Flash Frames

"She started banging on her door pounding on it, “let me in,” and then... bang!" Director: Geeta Gandbhir Synopsis: “Police bodycam footage reveals how a long-running neighborhood dispute turned fatal in this documentary about fear, prejudice and Stand Your Ground laws.” __________________________________________________ I’m self-aware enough to admit my failings as a newer critic, and one of those is that I rarely watch documentaries. It’s not that I don’t like them, but for the most part, I just don’t gravitate towards them. However, The Perfect Neighbor immediately stood out to me back in January when it premiered at Sundance. I didn’t personally know what it was about yet, but all I knew was that this doc was almost entirely made up of footage from police bodycams. There’s seemingly no interviews and no commentary of any sort either; you’re seeing simply what happened, intentionally designed that way to form your own thoughts on this incident. It’s a lot to ask from the ...

“The unforgettable true story of a UFC legend.” Director: Benny Safdie Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksandr Usyk Synopsis: “The story of legendary mixed martial arts and UFC fighter Mark Kerr.” __________________________________________________ I’ve really been looking forward to this one. It never dawned on me until I started to write this, but The Smashing Machine feels like a personal milestone for me. The first A24-distributed movie I’ve seen in a theater was Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler back in 2019, and I vividly remember being physically on the edge of my seat after that. I had such a visceral reaction to Uncut Gems , and I can also remember what I thought when the credits finished and the audience began to clear out: “I wanna make movies.” I can point out other movies in my life that I really love and are my personal favorites, but this is the movie that convinced me to commit to going to film school. Six years have passed since then, and I...

“A look behind the curtain.” Director: Taylor Swift Synopsis: “The exclusive world premiere of the music video “The Fate of Ophelia,” along with behind-the-scenes footage from the music video shoot, brand new lyric videos, and Taylor Swift’s personal reflections on songs from her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl .” __________________________________________________ I’m sitting in a hotel room in a different state, pretty much wiped from the first day of being at the Eerie Horror Fest this past weekend. Most of this is being written on downtime from the fest, especially since I went to my first midnight screening experience for Rats: Night of Terror last night/this morning. Although, I did just wanna talk about something I saw at a movie theater a few weeks back. I didn’t see a movie, though. That’s why I said “something” and not “movie” or “film,” or if you wanna get real fancy, a “picture.” For this little article, I’m writing about a musician. Not just any musician, though,...

Okay, this is my first time taking on a task like this, so please bear with me. I’m giving Oscar predictions a shot, and this is just gonna be a lot of fun! It’s a long one, though. Each category is in order of likely nomination, not alphabetical or anything. I really don’t have a lot to say for each category, but up here, I’ll talk about some changes that I think could happen. A lot of the technical categories are sort of in flux right now for me because there are a lot of variables. In terms of visuals effects , we obviously know that Avatar: Fire and Ash is winning, but it’s mainly the other nominees that could be interesting. I have Superman and Fantastic Four getting in, but I also have F1 in too. F1 could really fall out, though, and I think either Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning or TRON: Ares could probably take its place. The presence of Wicked: For Good is something I’m still on the fence about. Unless it’s just as praised as Part One last year, I think it’ll...

“Some search for battle, others are born into it…” Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti Synopsis: “Bob is a washed-up revolutionary who lives in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited and self-reliant daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her as both father and daughter battle the consequences of their pasts.” __________________________________________________ Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson has already cemented himself as one of the go-to directors of this era, and even if you don’t know that name, you’ve at least heard of the movies he’s made. There Will Be Blood , Punch-Drunk Love , Boogie Nights , The Master , Magnolia , Phantom Thread … He’s rarely missed, at least for me. It’s been tough to wrap my head around his latest film, One Battle After Another , and I’ve seen it twice. I gotta...