TwoOhSix Podcast - Interview with Shaz Bennett for Alaska is a Drag

Alaska is a Drag is now available on Netflix and Shaz Bennett's feature film debut puts her on the map as a director to keep an eye on. I was thankful to have an opportunity to speak with Shaz about the movie and about working with Ava DuVernay and Array Releasing.

Alaska is a Drag - Movie Review

The Movie: Alaska is a Drag

The Director: Shaz Bennett

The Cast: Martin L. Washington Jr., Maya Washington, Matt Dallas, Margaret Cho, Jason Scott Lee, Chris O'Shea, Kevin Daniels, Nia Peeples, Adam Tomei

The Story: Aspiring drag queen working at a fish cannery in Alaska struggles with bullying while caring for a twin sister who has cancer.

The Interview:

Another Round / Druk - Movie Review

The Movie: Another Round / Druk

The Director: Thomas Vinterberg

The Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe

The Story: Four friends, all high school teachers, test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in their blood.

The Donut King - Documentary Review

The Documentary: The Donut King

The Director: Alice Gu

The Story: This documentary tells Ted Ngoy's story that is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption.

The Interview:

The Dark and the Wicked - Movie Review

The Movie: The Dark and the Wicked

The Director: Bryan Bertino

The Cast: Marin Ireland, Michael Abbott Jr., Julie Oliver-Touchstone, Lynn Andrews, Tom Nowicki, Michael Zagst, Xander Berkeley

The Story: On a secluded farm in a nondescript rural town, a man is slowly dying. His family gathers to mourn, and soon a darkness grows, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over the family.

Over the Moon - Movie Review

The Movie: Over the Moon

The Director: Glen Keane and John Kahrs

The Cast: Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, John Cho, Ruthie Ann Miles, Margaret Cho, Sandra Oh

The Story: In this animated musical, a girl builds a rocket ship and blasts off, hoping to meet a mythical moon goddess.

One Night in Miami - Movie Review

The Movie: One Night in Miami

The Director: Regina King

The Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., Joaquina Kalukango, Nicolette Robinson, Beau Bridges, Lance Reddick

The Story: One Night in Miami is a fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.

News of the World - Movie Review

The Movie: News of the World

The Director: Paul Greengrass

The Cast: Tom Hanks, Steve Boyles, Helena Zengel

The Story: A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl, taken by the Kiowa people years ago, to her aunt and uncle, against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place that either can call home.

The Croods: A New Age - Movie Review

The Movie: The Croods: A New Age

The Director: Joel Crawford

The Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran

The Story: The prehistoric family the Croods are challenged by a rival family the Bettermans, who claim to be better and more evolved.

Promising Young Woman - Movie Review

The Movie: Promising Young Woman

The Director: Emerald Fennell

The Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Laverne Cox

The Story: A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who cross her path.

Wonder Woman 1984 - Movie Review

The Movie: Wonder Woman 1984

The Director: Patty Jenkins

The Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen

The Story: Rewind to the 1980s as Wonder Woman's next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah.

Soul - Movie Review

The Movie: Soul

The Director: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers

The Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, Donnell Rawlings, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Angela Bassett, Daveed Diggs, Wes Studi

The Story: A musician who has lost his passion for music is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul learning about herself.

Sylvie's Love - Movie Review

The Movie: Sylvie's Love

The Director: Eugene Ashe

The Cast: Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Aja Naomi King, Jemima Kirke, Tone Bell, Alano Miller, Erica Gimpel, Lance Reddick, Wendi McLendon Covey, Eva Longoria

The Story: A woman working at her father's record store in Harlem in the late 1950s meets an aspiring saxophone player.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Movie Review

The Movie: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

The Director: George C. Wolfe

The Cast: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts

The Story: Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her ambitious horn player and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable "Mother of the Blues".

Tenet - Movie Review

The Movie: Tenet

The Director: Christopher Nolan

The Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh

The Story: I have no idea.

Greenland - Movie Review

The Movie: Greenland

The Director: Ric Roman Waugh

The Cast: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Scott Glenn ,David Denman, Hope Davis

The Story: A family struggles for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster.

Funny Boy - Movie Review

The Movie: Funny Boy

The Director: Deepa Mehta

The Cast: Rehan Mudannayake, Arush Nand, Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi, Seema Biswas, Shivantha Wijesinha

The Story: Explores Arjie's sexual awakening from a young boy to a teenager who falls in love with a male classmate, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings.

TwoOhSix Podcast - Interview with Dana Nachman for Dear Santa

Dear Santa follows the United States Postal Service’s Operation Santa program over the course of a holiday season. Director Dana Nachman sat down virtually to spend some time talking about her documentary, her career, and how the generosity of Operation Santa has restored hope to a year that most of us are happy to see come to a close.

