I am elated that Disney and Piax have begun finding the value in and delving in to tales that revolve around people of color. There’s so much rich heritage in the latinx community involving spirituality, honor, love, and the power of family. There’s so much amazing folklore that could really stand to be passed on to a new generation of movie lovers with great respect as presented in “Encanto.” Although it’s primarily about a Latinx family, it’s deep down about generational trauma, and the burdens that our elders can place on the youth, whether they realize it or not
Tag Archives: Music
You Have to See This! Last Night in Soho (2021)
Streaming On: Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play Movies & TV
While director Edgar Wright is still fresh in to his career and has churned out so many superb films, his ambition has managed to help elevate him in to a better filmmaker, one of bigger substance and larger scale. “Last Night in Soho” prove it, as it feels like that poppy bizarre sixties thriller that we might have actually seen in the sixties. Perhaps starring Natalie Wood? Maybe Peggy Lipton? “Last Night in Soho” has everything going for it; it’s the type murder mystery that audiences have been craving. It has a unique horror bent, and Wright has delivered on pop culture cult films like “Shaun of the Dead” and “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.”
You’re Watching Video Music Box (2021)
The story of Video Music Box is long, long overdue. Video Music Box existed in a world where everyone “wanted their MTV.” While MTV hesitated to play music from people of color well in to the eighties, “Video Music Box” was a New York institution that proudly played music videos and performances from African American and minority artists that were legendary and up and comers, and for that it continues to be heralded by iconic music artists.
Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958): The Film Detective Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
The Z Movie to end all Z movies, “Frankenstein’s Daughter” is both a cult classic and a classic piece of cinematic trash. It’s a god awful attempt to take the Frankenstein tale and retro-fit it in to a teen horror drama about coming of age, legacy, and uncomfortable scenes of men aggressively hitting on high school girls. In either case, “Frankenstein’s Daughter” is something of an anomaly, it’s a movie that’s been widely accepted within the genre, but it’s just so painfully bad when you finally experience it.
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) [Blu-Ray/DVD]
With Shout! Studios being given the rights to Laika Studios’ catalogue, they’ve been releasing almost all of their acclaimed award winning films with some new features. If you’ve been a fan of Laika over the years as I’ve been, it’s not surprising that they’ve risen in the ranks alongside PIXAR and Disney as one of the best of their ilk. Probably their best yet is “Kubo and the Two Strings,” a wonderful mixture of mythology, folklore, horror, action, and adventure along with their amazing animation.
In the Heights (2021) [Blu-Ray/Digital]
In a really crappy summer and a pretty hectic year in Hollywood, one of the bigger releases in 2021 was “In the Heights.” It’s a movie I’d been looking forward to for a long time, since Lin Manuel Miranda is one of my personal heroes. It’s finally brought to film by director Jon M. Chu after being in literal development hell since 2008. Jon M. Chu is no stranger to films involving dancing and urban settings, thankfully, and we’re given an absolutely dazzling, emotional, and energetic musical.
Dreams on Fire (2021) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]
Yume has a passion for dance. She leaves for Tokyo where she takes dance classes, joins contests, gets hired as a dancer, and generally lives the life of a dancer with all its ups and its downs.