Author: Chad Liffmann

Film Review: “We’re All In This Together”

Boland’s skills are on full display, thrice

One side of Boland’s twin performance.

Effectively playing a character on screen is hard. Effectively playing two characters on screen is harder. Directing yourself playing two characters on screen is lunacy! Well, lets officially jot down Katie Boland as an artistic risk-taker because she writes, directs, and stars in dual roles in We’re All In This Together. Did I mention it’s also her feature film directorial debut? The list of accomplishments we can attribute to this project are endless, and should be celebrated, even if the end result isn’t fully emotionally gratifying or cinematically coherent. We’re All In This Together (or WAITT, henceforth) is a lean family drama that juggles too many themes and side plots to successfully fit within a short 85 minute running time, but Boland’s devotion to the filmmaking craft and her on screen performance nevertheless emerge strong. 

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Film Review: “No Time To Die”

All the Bond we love and don’t love, shaken, not stirred

Looking back, Bond considers his life choices.

Nearly fifteen years ago, the world was introduced to Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale, the sixth actor to portray the iconic British secret agent (I’m not counting David Niven). Casino Royale portrayed Bond as a gritty, brutish, and most importantly, emotional character. It was a product of the time, a post 9/11 world where terrorism was no quipping manner and audiences desired “realism” over campiness, hence the popularity of the Bourne movies leading up to Royale. And now, the Daniel Craig era comes to a close with No Time To Die, his fifth film as Bond. No Time To Die is the perfectly fitting end in just about every manner, tying in all the familiar role-players from the previous films while finally bridging Craig’s emotional brutality with the campy, spy game action of previous Bond films. The opposing sensibilities don’t always gel. So the question is — will all audiences enjoy the precarious balancing act that director Cary Joji Fukunaga squeezes within a bloated 2 hours 45 minutes? No, definitely not. Like me, many will leave the theater entertained but also confusingly disappointed. However, No Time To Die’s value will appreciate over time. Even a week after viewing it, my acceptance and understanding of the film has grown.

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Film Review: “Together”

It’s like looking into a lockdown mirror!

She and He are so “happy” in lockdown TOGETHER.

Sometimes a film comes along, for better or worse, too soon or too late, that captures current events and our collective state of mind. Together, the new film by Stephen Daldry (The Crown; Billy Elliot), may be THAT film for the COVID pandemic. While its 2020 relevance and verbose, stage play-esque script may turn off some viewers, the phenomenal performances by the lead duo and an honest, unflinching story about a romantic relationship in close quarters elevate this small film to more respectable heights.

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Film Review: “The Suicide Squad”

DC brings a Gunn to a knife fight

The Suicide Squad
One of six (or seven) team poses in the movie.

DC, which obviously stands for Demolition Crew due to their incessant need to destroy CGI buildings in each film they release…. Oh, wait, it stands for Detective Comics? Ah. Well, in that case, they have a lot of repairing to do, both to their brand and to their movies, which have suffered from every production snafu, PR mess, and critical upheaval possible in the last decade. With the exception of the first Wonder Woman film in 2017, and delightful detours with Shazam! and Birds of Prey, the headlining slate of Batman, Superman, and Justice League-related films have been atrocious, including 2016’s Suicide Squad. Thankfully, The Suicide Squad (emphasis on ‘The’) pulls no punches as it blows up any trace of the previous film’s legacy. It’s a fun movie that requires no homework; you can enter the theater a DC expert or fresh-faced, and Suicide Squad provides a gory good time at the movies. Sure, it’s too long. Sure, its middle third is boring, forgettable, and obnoxiously sullen. Nevertheless, Director James Gunn has infused a sense of silly violent fun that studio rivals over at Marvel have been employing for over a decade, and which DC has been incapable of featuring until now (note: Birds of Prey was actually a better, under-appreciated righting of the ship). The Suicide Squad is not perfect, but it’s a helluva good time.

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Film Feature: 2021 Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival

The Dreamspeakers Festival Society website states that “When the first Dene filmmaker returned home to Canada’s Northwest Territories, his people had no words for his new art. They call it ‘Dreamtalking’.” The term ‘Dene’ refers to both the native language (also called Athabascan) and also the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Territories in Canada. Dreamspeakers was founded in 1993, and for the last 28 years has highlighted the films and media art of Indigenous artists from nations around the globe.