To the Ends of the Earth / 旅のおわり世界のはじまり - Movie Review

The Movie: To the Ends of the Earth / 旅のおわり世界のはじまり

The Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

The Cast: Atsuko Maeda, Shota Sometani, Tokio Emoto, Adiz Rajabov, Ryo Kase

The Story: A young Japanese woman finds her cautious and insular nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety show.

Max Cloud - Movie Review

The Movie: Max Cloud

The Director: Martin Owen

The Cast: Scott Adkins, Tommy Flanagan, Lashana Lynch, Elliot Langridge, Sally Collett, Franz Drameh, John Hannah

The Story: Retro gamer movie that features 16-bit action her Max Cloud with teenage gamer Sarah getting pulled into an adventure that could see her saving the day or getting lost in the game forever.

Songbird - Movie Review

The Movie: Songbird

The Director: Adam Mason

The Cast: K.J. Apa, Sofia Carson, Craig Robinson, Bradley Whitford, Peter Stormare, Demi Moore, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Walter Hauser, Lia McHugh

The Story: In 2024 a pandemic ravages the world and its cities. Centering on a handful of people as they navigate the obstacles currently hindering society: disease, martial law, quarantine, and vigilantes.

Parallel - Movie Review

The Movie: Parallel

The Director: Isaac Ezban

The Cast: Martin Wallstrom, Georgia King, Aml Ameen, Mark O'Brien, Alyssa Diaz, Shannon Chan-Kent, Kathleen Quinlan

The Story: A group of friends stumble upon a mirror that serves as a portal to a "multiverse", but soon discover that importing knowledge from the other side in order to better their lives brings increasingly dangerous consequences.

Proxima - Movie Review

The Movie: Proxima

The Director: Alice Winocour

The Cast: Eva Green, Zélie Boulant-Lemesle, Matt Dillon, Lars Eidinger, Sandra Hüller, Aleksey Fateev

The Story: An astronaut prepares for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station.

76 Days - Movie Review

The Documentary: 76 Days

The Director: Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, Anonymous

The Story: Raw and intimate, this documentary captures the struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan.

Sound of Metal - Movie Review

The Movie: Sound of Metal

The Director: Darius Marder

The Cast: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff and Mathieu Almaric

The Story: A heavy-metal drummer's life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing.

Dear Santa - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Dear Santa

The Director: Dana Nachman

The Story: Dear Santa shines a light on the 100- year-old Operation Santa Program of the United States Postal Service. Each year, hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa arrive at Post Offices around the country.

Ammonite - Movie Review

The Movie: Ammonite

The Director: Francis Lee

The Cast: Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, Alec Secareanu, Fiona Shaw

The Story: 1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever.

Monsoon - Movie Review

The Movie: Monsoon

The Director: Hong Khaou

The Cast: Henry Golding, Parker Sawyers, Molly Harris, David Tran

The Story: Kit, a British Vietnamese man, returns to Saigon for the first time in over 30 years, after fleeing during the Vietnam-American War.

Black Bear - Movie Review

The Movie: Black Bear

The Director: Lawrence Michael Levine

The Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon, Christopher Abbott

The Story: A filmmaker at a creative impasse seeks solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and surprising ways.

Miss Juneteenth - Movie Review

The Movie: Miss Juneteenth

The Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples

The Cast: Nicole Beharie, Liz Mikel, Marcus M. Mauldin, Kendrick Sampson, Alexis Chikaeze, Mikayla Rivers, Jaime Matthis, Phyllis Cicero, Lisha Hackney, Deborah Peoples, Don Mooney, Tj Foster, Shelly Jones, Keyon Ivory, Akron Watson

The Story: A former beauty queen and single mom prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the "Miss Juneteenth" pageant.

What Lies Below - Movie Review

The Movie: What Lies Below

The Director: Braden R. Duemmler

The Cast: Ema Horvath, Trey Tucker, Mena Suvari

The Story: A 16 year-old girl returns home from camp and learns that her mother has a new boyfriend, one she intends to marry to, a man whose charm, intelligence and beauty make him look like he's not human at all.

Half Brothers - Movie Review

The Movie: Half Brothers

The Director: Luke Greenfield

The Cast: Luis Gerardo Méndez, Connor Del Rio, José Zúñiga, Vincent Spano, Pia Watson, Juan Pablo Espinosa, Jwaundace Candece

The Story: Renato, a Mexican aviation exec, is shocked to learn he has an American half-brother he never knew about, the free-spirited Asher. They are forced on a road trip together, tracing the path their father took from Mexico to the US.

