You are viewing the "Gordon Briggs" Archives
Now Playing: ‘Mother Mary’ mixes fashion, music, and fantasy into one strange brew
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
We’ve all blocked, unfriended, and ghosted someone over the years. Maybe we did it to a person we were once close to. However, sometimes the people we’ve cast out of… Read More
Now Playing: ‘I Love Boosters’: a surreal social satire about shoplifters
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
“Booster”, in slang, is a shoplifter who steals high-priced items from a store to resell them. With his new film, I Love Boosters, provocative director Boots Riley crafts a clever,… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Ready or Not 2’ and ‘They Will Kill You’: Tell the same story with different results
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
If you’re an avid movie watcher, it happens from time to time: you go to the theater to watch two different movies by different filmmakers, yet it feels like you’re… Read More
Now Playing: ‘The Drama’ is a dark anti-rom-com guaranteed to divide audiences
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” That’s the question that slowly snowballs and unravels a relationship in The Drama, a pitch-black comedy about love, judgment, and the nature of… Read More
Now Playing: Space Race Cinema
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
This week, NASA made history again when the Artemis II crew completed a journey around the moon. This time, TV and phone screens showed us a view of Planet Earth… Read More
Now Playing: ‘The Librarians’ is an informative look into the battle over book banning
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
The subject of banned books has always interested me. I’ve always believed that if people are actively trying to prevent you from reading a certain book, it’s probably a book… Read More
Now Playing : Outer space, inner turmoil
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
Project Hail Mary has been a hit with audiences worldwide. However, the film is one in a series set in outer space that explores the theme of isolation. Here are… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Project Hail Mary’ delivers a humorous sci-fi crowd pleaser
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
Our sun is dying, and Earth doesn’t have much longer to live. Our only hope is a crew of astronauts who will build a ship, launch into space, and carry… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Love Hurts’ – three movies about killer couples
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
The recent movie The Bride! is the latest edition of the series of films I call “Killer Couple” films. These are classics like Bonnie & Clyde or True Romance that… Read More
Now Playing: ‘The Bride!’ is a memorable mess of a monster movie
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
The new film The Bride! is a mess, but what do we mean when we say ‘mess’? The definition refers to a state of disorder, untidiness, or dirtiness, often referring… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Pillion’ is an effective romance wrapped in leather
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
Usually, BDSM is portrayed in movies as something dark, violent, and ‘kinky’. I go back to films like 50 Shades of Grey with its torrid office affair, or that infamous… Read More
Now Playing: When Worlds Collide: three excellent films about colonialist , conquerors, and Indigenous communities
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
While some films have glorified the exploration of the Americas, the recent film Magellan is one in a series of films that depict the conquest of the Americas and the… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Magellan’ is a memorable movie about the horrors of colonialism
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
Sometimes even the most well-intentioned film can make the horrors of history look entertaining. Whether it’s the allure of high-seas adventures, war films that take us to ancient battlefields, or… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’ is a terrifically loopy time travel odyssey
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
We start in a diner, where people are having a meal and drinking coffee without a care in the world, when all of a sudden, he appears. A strange, disheveled… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Testament of Ann Lee’ is a strange and sensual Shaker musical
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
I’ve seen some very strange musicals recently. Once exclusively the territory of award-seeking prestige bio pics and adaptations of popular Broadway shows, the Hollywood musical has morphed into something darker… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Castaway Cinema’ – three daring desert island movies
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
I enjoyed Sam Raimi’s new film Send Help. The movie is the latest example of what I call ‘Castaway Cinema’, a small sub-genre of films that explore what happens when,… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Send Help’ is a creepy and comedic castaway story
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
I call them “castaway movies.” They’re adventure stories where one or more characters must survive both the untamed wilderness and their own demons after they’ve been washed up on a… Read More
Now Playing: Pulling back the curtain on Shakespeare
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
I enjoyed the recent film Hamnet, but it is one of several adaptations that have focused on the challenges of staging a Shakespearean production. Here are three movies about producing… Read More
Now Playing: ‘Hamnet’ the play is the thing
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
This was a beautiful film. We have seen several adaptations of Shakespeare plays, including films like Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love (1998) and All is True (2018), which each… Read More
‘No Other Choice’: When finding the right job is murder
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
Yesterday, Man-su was a gainfully employed factory worker with a wife, a house, and a family. But now he’s been fired. Out of work for months, Man-su is desperate for… Read More
Now Playing: ‘It Was Just an Accident’ – A remarkable thriller where past and present collide
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
I love movies about the past. I don’t mean historical dramas; I mean those films where some trauma from the past breaks through and disrupts the present. It Was Just… Read More
Now Playing: Three essential cyberpunk movies
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
Cyberpunk, with its dystopian urban settings, corporate overlords, and cybernetically enhanced bodies, is a style that has been used to describe several memorable science fiction movies. However, after being disappointed… Read More
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’: When looking good isn’t good enough
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
Let me start this review by admitting that I enjoyed the first two Avatar movies. While the films remain visually entrancing, I found this latest installment to be frustratingly repetitive…. Read More
Lowlifes, Liars, and Thieves: The Cinema of the Safdie Brothers
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
The new film, Marty Supreme, has generated both critical praise and serious award-season buzz for its director, Josh Safdie. However, before he went solo, Safdie was part of a directing… Read More
‘Marty Supreme’ is one of 2025’s most entertaining films
By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on:
In the middle of this movie, there’s one hell of a scene. Down on their luck and hard up for cash, the characters Marty (Timothée Chalamet) and his best friend… Read More