Editor's Note: This story that begins, as too many do, with a clown in someone’s DMs and ends with a camera duct-taped to a toy train. The first thing to know is that Mike Shea tried to make a normal introduction. In his mind, it was a filmmaker reaching out to a...
After most of a decade in which this locally-produced indie film was impossible to see, it's made it to a streaming service. Was it worth the wait? Recently, a locally filmed, indie movie called Ballin’ in the Fall of America: When Everything Else Fails has been put up on Amazon Prime. The movie, originally released in 2011, was tough to find for...
With the 2020 edition of the Richmond International Film Festival postponed, RIFF has found that the best way to stay active is to go digital. With the effect COVID-19 has had on all our lives, entertainment has fully transitioned into the virtual realm for everyone -- even your local film festival. The 2020 Richmond International Film Festival...
Ricky Shaw and Carl Sloppy are your typical 30-something best buds in Richmond… until they walk into the world of magic and imagination in their backyard shed. Ricky Shaw and Carl Sloppy are your typical best buds. They like to listen to heavy metal music, play video games and Dungeons and Dragons, and use their imaginations to go on wacky...
The Richmond Environmental Film Festival kicks off its 2020 edition on Friday, February 7 and runs for an entire week. In anticipation of a new year of fantastic films, here are six to look out for. Bird of Prey Cinematographer Neil Ritter is on a mission to document, and hopefully protect, the near-extinct Philippine Eagle. In Bird of Prey,...
Illustrator Matt Lively's enamel-and-tar paintings for Spider Mites Of Jesus brought unforgettable imagery to Jerry Williams' engaging documentary about legendary Richmond character Donnie Corker, aka Dirtwoman. How can you make a documentary about Richmond icon Dirtwoman that shows him selling flowers in front of Mamma Zu when you don't have any...
Prepare to laugh, cry, and laugh again -- spoken-word artist Roscoe Burnems will premiere his first stand-up special, Traumedy, at The HEALing Hub this Sunday. “Laugh till you cry, cry till you laugh.” As award-winning spoken word artist and RVA local Roscoe Burnems brings together comedy and spoken word for his first film special, Traumedy --...
After over a dozen adaptations on big and small screens, does the world really need Greta Gerwig's take on Little Women? For reviewer Chris Cassingham, the answer is a resounding yes. Louisa May Alcott’s book Little Women is about four girls growing up during and after the Civil war; Greta Gerwig’s movie Little Women is, in many ways, about that...
Clint Eastwood's film about the 1996 Olympic bombing hopes to critique unjust institutions, but loses its moral authority by manipulating a true story in pursuit of an obvious agenda. There is an exchange of dialogue in the latter half of Clint Eastwood’s new film, Richard Jewell, that distills the film’s guiding ideology. After finding out the...
In Knives Out, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson takes a stab at a traditional country-house murder mystery, with excellent results. Don’t be surprised to find out that one of the most politically prescient films of the year comes from a director whose last film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, sparked a backlash among hordes of rabid fans for making the...
