg had to jettison background historical passages, streamline storylines and nudge facts around to winnow a 357-page tome down to a 118-minute movie, the fictionalized portrayals of Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), Mike Winchell (Lucas Black) and Boobie Miles (Derek Luke), among others, feel true to the spirit of the book. Derek Luke is electric as Boobie, who talks about himself in the third person and is more concerned with personal glory than team success, until he suffers that horrific injury. When Boobie insists to his coach that he’s ready to return for an October game against Midland, he immediately goes down again, this time for good. (Gaines takes one look at the hurting Boobie on the sidelines, walks away, and bluntly states, “He’s done.”)
Another compelling storyline involves the fumble-prone running back Donny Billingsley (Garret Hedlund, terrific) and his alcoholic and abusive father, Charlie (a menacingly good Tim McGraw), who wears and displays his state championship ring as if it represents the most important accomplishment in his life—which, sadly, is true.
At halftime of the climactic game against the heavily favored, physically dominant Dallas Carter team, Thornton’s Coach, Gaines, sums up a reality about high-stakes high school football that rings true to this day: “You got two more quarters, and that’s it… Most of you have been playing this game for 10 years. You’ve got two more quarters, and after that, most of you will never play this game again for as long as you live.” (I remember hearing my coach at Thornridge High School giving a version of that same speech before the final game of my senior season.) Little wonder that even though these kids are playing a game they truly love, they often seem to forget to inhale the joy of it all.
The TV Show
As we all know, Ben Affleck starred in the NBC drama series that was inspired by Bissinger’s book. Wait, what?
“Against the Grain” (1993), featuring John Terry as high school coach Ed Clemons, and Affleck as his son, the hunky young football player Joe Willie Clemons, was loosely based on Friday Night Lights. It lasted just eight weeks before it was permanently sacked, and quickly forgotten.
Onto the main event. When Peter Berg and showrunner Jason Katims brought “Friday Night Lights” to NBC in 2006, it marked the relatively rare occurrence of a book becoming a movie and then a TV show, with “M*A*S*H” arguably the most famous example. (Other notable titles: “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan stories, “The Dead Zone,” and “Snowpiercer.”)
With W.G. Snuffy Walden creating the iconic, slow-build, chills-inducing opening anthem—it’s a Top 10 TV theme for me—that sets the tone for the blending of sports and family drama, “Friday Night Lights” was almost entirely fictionalized, and it softened some of the harsher themes explored in the book and the film. We spent at least as much time following the domestic arcs of the various nuclear families as we did on the football scenes–but that’s why it appealed to some non-sports fans as well as us football nerds. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton created one of the most believable and empathetic couples television has ever seen in Eric and Tami Taylor, with an underappreciated Aimee Teagarden doing emotionally charged work as their teenage daughter Julie. (Britton had little to do as Coach Gaines’ wife Sharon in “Friday Night Lights” the movie, but she was a formidable co-lead on the TV show.)
The football scenes were well-choreographed, even if there were far too many games decided on the final play, and we were emotionally invested from the get-go, due to the stellar performances by Scott Porter as the star quarterback Jason Street, who suffers a paralyzing injury in the pilot episode; Zach Gilford as the aw-shucks backup QB Matt Saracen, Gaius Charles as Brian “Smash” Williams; Taylor Kitsch as the troubled anti-hero Tim Riggins, and, later on, Michael B. Jordan as Vince Howard. (The insanely talented cast also included Jesse Plemons and Adrienne Palicki, and would expand to include blazing talents such as Aldis Hodge and Jurnee Smollett. Even though most of the actors playing high schoolers were too old for the part, at least the storylines would have some students graduating while others rotated in.)
