Director Michael Mort has been working in stop motion animation for most of his cinematic career, working with studios such as Aardman Animations and his own studio Animortal Productions, and is a clear fan of old school action films and their over-the-top styles.
Interview with Tommy Bertelsen, Director of Welcome to Mercy
Welcome to Mercy is your second feature as a director, what attracted you to it?
I’m still figuring out what sort of filmmaker I am. Telling stories for a living is such a broad and nebulous job — Your work is this delicate combination of deeply personal ideas, natural instincts, collaborative partnerships, and practical opportunities. How you balance and navigate those ends up defining what you put out in the world… and I think in a very real way it also ends up defining who you are.
Teen Titans Go! to the Movies (2018) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
I’ve come to terms with “Teen Titans Go!” and I’ve especially come to accept it thanks to the shockingly good feature film. If there was ever a time where the superhero movie genre was ripe for parody and satire it’s 2018, and “Teen Titans Go! to the Movies” manages to do it better than anyone else. For everyone that’s come before, attempting to mock the whole appeal of the sub-genre, “Teen Titans Go!” captures the whole appeal and absurdity of the superhero movie and the superhero mythology as a whole. It also manages to cater to the hardcore comic book buffs in the audience, inspiring some great laughs from obscure references.
The Dario Argento Experience
Dario Argento is one of the most influential filmmakers of the horror genre, and on this week’s episode of “The Online Movie Show” we offer a tribute to his remarkable output. Film historian Troy Howarth returns as our guest, offering cogent commentary on all things Argento.
A Raisin in the Sun (1961): Criterion Collection [Blu-Ray]
It’s surprising that “A Raisin in the Sun” is just as socially and politically relevant today as it was in 1961. Deep down while “A Raisin in the Sun” is a family drama, it’s also a film about inequality both in housing and socially. It’s about the poor and have nots looking for their own big break in a world that’s unfairly balanced in another direction entirely. It’s very easy to see where the stage play ends and the film begins, as “A Raisin in the Sun” is primarily a one setting drama about people looking for their own exit from a situation that offers them absolutely no future of wider horizons.
The Princess Bride (1987): Criterion Collection [Blu-Ray]
It’s not hard to figure out why “The Princess Bride” is considered one of the all time great cinematic fantasy classics. Even today it manages to stand as a movie that’s way ahead of its time and deconstructs a lot of the fairy tale and hero’s journey tropes way before “Shrek” ever popularized the idea. Rob Reiner injects a meta-mold to “The Princess Bride” helping it stand apart from a lot of the other fantasy epics we would have seen from the decade. His choice to make the story of Princess Buttercup told by a grandfather to his sick grandson is a testament to the incomparable experience of being swept away in a good book.
The Night Sitter (2018) [Sin City Horror Fest 2018]
A young woman takes a gig watching a man’s son and his date’s son one evening as she cases the place. As the evening advances, supernatural events start putting a wrench in her plans.