“tick tick… BOOM!” is the name of the musical Jonathan Larson wrote and performed about the failure of “Superbia,” his rock-opera adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 that was to be his ticket to Broadway. Sadly, this didn’t happen. If something good came out of that piece’s failure, it would be the powerfully personal follow up that would lead to the legendary Broadway groundbreaker “Rent.”

Throughout the centuries philosophers have responded to the idea of death in many ways. Kierkegaard saw grief as a door to faith while Heidegger found it a way to give deeper meaning to one’s life. It was Camus who found the absurdity in it all.

As adults, grief exists as an emotional conglomerate and people from all walks of life deal with it in different manners.

“Satanic Panic” is a very real fear that gripped the United States in the eighties and nineties.

Over those decades, there existed over 10,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse and death. By the late nineties the panic began to spread to other countries. The media and the church unleashed a terror campaign. Though not as large an issue as it once was, the fear persists to this day.

Dozens of amazing films once again show us the value of hewing to truth when so many seek to create their own alternative reality. This year’s DOC NYC demonstrated how truly talented are documentary filmmakers the world over, many of whom aren’t household names but nonetheless continue the search for truth in a world less and less interested in it. 

Here are some of the major offerings

Leonard (Frank Raharinosy) could be one of the worst chefs in New York City. His boss (Max Casella) tells him his lemon chicken “tastes like prostate cancer.” 

His navigation of life and his personal relationships is no better, as Leonard has lost his girlfriend Marie (Nora Arnezeder) within the first few minutes of the film, as he became too judgmental regarding her close

With a budget of almost two-hundred million dollars and twenty-million-dollar salaries for its three stars, the new Netflix release “Red Notice” exploded onto the streaming service this past weekend.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds are the three big-name stars that are a studio head’s dream cast. What does two-hundred million and three of the biggest Hollywood heavy-hitters get you?”

The past. Guilt, tragedy, regret, what we wish we could leave behind stays with us, sometimes becoming our life's burden.

In the new film “Time Now,” Jenny (Eleanor Lambert) returns home to Detroit years after a falling-out with her family, when her brother Victor (Sebastian Beacon) dies in a car accident.

To make sense of her brother’s life in the city, Jenny interacts with his inner

Experimental filmmaker Nobuhiko Ōbayashi was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2016. His team of doctors feared the director had only three months to live.

Ōbayashi defied the odds (although he was very ill) and made two more films before his death (three years after his diagnosis), 2017’s “Hanagatami” and this year’s “Labyrinth of Cinema” which was completed in 2019.

The actress Selma Blair had a promising career in Hollywood going at the turn of the millennium, appearing in major roles in “Cruel Intentions” and “Hellboy,” among many others. She seemed to be on an upward trajectory, appearing in dozens of other films and television shows. However, in recent years the actress was cruelly struck with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, making it difficult for her to walk or, many times, even to speak.

Alienation is unhealthy, it is not good for the psyche. Fading into the background with no friends or acquaintances, people who go unnoticed would do almost anything to have their voice heard and for someone to see them. Loneliness and an uncaring world can drive some people to madness.

In Aneil Karia’s “Surge,” we meet one such person, a man at the breaking point.