The TV version of “FNL” would sometimes venture into lurid territory (e.g. Plemons’ Landry killing the stalker of Palicki’s Tyra, and the two of them conspiring to cover up the crime). But on balance, the series did a stellar job of tackling issues of race, economic class, crime, domestic strife, healthcare, school board politics, and, yes, the overemphasis on high school football in small-town America. Over five seasons, first on NBC and then on DirecTV’s 101 Network, “Friday Night Lights” struggled to find a large audience, but it was critically acclaimed—and dearly embraced by those of us who loved it. In the film version of “FNL,” Coach Gaines says to his team, “Can you live in [the] moment, as best you can, with clear eyes and love in your heart? With joy in your heart… Boys, my heart is full. My heart’s full.”
On TV, Coach Taylor’s mantra was, “Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can’t Lose.” Sentimental as it might sound, the story of “Friday Night Lights,” warts and all, has cleared many an eye and filled many a heart. It is a football story, an American story, a story that holds up a mirror to society, and it rings as true and insightful in 2025 as it did in 1998 and again in the 2000s.
- Netflix’s “Hostage” Fails to Hold the Audience Captive (August 21, 2025)
There are times in a TV critic’s life when a series to which they are assigned inspires them to write reams of text, sometimes because said series is good, sometimes because it’s bad. Then there is what I like to call critic purgatory, when the series inspires nothing. Neither impressive nor dreadful, the series is adrift in the doldrums of artistry. If they handed out Emmys for dull television, then I am certain “Hostage,” a limited British series now airing on Netflix, would make a clean sweep.
The bromidic particulars: British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton (Suranne Jones) is dealing with the National Health Service’s critical shortage of cancer drugs when she learns her doctor husband, Alex Anderson (Ashley Thomas), has been kidnapped in French Guyana while working with Doctors Without Borders. The kidnappers issue a demand: either Dalton resigns from her post, or her husband and his colleagues will die. By a strange coincidence, Dalton is attending a summit with French President Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy) on that very day!
Though sympathetic to Dalton’s agony, Madame la Présidente wrangles the situation to her advantage, agreeing to have French forces rescue Anderson in exchange for some eyebrow-raising concessions. But just as the rescue operation is scheduled to begin, Toussaint is blackmailed with a damning video, and she aborts the mission. Both she and Dalton must navigate a deadlock, in which they weigh family, country, and personal ambition against one another. There is plenty more going on, but embargoes prevent me from discussing any of it, because the plot details of a Netflix series must be protected like the details of nuclear treaties, even though it will be on the service by the time you read this review.
The Hostage. Ashley Thomas as Dr. Alex (Right) in Episode 2 of The Hostage. Cr. Ollie Upton/Netflix © 2025
Actor Anna Chancellor once said that, unlike, say, Dame Judi Dench, she can’t “turn a piece of poo into a silk purse.” That’s not to say the cast of “Hostage” doesn’t try. There’s a spiky vulnerability in Delpy’s otherwise confident demeanor that could have blossomed into something more interesting, and Jones, too, tries to balance Dalton’s desperation with a steely exterior. It simply does not work because the characters lack the time or room to develop. Lucian Msamati (who gave it his all as Cardinal Adeyemi in “Conclave”) does try to liven up the proceedings as Kofi Adomako, Dalton’s chief adviser, with a certain slithering quality to his body language that could imply either treachery or loyalty. I know Ashley Thomas is capable of more (he had a damn good time playing a steampunk lawyer in “Great Expectations”), but all he gets to do here is rage and cry.
Visually, “Hostage” looks exactly like “Bodyguard” or “The Diplomat,” Netflix’s other series involving powerful women and complex choices. (Sometimes these similarities border on the literal, as Jones and “Bodyguard” lead Keeley Hawes could pass for twins.) The cinematography lacks even the barest hint of flair or style; the dialogue, direction, and editing are equally ordinary. Creator Matt Charman, who penned all five episodes, is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter (“Bridge of Spies”), but whatever talent he has is not present here. One wonders why political dramas are afraid to take any formal risks.
It is not a complete wash, however. The only member of the crew who tried to have any fun is costume designer Annie Hardinge. She immediately differentiates Toussaint and Dalton, dressing the former in bold colors and long, ornate earrings, while the latter is dressed in conservative prints and silhouettes and wears small, circular earrings. Skilled directors and writers could use these touches to further bolster the writing, especially when a show like “Hostage” needs so much help to disguise its consistent flaws. In the end, it’s a bland series that, to borrow a phrase from “The Simpsons,” tried nothing and is all out of ideas.
