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Catch Up With ‘Flee’ Before the Academy Awards (Review)
22Feb By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments
Features, Film, Reviews

Catch Up With ‘Flee’ Before the Academy Awards (Review)

Danish drama 'Flee' is one of the most unique nominees at this year's Academy Awards. It earned a nomination for Best International Feature Film, but also made history for its inclusion in the categories for Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary Feature. The film, which world premiered at Sundance last year, introduces us to a man in Denmark who finally breaks his silence on being a child refugee. Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen tells the intensely personal story of one his best friends from high school. We're introduced to him as Amin Nawabi, but that's a pseudonym. Combined with the animation, it allows Amin to tell his story, but remain protected. Born in Kabul, Amin's family was torn apart after their father was arrested and the country was torn apart by war. In...
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Adams Traktor Drops Optimistic New Single “You Found A Way”
22Feb By mendowerksNo Comments
Features, Music

Adams Traktor Drops Optimistic New Single “You Found A Way”

The new single from Adams Traktor is a bit of a departure from their previous work. "You Found A Way" finds songwriter JR Smith switching it up from the darker lyrics present on previous songs. Instead, the track is more of an upbeat love song. It combines elements of rock, pop, and even a hint of some 80s era synth. Adams Traktor is a project formed by JR Smith who is originally from Seattle. While from the west coast, he has called Europe home for more than two decades. Having worked in the technology field, music has always been a major part of his existence. According to an article in Vogue, he went for a five-month job and up staying. Smith's goal with Adam's Traktor is to explore and take alternative rock music to another level. On "You Found A Way" he taps into his own life e...
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Interview: Actor/Writer Jessica Pinfield Discusses Award-Winning Short Film ‘Red Giant’
15Feb By Matt Shiverdecker1 Comment
Features, Film, Interviews

Interview: Actor/Writer Jessica Pinfield Discusses Award-Winning Short Film ‘Red Giant’

In early 2020, actor and writer Jessica Pinfield was able to bring her first screenplay to life when cameras rolled on a short film called 'Red Giant.' Her co-star in the film, Leven Rambin, was also the director and the two women had a very successful run on the festival circuit last year picking up accolades at the Indie Short Fest, IndieXFest, and the Phoenix Film Festival among many others. The apocalyptic drama was recently posted online (watch 'Red Giant' on Vimeo) and I had a chance to catch up with Jessica to talk about the film and find out what she's working on next. Jessica Pinfield winning Best LGBTQ Film of 2021 at the Independent Short Awards Can you tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind 'Red Giant' and what the process was like going from an idea ...
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YA Novel Adaptation ‘The Sky is Everywhere’ Premieres Today on Apple TV+ (Review)
11Feb By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments
Features, Film, Reviews

YA Novel Adaptation ‘The Sky is Everywhere’ Premieres Today on Apple TV+ (Review)

It's been a long road to release for 'The Sky is Everywhere,' a charming and occasionally heartbreaking adaptation of Jandy Nelson's 2010 debut young adult novel. Warner Bros. first optioned the book back in 2015. By 2019, the project ended up at Apple, where they used their partnership with indie studio A24 to hand it over to critically acclaimed director Josephine Decker ('Madeline's Madeline,' 'Shirley'). Grace Kaufman in “The Sky Is Everywhere,” premiering February 11, 2022 in select theaters and globally on Apple TV+. In this teenage melodrama, Lennie (Grace Kaufman) and her older sister Bailey (Havana Rose Liu) have grown up in the pacific northwest, raised by their grandmother (Cherry Jones) and uncle (Jason Segel). When Bailey tragically and unexpectedly dies, it sends Le...
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What’s Past is Prologue With Kanye West in ‘jeen-yuhs’ (Review)
10Feb By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments
Features, Film, Reviews

What’s Past is Prologue With Kanye West in ‘jeen-yuhs’ (Review)

In recent years, the mention of Kanye West's name has become an automatic tune out for me. His ridiculous antics, including launching a failed Presidential campaign, might be comical if they weren't indicative of a man struggling with mental illness surrounded by people who enable his worst impulses. A new documentary film series from Netflix takes us back to the start. Filmmakers Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah have taken 21 years worth of intimate footage and given us the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's all here, perhaps much to Kanye's chagrin. Right before Act 1 premiered at Sundance last month, he declared that he must have final cut. As recently as this Monday, Kanye posted online that he thought all the narration should be redone by Drake (in the film, it's us...
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Interview: Jackie Bristow Releases Vibrant New Single “Livin’ For Love”
4Feb By SimonNo Comments
Features, Interviews

