Split Decision: Sundance Faves
This week’s question: What is a film you love that premiered at any year's Sundance Film Festival?
THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL at 20: Bono, Wenders, and Gibson in the City of Angels
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, The Red Herring
The Million Dollar Hotel crossed my path because of my low key obsession with one of the last rock bands to overtake the monoculture: U2.
Wandavision Episodes 3 and 4 pull back the curtain on our favorite powered couple
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, The Red Herring
Wandavision...now in color! With its third episode, the show moves along the sitcom timeline into the late 1960s and early 1970s, more Here’s Lucy than I Love Lucy.
PALMER is a heartwarming story about fatherhood and acceptance
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, The Red Herring
Unless they are arriving at the hands of a renowned auteur like Hirokazu Koreeda or Ken Loach, it can be hard to make time for smaller dramas. Palmer serves as a reminder that there is still room for these films.
Split Decision: Charlie Chaplin's Films
Each week, Ryan will pose a question to our staff of knowledgable and passionate film lovers and share the responses! This week’s question: In honor of the recent centennial for The Kid, what is your favorite film directed by Charlie Chaplin?
Read MoreAway
Written, directed, animated, and scored by Gints Zilbalodis
Running time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
by Ryan Silberstein, The Red Herring
Film is a collaborative medium by nature, and animation is, traditionally, even morso. So at minimum, Away would be a curiosity as one man, Gints Zilbalodis, created every element of the film and brought it to life. But beyond that, this feature film provides enjoyment alongside allowing the audience to bask in its enthusiasm.
Read MoreWandaVision: Episode 1 & 2
by Ryan Silberstein, The Red Herring
The first two episodes of WandaVision treat the classic American artform of the sitcom as something to be replicated, to delightful effect.
MJ's Top Ten of 2020
by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy
A couple weeks before the end of the year (and what a year it’s been), I asked everybody to list their top five movies that they’d seen so far. This is always a tough chore because people are trying to cram in the films they’d heard about but missed throughout the year and then there’s the Christmas Day releases that only a few people have seen by that point. This means that people will always look back at their list in a year or two and find things that they wish they would've included, but just hadn’t seen yet. I feel like this year has exacerbated that situation because everyone has had to settle into finding films through different avenues.
Here, I’ve compiled everyone’s rankings and responses to give the MovieJawn Top Ten for 2020.
Read MoreDisney's The Great Movie Ride
by Ryan Silberstein, The Red Herring
Disney's The Great Movie Ride was a monument to the power of theme parks and cinema.
Read MoreNow Presenting: Moviejawn's Summer 2020 Issue
by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy
Greetings movie friends! As I’m sure most of you know, in addition to our website which mostly covers new movie reviews, we also make a quarterly print zine. I thought it’d be fun to give everyone a quick glance at all the films that are covered in our most recent issue (which focuses on circuses, carnivals and fairs) and where you can find them. Step right up! to follow the links for the titles and it’ll take you to a listing of where it can be found (mostly powered by JustWatch.com).
Read MoreChica Chica Boom Chic: Escaping with Carmen Miranda
by Ryan Silberstein
I knew the stereotype before I knew the stereotype – a smiling woman with a hat decorated with fruit – before I knew it came from a specific woman, Carmen Miranda. The first time I noticed Carmen Miranda was in Guillermo del Toro’s 2017 film, The Shape of Water, when Eliza (Sally Hawkins) and Giles (Richard Jenkins) are watching That Night in Rio on television. The Shape of Water takes place in 1962, very purposefully set against the height of Cold War tensions.. But its main characters are not gripped to the nightly news – classic movie musicals are most often on Giles’ television set. And in a key moment, Carmen Miranda’s beaming smile and energetic music spring forth into the apartment, offering a welcome refuge from the uncertain news of the day.
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