FILM & TV

VHS Club | Escape from New York

VHS Club | Escape from New York

Given our current political predicament, no line in cinema feels more relevant than when Bob Hauk, the police commissioner in Escape from New York, says to Snake Plissken, “The president’s gone missing.” To which Plissken coolly responds, “President of what?” ...




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Review | The Bun is in the Oven—Waitress at VA Rep

On stage and in the kitchen, some recipes are meant to be followed to the letter, while some are wide open for flair and interpretation. Big Broadway musicals thrive on delivering an experience as replicable as a chain restaurant’s marquee burger. This is not a dig....

Sound Check | Say She She, Strawberry Moon, NO BS! Brass, & More!

Every day we grow the good name of Richmond music. Slowly but surely, we’re taking our place on the nation’s grand stage, showing the rest of the country what we have to offer in nearly every genre. This week’s shows are a continual testament to that fact. Got a show...

Ty Sorrell Walks Through Fire, Then Samples the Smoke

Return To Forever: A Profound Discovery is what happens when a lyricist stops performing survival and starts narrating resurrection. Ty Sorrell, paired with the crate-dug alchemy of Profound79, delivers an album that doesn’t chase trends so much as it chases truth....

Hollywood Cemetery: Presidents, Confederates, and A Vampire

In this city of the dead, I felt the weight of history bearing down upon me, the accumulated whispers of the past echoing through the hollows of my ears like a mournful sigh. No one needs teachings to realize that this ancient place wields some mystery. The James...

Metro Sound Is Still Here. Richmond Just Keeps Making It Harder.

When Mark Szafranski bought the building at 117 West Broad Street in 1991, the property was in disrepair. Water seeped from the upper floors, the windows were falling in, and downtown Richmond was, at the time, more forgotten than revitalized. But Szafranski, a...

Kyle’s Criterion Corner: The River (1951)

Based on Rumer Godden’s novel of the same name, The River stands as a pillar for French filmmaker’s Jean Renoir’s later often overlooked work. Based on Rumer Godden’s novel of the same name, The River stands as a pillar for French filmmaker’s Jean Renoir’s later often overlooked work. It’s a film that combines a coming of age story, nostalgia,...

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Kyle’s Criterion Corner: Hoop Dreams (1988)

Since its release over 20 years ago the legend of Hoop Dreams, a tale of two lower-income kids from Chicago striving for their ultimate dream to rise up and play in the NBA, is alive and well. Since its release over 20 years ago the legend of Hoop Dreams, a tale of two lower-income kids from Chicago striving for their ultimate dream to rise up...

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Kyle’s Criterion Corner: Thin Blue Line (1988)

In 1976 Texas, a 16-year-old kid named David Harris in the midst of his own delinquent crime spree picked up a hitch hiker named Randall Adams. In 1976 Texas, a 16-year-old kid named David Harris in the midst of his own delinquent crime spree picked up a hitch hiker named Randall Adams. Adams had showed up for a new job that fateful Thanksgiving...

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The Big Lebowski comes to Netflix, Bowtie Insomnia Cinema 4/10-11

All you Little Lebowski Urban Achievers out there to put on your bathrobe, fix a white Russian, and get out the bowling ball because “The Big Lebowski” is now streaming on Netflix Instant. All you Little Lebowski Urban Achievers out there to put on your bathrobe, fix a white Russian, and get out the bowling ball because “The Big Lebowski” is now...

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Kyle’s Criterion Corner: Gates of Heaven & Vernon, Florida

It is not exactly a revelation that a movie centering on death would be so philosophical or even existential, but how one involving a pet cemetery, and those behind and around it, is even more thought It is not exactly a revelation that a movie centering on death would be so philosophical or even existential, but how one involving a pet cemetery,...

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Kyle’s Criterion Corner: Every Man For Himself & Watership Down

Every Man For Himself 1980 (France) Director: Jean-Luc Godard Spine #744 Criterion Collection Blu-Ray, DVD, and Hulu-Plus Godard called Every Man For Himself his “second first film,” in that he was beginning a new chapter in his filmmaking career, setting up and experimenting with his own rules again. He was done making left-wing experimental...

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