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Film Review: “The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It”

The devil went up to Connecticut; he was lookin’ for a soul to steal

Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) stands up to evil.

Now is a great time to go to the movies (assuming you’ve had at least one, and ideally both, vaccine jabs). The long hiatus from theater-going means that even the most mediocre films will benefit greatly from being seen on a large screen, blasting through surround sound systems, and riding the energy of an exuberant audience. The third installation of The Conjuring movies, not including the Conjuring universe spin-offs Annabelle, The Nun, and La Llorona, is not mediocre by any means.

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Single of the Week: Your Capricious Soul by Michael Stipe

Solo Stipe: An R.E.M. Story

We hear a sudden flow of synths providing a thumping backdrop, then Michael Stipe begins softly crooning, “Honey’s got got got a good feeling.” And just like that, R.E.M.’s former frontman is back with his first solo single ever, Your Capricious Soul, and as a listener I couldn’t agree more with this opening line. After R.E.M. disbanded in 2011, coinciding with the release of their fifteenth and final album, Collapse Into Now, fans were eager to learn if and what musical offerings Stipe would eventually and hopefully release unto the world. At long last, after contributing on a few third party projects over the last eight years, Stipe has released a track of his own (all proceeds going to climate advocacy group Extinction Rebellion). Your Capricious Soul is a tune that goes down easy, despite its diametrically opposed themes of hopefulness and hopelessness, as they relate to the state of the earth. The song works as a natural, albeit somewhat basic, continuation of R.E.M.’s work yet its more exploratory and steeped in consciousness than it initially suggests, completed with the poetic imagery and emotional complexity we’ve come to expect from Stipe’s songwriting. Continue reading “Single of the Week: Your Capricious Soul by Michael Stipe”

Album Review: Guided By Voices – Zeppelin Over China


The release of Zeppelin Over China (Feb 1st), an album title appropriately conjuring visions of a large scale and high concept endeavor, has every indication of a major milestone for Guided By Voices and frontman Robert Pollard. The double LP album consists of 32 songs and clocks in at 75 minutes (yes, that’s only ~2.5 minutes per song) — no song reaches four minutes. The experience of listening to Zeppelin Over China is a truly cohesive yet rambunctious audio journey, with the tone set immediately with the quick grungy cuts “Good Morning Sir” and “Step of the Wave”. If you aren’t impressed after the first five songs, the extended tracklist won’t win you over by the end. But if you are impressed, or willing to give the remainder a shot, then completing the album feels expectedly rewarding. Continue reading “Album Review: Guided By Voices — Zeppelin Over China“

Album Review: Laura Veirs – The Lookout

Laura Veirs hasn’t enjoyed the widespread popularity or been welcomed to the radio waves like her other Portland musician colleagues and frequent collaborators have, like The Decemberists and Sufjan Stevens. “Not a household name / but she’s been in your head all day / It would be so cool to be like Carol, Carol Kaye.” These lyrics from “Carol Kaye” off of Veirs’s 2010 incredible LP offering July Flame, just about sums it up. It’s unfortunate that Veirs isn’t the household name her music has well-earned the distinction of becoming. Alas, two more LPs and a collaboration album with Neko Case and k.d. lang (Case/Lang/Veirs) later, and Veirs is still delivering radio-worthy tunes that are as catchy as they are folksy and heartfelt. Continue reading “Album Review: Laura Veirs — The Lookout“

Film Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Dazzling, vibrant fun with a classy set list

Drax jumps right in.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the highly anticipated follow-up to the surprise superhero blockbuster from Marvel Studios, opens with a credit sequence set to Baby Groot dancing around a space station platform while the rest of the gang fight an intergalactic squid monster. Of course, Baby Groot is dancing to the late ’70s jolly tune “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra. If that isn’t a welcome return to the colorful, soundtrack-propelled, fun tone of the Guardians franchise, then I don’t know what is. From the first moments to the very end of the closing credits, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a fun ride with all the elements that made the first such a glowing success, and, even if it doesn’t feel quite as fresh and employs a few unorthodox plot maneuvers, it still delivers a ton of laughs and top notch visuals. 

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