Author: Mark Salcido

Matt Damon has never really shied away from compelling acting roles. You can pretty much find the guy in any well-known genre of film with varying degrees of performance. So, it is no surprise that Damon decided to try his hand at a drama with a sliver of thriller in Tom McCarthy’s Stillwater. The movie had its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and was so good that it garnered a standing ovation, and I would have to agree with that. Stillwater stars Damon as Bill Baker, the father of Allison played by Abigail Breslin alongside Camille Cottin as…

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has come a long way in his career and the man definitely knows how to sell himself and the product he stands with. Disney’s Jungle Cruise is a great opportunity for Johnson to build this franchise that has a few striking similarities to Pirates of the Caribbean. However, this movie used some of the bad parts of said franchise, sprinkled a bit of atrocious Indian Jones and The Crystal Skulls CGI, and drained all the well-known charisma from Johnson to a shockingly low level. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra with the writing done by Glen Ficarra and…

The Tomorrow War. That title alone opens the door to many issues mainly because of the subject it leads to: time travel. It’s very hard to create a cohesive story with little to no plot holes – you might see those words used a lot in this review – when it comes to tackling the subgenre.  Director Chris McKay and writer Zach Dean thought maybe they could have a crack at it and slap on some impressive action scenes that would show the acting/leading man range of Chris Pratt. What was created, though, was another dumb action movie that forced…

The Fast and Furious franchise is truly is a feat of marketing, creativity, and the sheer will of many people behind the scenes that helped lift it to the status we know today. The whole thing started as a Point Break clone about a bunch of thieves boosting TV/DVD combo sets, an FBI agent swore to stop them, and street racing. Honestly, it shouldn’t have worked – but it did – and it’s only got better — minus 2 Fast 2 Furious and Fast & Furious. Here we are 20 years later, and Justin Lin has decided to return the…

Director Edgar Wright is primarily known as the guy that enjoys mashing comedy with different genres and sprinkling a bit of rhythmic beat in his films. The Cornetto Trilogy, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and Baby Driver has a type of direction that is kinetically charged to make anyone notice top tap in unison. I’m not going a hide the fact that I am a huge Edgar Wright fan, but skepticism did pop in my head when the director decided to try his hand at documentary filmmaking with The Sparks Brothers. Joyously, I’m glad that my doubts were squashed as…

Being married is a tough bit. Real-life relationships are complex and have many ups and downs. Big budget-produced films in the modern era usually fall under the same sappy trope that ends positively and is too neat and clean to apply to reality. However, when someone goes into the Indie genre of cinema and attaches a story about marriage, divorce, and relationships in general, you’ll get a real-world result. Such is the case for Robert Machoian’s The Killing of Two Lovers. The film written and directed by Machoian features character actor Clayne Crawford and Sepidhe Moafi on the downswing of…

Noah Baumbach Marriage Story gave the audience a view into a family traversing the obstacles of divorces. The film reinstated with so many people and Robert Machoian’s The Killing of Two Lovers should be no different. The film starring Clayne Crawford and Sepideh Moafi features a relationship on the brink of total desegregation. The performance of the leads and the supporting cast helped elevate the script—also written by Machoian’s—to a degree that makes it poetic and a lesson on bonding. I was able to talk to Machoian and Crawford on what into making this film that will leave a lasting…

Just like death and taxes, it seems that the Hollywood Industry has made sure that award season would be a factor in our lives. The pandemic had put a pause on the filmmaking world, but many award contender movies were already in the can and ready to be viewed by an audience. The Academy of Motion Picture and Arts has been able to pluck some of these films and felt they deserve the covenant gold statue and a self-congratulatory pat on the back. With every Oscars ceremony, all the film news sites like to take a crack to predict who…

Some would call rotoscoping a niche form of animation. These types of movies/television shows are few and far between, but directors Richard Linklater and Ralph Bakshi have pulled the trigger on this amazing visual aid.  It’s no surprise that more filmmakers are using this style to tell compelling stories and directors Morgan King and Philip Gelatt are two who see it for its artful use in The Spine of Night. The film has many elements that go hand and hand in the adult animated science fantasy genre that cinephile’s love and appreciation. Starring Lucy Lawless, Betty Gabriel, Richard E. Grant,…

The Disney+ series, WandaVision, is definitely the fix we need to bring some enjoyment into 2021. Granted, many impatient folks complained and collectively uttered the words “what the fuck is going on” for the first three episodes, but fortunately, realized the mystery by episode four. Many viewers, critics, and comic book fans have been digging through each episode—at the time of this writing, there have been five—to figure out the series finale before we get there. I, myself, have become a fanatic of solving the enigmatic ending to what is sure to be a stepping stone to the next phase…