Lovely, Dark, and Deep (2023) [Fantasia Film Festival 2023]

According to David Paulides, the author of the Missing 411 books, he estimates that there are over 1,600 unexplained disappearances in North American National Parks. In “Lovely, Dark and Deep,” director Teresa Sutherland offers up one of the more complex and haunting supernatural thrillers of the year, all set within the confines of a national park. What makes “Lovely, Dark and Deep” so haunting is that director Sutherland sets the entirety of her film within a national forest, all of which seems so suffocating and all consuming from the moment character Lennon drives in to its threshold.

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Blackout (2023) [Fantasia Film Festival 2023]

I think when it’s time for distribution that audiences (especially long time fans) might just connect with what director Larry Fessenden puts down here. As for me, it lost me after the blood soaked prologue. Like most film outputs from Fessenden, “Blackout” suffers from a lot of sub-plots that are either left dangling or abruptly closed, all while never quite deciding on a tone. Is “Blackout” a horror drama, just a drama, or a drama comedy that happens to have a werewolf?

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The Academy Museum Celebrates Silent Cinema This Summer

As a nod to Turner Classic Movies (TCM)’s “Silent Sunday Nights,” hosted by Academy Museum Director and President Jacqueline Stewart, the museum is launching a series of silent film screenings this summer. Historian David Pierce has concluded that only 26% of American silent features survive in complete form.

Both TCM and the Academy Museum are dedicated to showcasing the films of this important period in filmmaking history as part of our cultural heritage. Taking place on Sundays at 2pm, Silent Sundays will showcase iconic movies from the silent era as well as forgotten gems and international classics.

Among just some of the films being screened are Earth (Zemlya), the ever first screening of the film outside of Europe with a new soundtrack for the film created by Luke Corradine by order of the UFACE association, Flesh and the Devil with Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla, and the 100th Anniversary screening of the Harold Lloyd masterpiece Safety Last!

“Silent Sundays” will screen at the Academy Museum at Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, for more information on the programming, movie times, and purchasing tickets, visit the Academy Museum Website.

Shortbus (2006) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]

Director John Cameron Mitchell’s “Shortbus” is a movie I’d only ever heard about since its 2006 release but never actually sat down to watch. Nothing really prepared me for what he had to offer in terms of not only commenting on sexuality but on sex in general. “Shortbus” is unabashedly shocking in its presentation, offering up a movie about a group of New Yorkers, all of whom are seeking human connection. Some of them think that sex will grant them that connection, while some of them are just seeking emotional connection that may or may not allow them that desire with sex and various sexual acts.

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Six Films We’re Looking Forward to for Fantasia Fest 2023 [Fantasia Film Festival 2023]

Once again Cinema Crazed has the honor of covering Fantasia Film Festival, and we’re getting in our choices for movies we’re looking forward to seeing. Every year we try to cover as many films as possible, and every year we accumulate a list of movies that we’re anxious to seek out in the festival. Fantasia has already released a list of their first and second waves and we compiled a list of five movies that caught our attention the most.

This year Fantasia runs from July 20th to August 9th at Montreal!

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Querelle (1982) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]

Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s adaptation of “Querelle” is a divisive movie and has been for a long time. It’s a movie that originally split some critics and journalists, as it’s a movie that’s been explained as a film you’d have to be almost exclusively gay to watch. That’s not a criticism or chastising, but the popular opinion I’ve read seems to indicate that it’s mostly clicked with gay audiences. “Querelle” is very much tailored to gay audiences, as it’s a movie about self discovery and main character Querelle searching for a sense of identity.

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