Statistics estimate there are only 20,000 wild lions left in Africa. 25 African countries have no lions left. What's happening to the king of beasts? That’s the question filmmaker Joni “Rogue” Rubin, a photographer and activist asked herself and she set out to find the answer. Her brutally honest documentary, Lion Spy, is the result. Born in South Africa, but living and working in Australia, Rubin returned to her birth country to go undercover to expose the big-game trophy hunting industry. Lion Spy is not an easy watch. One minute a giraffe is regally standing tall eating leaves from the top ..read more

With the Cannes Film Festival on the way May 14th – 25th, this year's awards season will officially begin. Out of all those promising films on the slate from Oscar winner Emma Stone in her next collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos, Kinds of Kindness, to Andrea Arnold’s Bird, a lot of movies that sound good on paper will be thrown against the wall to see if they stick. In the past decade-plus, Cannes has become a battle ground in the fight for female representation. The balance has changed. While this year sees only four films in competition directed by women including Arnold, down from last yea ..read more

Ethan Hawke has taken it upon himself to explore Flannery O’Connor cinematically. I understand the allure. O’Connor’s turn of phrase and rich Southern Gothic style begs to be on screen. Along with her stories, Flannery O'Connor was an iconic woman and a character in and of herself. Many novelists (Ethan Hawke being one himself) see pieces of ourselves in her life. And history definitely has pieces of her era in our era. The racial conflict and civil rights upheaval of the 50’s has a certain spark that we mirror in this very moment of time ..read more

Janine Sherman Barrois' The Big Cigar, the highly anticipated limited drama series that chronicles the story of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba, is coming soon to Apple TV+. Based on the monumental magazine article of the same name, The Big Cigar makes its global debut on May 17 with the first two episodes, followed by new episodes every Friday through June 14. “The Big Cigar” tells the true story of a Hollywood revolution meeting a social revolution: It’s a wild caper of the Black Panther founder escaping from the FBI to Cuba with the assistance of famed producer Bert Sch ..read more

Ryan Gosling takes on his most thrilling role yet in Universal Pictures newest comedy, The Fall Guy. It's best not to take this film too seriously, it's based on the 1981 television series and pays tribute to stunt work, taking full advantage of any opportunity for high-flying tricks. To say this film is action-packed would be an understatement. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt dazzle on-screen. The two of them surprisingly convey enough heart to charm audiences even while they are bursting out laughing from their several comedic scenes. "The Fall Guy" is an exciting moviegoing experience, providi ..read more

The Fall Guy is a movie about a big screen stuntman told from the eyes of a stuntman so everything is bigger, louder and more dangerous. It’s a movie within a movie within the making of a movie based on a TV show. If you can follow that, there’s a good chance you can keep up with this action-packed, tongue-in-cheek homage to the unsung heroes of film. Loosely based on the 1980’s Lee Majors television action series about stuntman Colt Seavers who moonlights as a bounty hunter, this Fall Guy puts pretty boy Ryan Gosling in the crosshairs of conspiracy as a down and out daredevil, fresh off an al ..read more

Shōgun explores 1600 Japan’s internal and external crises. Based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel, the new, ten episode Shōgun miniseries honors the country and time period of Japan, 1600. Into that world of internal and external strife, the British ship captain John Blackthorne thrusts himself, antagonistic to the Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries already established there. He is also appallingly uneducated in the culture he encounters ..read more

Kaili Blues merges past, present, and future in contemporary China. With its meandering narrative, it takes some patience to engage with Chinese writer/director Bi Gan’s Kaili Blues, but the effort is immensely rewarded with unusual immersion in contemporary life in Guizhou province, southwest China. There, the episodic story focuses on ex-convict Chen Sheng searching for his nephew Wei Wei whom, Chen believes, his half-brother Crazy Face sold into servitude. Inventive and gorgeous, Bi’s unique filmmaking is on full display ..read more

The Sharp Edge of Peace is an infuriating documentary about Afghanistan. The film concerns the attempts made by women leaders and others to restore women’s rights in Afghanistan via negotiations with the Taliban. It opens with footage of peace negotiator Fawzia Koofi in hospital, as she has just survived an assassination attempt. Koofi is one of four women chosen to be part of the Afghan government’s negotiating team as the country attempts to recover its footing after the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops, and the rise of the Taliban ..read more

Blending frank interviews with a treasure trove of archival images and their subject's own words, filmmakers Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill paint an incredibly intimate portrait of a 1960s and '70s icon in Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg. As a model, actress, mother, muse, and more, Pallenberg lived a life that was turned up to 11 as she became an integral part of the group surrounding the Rolling Stones in their heyday but was never anything less than her own woman ..read more