TwoOhSix Podcast - 2020 LAAPFF Interview with Ramona S. Diaz Director of A Thousand Cuts

Belushi - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Belushi

The Director: R.J. Cutler

The Story: Using previously unheard audiotapes recorded shortly after John Belushi's death, director R.J. Cutler's documentary examines the too-short life of once-in-a-generation talent who captured the hearts and funny bones of devoted audiences.

TwoOhSix Podcast - Interview with Shalini Kantayya Director of Coded Bias

Collective - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Collective

The Director: Alexander Nanau

The Story: Director Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor as they try to uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians and led to the deaths of innocent citizens.

Uncle Frank - Movie Review

The Movie: Uncle Frank

The Director: Alan Ball

The Cast: Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis, Peter Macdissi, Judy Greer, Steve Zahn, Lois Smith, with Margo Martindale, Stephen Root

The Story: In 1973, when Frank Bledsoe and his 18-year-old niece Beth take a road trip from Manhattan to Creekville, South Carolina for the family patriarch's funeral, they're unexpectedly joined by Frank's lover Walid.

Happiest Season - Movie Review

The Movie: Happiest Season

The Director: Clea DuVall

The Cast: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Burl Moseley, Victor Garber, Mary Steenburgen

The Story: A holiday romantic comedy that captures the range of emotions tied to wanting your family's acceptance, being true to yourself, and trying not to ruin Christmas.

Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams

The Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki

The Story: Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in the 100th annual Koshien, Japan's wildly popular national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include U.S. baseball star Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. But for Coach Mizutani and his players, cleaning the grounds and greeting their guests are equally important as honing their baseball skills.

The Twentieth Century - Movie Review

The Movie: The Twentieth Century

The Director: Matthew Rankin

The Cast: Dan Beirne, Sarianne Cormier, Catherine St-Laurent , Mikhaïl Ahooja, Brent Skagford, Seán Cullen, Louis Nigen, Trevor Anderson, Kee Chan

The Story: Determined to become the leader of the Dominion of Canada, a young W.L. Mackenzie King rises to power.

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist

The Director: Alexandre O. Philippe

The Story: A lyrical and spiritual cinematic essay on The Exorcist, exploring the depths of William Friedkin's mind's eye, the nuances of his filmmaking process, and the mysteries of faith and fate that have shaped his life and filmography.

Coded Bias - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Coded Bias

The Director: Shalini Kantayya

The Story: An exploration of the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery of racial bias in facial recognition algorithms.

Director Interview:

Run (2020) - Movie Review

The Movie: Run

The Director: Aneesh Chaganty

The Cast: Sarah Paulson, Kiera Allen, Pat Healy, Sarah Sohn

The Story: A homeschooled teenager begins to suspect her mother is keeping a dark secret from her.

Ainu Mosir / アイヌモシㇼ - 2020 HIFF Movie Review

The Movie: Ainu Mosir / アイヌモシㇼ

The Director: Takeshi Fukunaga

The Cast: Lily Franky, Kanto Shimokura, Riwka Shimokura, Debo Akibe, Tôko Miura

The Story: A coming of age tale about Kanto, a 14 year old boy, and a descendant of Japan's indigenous Ainu people, who struggles to come to terms with the recent loss of his father.

TwoOhSix Podcast - 2020 HIFF Interview with Takeshi Fukunaga Director of Ainu Mosir

Welcome to the TwoOhSix.com Podcast

Make Up - Movie Review

The Movie: Make Up

The Director: Claire Oakley

The Cast: Molly Windsor, Joseph Quinn, and Stefanie Martini 

The Story: On a remote holiday park in Cornwall, a young woman is drawn into a mysterious obsession when she suspects her boyfriend has cheated on her.

I Am Greta - Documentary Review

The Documentary: I Am Greta

The Director: Nathan Grossman

The Story: Documentary follows teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on her international crusade to get people to listen to scientists about the world's environmental problems.

Fatman - Movie Review

The Movie: Fatman

The Directors: Eshom Nelms, Ian Nelms

The Cast: Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste

The Story: To save his declining business, Chris Cringle, also known as Santa Claus, is forced into a partnership with the U.S. military. Making matters worse, Chris gets locked into a deadly battle of wits against a highly skilled assassin, hired by a precocious 12-year-old after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking.

Come Away - Movie Review

The Movie: Come Away

The Director: Branda Chapman

The Cast: David Oyelowo, Jordan Nash, Keira Chansa, Reece Yates, Anna Chancellor, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Angelina Jolie, Derek Jacobi, Michael Caine

The Story: When their eldest brother dies, Peter and Alice seek to save their parents from despair until they are forced to choose between home and imagination, setting the stage for their iconic journeys into Wonderland and Neverland.