Dr. Phil Kennedy is a pioneer of brain-to-machine interfacing. He lovingly calls his patients and experiments cyborgs -- a science fiction term describing a combination of human and machine. Kennedy, himself, is one of those cyborgs. Kennedy, of Irish descent and with a calm, jovial voice reminiscent of Liam Neeson, talks of his loner work [...]

Tribeca Virtual Experience - Intimate, innovative, intelligent, and informative -- I am not at a loss of praises to sing for The Severance Theory: Welcome to Respite. Making its world premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in its 2021 lineup of virtual reality experiences, The Severance Theory: Welcome to Respite is one such VR [...]

Tribeca 2021 Screening - Many artistic troupes matched out of the creative boon of expression that marked the 1960s and 70s, and one such artistic leader, Will Vinton, became the father (or illegitimate step-father, to some) of claymation, leading a team of artists and writers to revolutionize animation. Directed by Marq Evans, ClayDream follows Vinton's [...]

SUNDANCE 2021 PREMIERE - Black Bodies (2020) is a short written and directed by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall (Marathon (2020), Haven (2018)) and is being featured in the 2021 Sundance Film Festival's "Shorts Program 3," a lineup of eight comedic, dramatic, and documentary-style shorts. Among the other very personal short stories included in this block, Black Bodies [...]

SUNDANCE 2021 PREMIERE - One of the things I’ve grown to miss during the Coronavirus pandemic is dirty, smoky, seedy clubs. I have always kept one foot staunchly in the theatre and comedy scene and this means many improv and stand up nights at questionable locations (hoping my car won’t get towed, ticketed, or totaled) watching [...]

SUNDANCE 2021 PREMIERE - While I *could* immediately & happily launch into my opinions on the scenario The Affected presents, my personal views don’t really have anything to do with the quality or watchability of this short film so I won’t take that bait.  Instead I’ll focus on how successfully The Affected presents a hypothetical [...]

SUNDANCE 2021 PREMIERE - Alisi Telengut directs this animated short film dealing with Mongolian/Siberian ceremonies and rituals that, at the very least, isn’t exactly like a million other things you’ve seen. The Fourfold looks as though many materials were successfully and imaginatively used to make this brief snippet of life from another part of the [...]