Three out of five episodes screened for review. Now on Netflix.
- Locarno Film Festival 2025 Wrap-up (August 20, 2025)
Though it’s only been a year since the 77th Locarno Film Festival, it felt like an eternity waiting for this one. This was my second year making the pilgrimage to the scenic seaside Swiss town that always promises a strong retrospective slate, an eclectic blend of world cinema, and the kind of ardent cinephile atmosphere that flourishes under the invigorating sun.
Before arriving in Locarno, however, I took a personal trip. I jumped into Edinburgh, Scotland, for a few days to see Oasis on their reunion tour (an event I’ve dreamed about for 18 years). As I walked around Edinburgh, which was in the midst of beginning its own film festival, I couldn’t help but peruse Twitter and Instagram, looking at the pictures of a festival that had already begun.
I arrived during the second half of Locarno, singing Oasis anthems and craving good cinema. Locarno did not disappoint.
The main competition offered an incredible array of modest films bearing profound emotion. I was elated to see Sho Miyake’s “Tabi to Hibi” or “Two Seasons, Two Strangers” take the festival’s top prize, the Golden Leopard. Miyake first arrived at Locarno with his debut feature “Playback” back in 2012. Since then, he has only grown as a filmmaker, gaining a foothold at the Berlinale, where his last two films—“Small, Slow But Steady” and “All The Long Nights”—world premiered. Despite his strong resume, he hasn’t fully broken out yet. The long-overdue recognition here changes that.
Along with Miyake’s award-winning film, the main competition also boasted Radu Jude’s biting AI satire “Dracula,” Ben Rivers’s otherworldly post-apocalyptic coming-of-age film “Mare’s Nest,” Naomi Kawase’s uneven Vicky Krieps starring medical romance “Yakushima’s Illusion,” and Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze’s lo-fi road trip “Dry Leaf.”
Locarno also delivered a surprising mix of long-awaited works and new stories. Duwayne Dunham’s David Lynch-produced dystopian Western, “Legend of the Happy Worker,” was filmed seven years ago before finally world premiering here. “Viet and Nam” filmmaker Minh Quý Trương and his co-director Nicolas Graux took home the Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present competition for their entrancing Vietnamese documentary “Hair, Paper, Water…” Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari also delivered a coming-of-age stunner in “Blue Heron.” The memory play, inspired by Romvari’s own life, was honored with the Swatch First Feature Award. It’ll next head to the Toronto International Film Festival for its North American premiere.
The festival also attracted a plethora of stars, some of whom received lifetime achievement awards for their illustrious careers. “The Holdovers” director Alexander Payne was named the Leopard of Honor. Martial arts legend Jackie Chan also took Locarno by storm, receiving a rapturous reception while accepting the Leopard Career Award. “Stranger than Fiction” star Emma Thompson accepted the Leopard Club Award. And after a career that includes turns in “Kill Bill” and “Charlie’s Angels,” Lucy Liu was also honored.
The hardest aspect of attending Locarno, however, is finding a way to balance new movies with old films. For example, in past years, the festival has celebrated the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures and Mexican cinema spanning the 1940s to the 1960s.
This year, they looked across the pond with Great Expectation: British Postwar Cinema 1945-1960. Of the 45 films that screened for the retrospective, I caught 14. Moreover, I wrote about the programme from two different perspectives. The first was an examination of how Basil Dearden’s “Pool of London” and Melvin Van Peebles’s “The Story of a Three-Day Pass” tackle interracial romance and overseas racism. I also accumulated a listicle of the 14 films I watched.
As I left Locarno, inspired again by the breadth of cinema I had encountered, I did so without knowing whether I would be able to return.