Interview: Jackie Bristow Releases Vibrant New Single “Livin’ For Love”

Nashville-based, New Zealand-born, Jackie Bristow is set to take the country music world by storm. Her new single "Livin' For Love" is out now and sets the table nicely for the release of her new album. Outsider is Bristow's fifth studio album and is due out in March. We recently had a chance to catch up with the talented singer/songwriter. Be sure to check out the interview (and music video) below. We'll get into some of the challenges of filming a music video while on lockdown. Plus we have more info on which popular HBO show you may have recently heard one of her older songs. When COVID arrived in March of 2020, while visiting family in New Zealand, Bristow was unable to return to the United States. Thankfully due to advances in technology, she was able to collaborate with produ...
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‘The Fallout’ Premieres on HBO Max (Review)
1Feb By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments
Features, Film, Reviews

‘The Fallout’ Premieres on HBO Max (Review)

Even with the pandemic shift to online learning in some locations, last year there were 34 school shootings in the United States. In Megan Park's directorial debut, a group of students struggle to cope after a fellow student guns down several of their classmates. While Fran Kranz's recent drama 'Mass' deals with parental grief several years after a school shooting, 'The Fallout' handles the immediate aftermath of survivor's guilt from the student perspective. Jenna Ortega gives a revelatory performance as Vada, a 16-year-old who just happens to be on a hall pass in the restroom when the tragic incident begins. Vada grabs Mia (Maddie Ziegler), another young student who happens to be in the restroom at the time, and they hide in one of the stalls, getting up to stand on the toilet ...
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Sundance 2022: ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ (Review)
28Jan By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments
Features, Film, Reviews

Sundance 2022: ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ (Review)

The news first broke in late 2017 that Lizzy Goodman's Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock & Roll in NYC 2001-2011 would be adapted into a four-part docuseries by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, the directorial duo behind the LCD Soundsystem concert documentary 'Shut Up and Play the Hits.' The best-selling book named after a song by The Strokes chronicled the rise of New York City's music scene in the wake of 9/11. By the summer of 2001, I was three years out of college and had become Music Director and on-air DJ at the legendary WOXY-FM (aka "97X...BAM! The Future of Rock and Roll") in southwestern Ohio. Our listeners loved British bands and music from overseas, but this new batch of upstart bands from NYC were a hit on the air and The Strokes were actually our thir...
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Sundance 2022: ‘Nothing Compares’ (Review)
25Jan By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments
Features, Film, Reviews

Sundance 2022: ‘Nothing Compares’ (Review)

In her documentary feature debut, Irish director Kathryn Ferguson pays tribute to an artist who changed her life. 'Nothing Compares' could have easily been a docuseries and gone into greater depth on the career of Sinead O' Connor, but it focuses mostly on the key years of 1987-1992 when O'Connor experienced an meteoric rise and fall. As O'Connor burst onto the international music scene in 1987 with her ferocious album "The Lion and the Cobra," it was clear that she was a force to be reckoned with. She had already recorded and scrapped the first attempt at making the record, starting over to get things right. The songs on it were the culmination of young life already fraught with internal struggles, doubts, and demons. O'Connor turned it into a surprise hit, with multiple cha...
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[Interview] Shut Up & Play Some Pop Punk: A Chat with Mikei Gray of The Frst
25Jan By Ambur MasenNo Comments
Features, Interviews

[Interview] Shut Up & Play Some Pop Punk: A Chat with Mikei Gray of The Frst

Given the fact that that the When We Were Young festival sold out in mere hours (and now has not only a 2nd, but a 3rd date), it shouldn't be surprising that pop punk is here to stay. It certainly doesn't surprise Mikei Gray of The Frst, whose latest single, "Pop Punk Song", captures the mood of an entire generation in a simple, yet catchy way.   So, to quote The Frst, allow me to "shut the fuck up and play some pop punk" for you: "Pop Punk Song" by The Frst: streaming now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21z4WWp5w4&feature=youtu.be My favorite thing about The Frst's "Pop Punk Song" is that while it's got that catchy, cathartic chorus that's just begging to be screamed at a show, it's also campy and self-aware. At first, I ...
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