My July Film Favorites is here! I watched so many amazing films this month that were action-packed, anxiety-inducing, and straight out inventive! For my film favorites, I picked Justin Lin's Star Trek Beyond (see review), Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan and no joke, Ghostbusters! I also went to Outfest which is L.A.'s biggest and best LGBTQ+ film festival where I saw Andrew Ahn's Spa Night (see trailer), The Intervention, and Kiki. July was an exciting month for film especially because I got to experience it all at the peak of summer! Which were your film favorites for July?

Read more »

READ MORE

I had a chance to go to Guillermo del Toro's At Home with Monsters Exhibit at LACMA and it was utterly fantastic! We got to see all his inspirations, props, and figurines from all his films from Cronos, Hellboy, Blade II,  Pan's Labyrinth, Crimson Peak (see review), and beyond! It's incredible to see up close and personal his private collection that truly embodies not only his works but also the images of his boundless imagination. He had said his monsters are envisioned by the images he saw as a child and that is undoubtedly the most petrifying thing to know once you've witnessed the collection. If you have a chance, go see the exhibit for yourself before it leave in November, you will be equally dazzled and terrified.

Read more »

READ MORE

There has never been a time that A24 has let me down. They acquired and distributed the most innovative films to come our in the last decade like Spring Breakers, Under the Skin, The Witch, American Honey, and now, there's Moonlight. They've been doing a terrific job but now, they're taking leveling even higher up with Moonlight considering that it is A24's first in-house production alongside Plan B, with Brad Pitt as Executive Producer. This is Barry Jenkins' sophomore feature film and he is not messing around yall!

Moonlight is based on the play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue" by Tarell Alvin McCraney. The story tells the life story of a young man named Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) through three chapters of his life. This trailer is hands down one of the most beautiful trailers I've seen in a while. The luscious cinematography, tornado-like score, stories about sexuality are simply the kind of films I tend to fall deeply in love with. I love you so so so so much A24! Thank goodness the film is premiering at TIFF and then being released a month later. Till then, I gotta catch up with Barry Jenkins' first film, Medicine for Melancholy!

Read more »

READ MORE

You know that anything with Nick Cave is going to be an emotional and powerful experience as clearly seen in this trailer for his latest film,  One More Time With Feeling. It's been ten years since Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' has collaborated on Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and now they are reuniting for this film!  Originally the film was going to be a look at the  creation of Nick Cave & the Bad Seed's latest album, The Skeleton Tree but soon it evolved into something more as it shows Cave grappling with the sudden loss of his son Arthur last year. 

Nick Cave only came into my radar after I watched 20,000 Day on Earth at Beyond Fest and I was so enamored with it, I named it one of the best films of 2014! The trailer only offers a glimpse of what is in store for us but as always, it seems breathtakingly haunting and immensely somber. The film will be out on September 8th for a one night event! I'll be bringing my tissues along, no doubt.

Read more »

READ MORE

It has finally arrived! One of the most buzzed about films to come out of Sundance this year is Andrew Ahn's Spa Night! Ahn perfectly captures the specific yet universal aspect of the Korean-American experience with his directorial debut film. The story follows David Cho, a Korean-American teen who battles with his burgeoning sexuality and the familial expectations when his family's restaurant is forced to close. Joe Seo who plays David won the 'Breakthrough Performance' at Sundance Film Festival and it's clear, that there is immense talent in front and behind the camera. I've seen the film several times before it's LA premiere at Outfest which I was honored to write the capsule for and let me tell you, the film hit me like a rocket (in a good way)! Thank you Strand Releasing for finally releasing it August 26! 

Read more »

READ MORE

Time for another live-stream video! I've always wanted to do a Film Favorites video considering that they one for every genre on YouTube besides for film so I did one! There were so many incredible films that came out in June but the ones that left me LOLing, bat-shit terrified, and wholly polarized was Taika Waititi's Hunt for Wilderpeople, Na Hong-jin's The Wailing, & Nicholas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon, respectively. All three of these films came from an auteur with a strong vision that continuously dares to challenge us as spectators and as human beings. Let me know what your June film favorites were & if I missed anything! 

Read more »

READ MORE