Let’s face it: Film criticism is presently caught in a desperate struggle. The Chicago Tribune eliminated its film critic position, letting go of Michael Phillips. Vanity Fair dissolved its criticism writing, too, releasing Richard Lawson. Ann Hornaday and Richard Roeper were bought out by The Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, respectively. These aren’t outlets saying that covering film festivals is a luxury. They argue that writing about film is antiquated and unnecessary.
A few months ago, I wrote a piece about how the future of cinema is discovery. There, I made the point that “The biggest hurdle, however, is getting people to read about these films. Critics can publish reviews, but if they’re not being read, then the point is moot. In that sense, the necessity of discovery is also incumbent upon the reader.”
I can’t emphasize enough the role you play, too. There must be curiosity to learn about uncommon art and to think deeply about it. That work begins with the writer, but it continues with you. So, in a quickly changing landscape involving AI summarizing reviews on Google, several conniving corporations buying into ChatGPT as a viable option for reporting, and a general revulsion to intellectualism, local and national journalism, and the people outside our own phone screens, the only antidote is discovery and support. Without them, I fear how far we will devolve. Not just as readers of criticism but also as social creatures.
Criticism, like all good things, is about the discovery of the self, inspired by our interaction with an art form that reveals something about our world. It too is an “empathy machine.” Criticism can, in its own way, act as a conduit between the feelings of the filmmaker and the feelings of the viewer, which also includes the critic. If criticism is allowed to, through an informed knowledge of film technique and history, and as the expression of one human’s experience, it can help the viewer empathize with a story they never knew existed, a viewpoint they never once considered, or a party that’s never been heard.
I hope that we will be in a better place this time next year. I hope many of these outlets realize the grave mistake they’ve made in turning their backs on good, brilliant people whose primary care is to support an art form on behalf of the people who love it. I hope we will shake ourselves and our neighbors awake from a harmful slumber that’s cocooned us from the grim threat we face now to our ways of both consuming and nourishing our souls and our minds. I hope, this time next year, after many twists and turns, that I will be able to share with you stories about the many people I’ve met and the films I’ve loved too.
For six days at Locarno, I lived a dream. For the next 12 months, I will live in hope.
- Classic Trailer Rewatch: Comedy 'Surf Ninjas' 35mm Trailer from 1993 (August 24, 2025)
"We're not being kidnapped, we're starting a revolution! Everything is 'cool.'" Time for another blast from the past! A brand new 4K scan of a 35mm trailer print for the original 90s comedy Surf Ninjas recently appeared on YouTube. This ridiculously cheesy comedy adventure for kids was made and released in 1993, right after the massive success of 3 Ninjas in 1992, so Hollywood went totally crazy on ninja movies for kids. Surf Ninjas is a 1993 comedic family film involving martial arts, that follows two teenage surfers from Los Angeles who discover that they are crown princes of the Asian kingdom Patusan and reluctantly follow their destinies to dethrone an evil colonel that rules over the kingdom. It is directed by Neal Israel and written by Dan Gordon. The movie stars Ernie Reyes Jr. (who was also in The Last Dragon and Rush Hour 2), Rob Schneider, Nicolas Cowan, and Leslie Nielsen as the bad guy Colonel Chi. Surf Ninjas was filmed in Los Angeles, Hawaii, and Thailand. A video game was also developed and released in conjunction with the film. This is one of the most zaniest and funny 90s trailers, with a voiceover explaining everything going on. // Continue Reading ›
- Trailer for 'Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror' Cinema Doc (August 22, 2025)
"It's not a movie, it's a way of life." BritFlicks has debuted an official trailer for the documentary film titled Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, a look back at the pop culture phenomenon. It's directed by Linus O'Brien, son of creator Richard O'Brien. The doc starts by taking us to the origins with the original stage production in London which opened in 1973. Then continuing with the cult horror midnight classic Rocky Horror Picture Show opening in 1975 and becoming a regular event worldwide. The definitive story of The Rocky Horror Show and all the mayhem and glee that comes with it. A London theater play evolves into a massive cult phenomenon, featuring iconic songs and performances celebrating individuality. The legacy lives on through midnight screenings and a devoted following that spans generations. Featuring fans and the original players including Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Lou Adler, Jack Black, Barry Bostwick, Nell Campbell, Trixie Mattel, and many others talking about why they adore Rocky Horror so much. Even if you're not a fan, this looks like an entertaining watch going back to the wild days of 70s cinema and beyond. // Continue Reading ›
