Summer has come and passed... you know the rest. Go wake up Billie Joe Armstrong, already. The autumn air is upon us, more theatres are opening up (except for Regal, which is closing some 350 locations, many of them permanently), and the deluge of online-only content is starting to abate. More films are getting their … Continue reading DownStream – Cruel Summer
I'm going to take a break from Netflix for this edition, because honestly, there's still so much to go - both in narrative films and documentaries - that I could do a column a day and still not be finished with Netflix by the end of next week. While I'm not the biggest fan of … Continue reading DownStream – Government Intervention
Movie theatres are starting to reopen across the country, and even flicks that initially went to a theatre are quickly becoming available on demand for those of us who still can't go. It's just the sort of thing to give us all a faint glimmer of hope that the world isn't completely terrible after all, … Continue reading DownStream – May Dates
It's amazing to me that one of the few good things to happen this year is the complete overhaul of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to finally address the myriad issues that have been raised for the past decade. All it took was a massive expansion of membership, anger over a whitewashed … Continue reading #OscarsNOWhite – Academy Unveils Representation Standards
This week, AMC theatres began opening again at various locations nationwide, with more scheduled to open next week. Regal is also back, as is Alamo Drafthouse. To those of you who are now able to go back to the cinema, I congratulate you, and beg you to be as safe as possible when you do. … Continue reading DownStream – April Showers
It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on all of us, and we've all suffered in different ways. As I've mentioned in my scant writings for the past five months, my biggest loss has been the ability to go to the movies and see new content. I'm grateful that I haven't … Continue reading DownStream – A Long Cold Lonely Winter
I know, I know. More than four months and that's what I give you for a header? A lame cow pun? It's been a while since I've posted an actual review on this site, and for that I apologize. The last several months have been a strain in more ways than one, but for our … Continue reading It’s Mooooooving – First Cow
Score another victory for the coronavirus. Less than a week after announcing changes to the Oscar process starting next year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has had its hand forced and put out a statement today noting that next year's Oscars will be pushed back by two months. In addition, the entire … Continue reading Push it Back, Push it Back, WAAAAAAAY BACK! – 93rd Oscars Rescheduled
The last three weeks have seen seismic changes in the way we as a society view instances of race, justice, and privilege. One of those avenues is in the form of reevaluating content. Celebrities have been asked to become more vocal about their humanitarian causes, while others have been criticized for myopic beliefs. HBO Max … Continue reading More Voices, More Choices – Academy Announces New Inclusion Initiatives
If you're actually reading this right now, there's at least a calculable chance that your first reaction was, "Why even bother?" For one, we're still in the throes of lockdown, with basically no functioning movie theatres to go to. For another, it's June 11 that I'm posting this. We're more than a third of the … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – June 2020
I Actually Paid To See This 