- Pristine Trailer for Edward Yang's Masterpiece 'Yi Yi' 4K Restoration (August 22, 2025)
"Harmony is a precious thing..." Janus Films has debuted a new 4K restoration trailer for the re-release of the masterpiece Yi Yi, the final film from Taiwanese maestro Edward Yang. This originally premiered in the year 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival, and has grown with time to now be considered one of the greatest films ever made (I completely agree!). It really is an astonishing, towering, extraordinary work of cinematic art – I adore it, too. Yi Yi, titled in full Yi Yi: A One and a Two..., is a portrait of a middle-class family in Taipei, Taiwan in the late 90s. A man in his 40s, his teenage daughter and his eight-year-old son experience life, navigating between remorse, hope and disappointment. It stars Wu Nien-jen, Elaine Jin, Issey Ogata, Kelly Lee, Jonathan Chang. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, this 4K digital restoration was carried out by Pony Canyon Inc., with analog & digital processes provided by Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc. Yi Yi really is everything cinema should be about - I watched it for my first time back in 2020 and wrote about the film: "It's hard to grasp in just one viewing how rich and layered and insightful every last scene is." All I can do is encourage everyone to take time to watch the film and let it connect with you... // Continue Reading ›
- Vintage Throwback Trailer for Dinklage's 'The Toxic Avenger' Remake (August 22, 2025)
"Winston became The Toxic Avenger! The first superhero born out of nuclear waste!" Cineverse unveiled a fun throwback "grindhouse" trailer for the bonkers horror remake of The Toxic Avenger. Also known as The Toxic Avenger Unrated – because they're all releasing it without cutting out all the most gruesome gore that kept it from being released for the last two years. Finally hitting theaters at the end of this month. Don't miss it! The original Toxic Avenger from 1984 is a Lloyd Kaufman / Troma horror cult classic. Many sequels were made, but now Troma has teamed up with Legendary for a brand new take. Macon Blair's The Toxic Avenger reboot follows struggling everyman-janitor Winston Gooze (starring Peter Dinklage as our new anti-hero) who is transformed by a horrible toxic accident into a new kind of superhero: The Toxic Avenger! With super-human strength & wielding a glowing mop, Toxie must race against time to both save his son & stop a ruthless, power-hungry corporate tyrant. This also stars Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Julia Davis, Jonny Coyne, Elijah Wood, and Kevin Bacon. This retro trailer comes from Bloody-Disgusting and is created by Wilson Cleveland to feel like it comes straight from 1984 (when the original first debuted). // Continue Reading ›
- Watch: Spinal Tap Rockers in Funny 'Don't Talk, Don't Text' PSA Video (August 22, 2025)
"Hey all you groovy headbangers..." Shut up, sit down, and watch the movie! Alamo Drafthouse has posted a funny "Don't Talk, Don't Text" PSA for the upcoming Spinal Tap II: The End Continues movie featuring the old rockers all together. The long-awaited mockumentary rock doc sequel is hitting theaters in September - watch the full trailer here. Drafthouse got the band together to make this video, which plays before the movie to remind people attending the movie of their rules: no talking, no texting, no disturbances or you'll be kicked out. For real. Still the best policy for all movie theaters nowadays! The entire cast rock band is back for more mayhem 40 years later after the original This is Spinal Tap doc, as they reunite and deal with all their grudges from the past. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is once again directed by Rob Reiner, with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer reprising their iconic roles as the legendary heavy metal band Spinal Tap. We also posted other Alamo Drafthouse PSA videos featuring John Lithgow & Geoffrey Rush here, and with Kyle Mooney from last year. As cheesy as these videos are to watch, I'm glad they keep making them to remind people how to properly sit & watch movies with no phone. // Continue Reading ›
