Robin Holabird

The Old Guard challenges traditional action movie conceits by putting women front and center as director and stars. Sure, D.C.’s Wonder Woman already did that—but with colorful, form fitting costumes designed to please comic book fanboys.  While The Old Guard’s graphic novel source bears similarities to comics, the team dresses in practical army gear.

Covid-19 failed to stop Reno’s annual movie festival, despite the closing of traditional venues. Joining with Artown for several free presentations, Reno’s Cordillera Festival put its “summer shorts” lineup at the West Wind El Rancho Drive-in. I watched all seven entries and love the quality, ingenuity, and insights the dedicated filmmakers create.

The movie Rag Doll gets its punch from a twist on the sports film genre by focusing on a young woman whose fight to survive takes her into mixed martial arts. 

Covid Cinematic alternatives flourish this month in Reno during Artown.

Disney Plus puts “The Room Where It Happens” in homes for streaming a version of the play Hamilton, once bound for movie theaters. Covid-19 changed those cinematic plans, moving the project’s release up to the thoroughly appropriate July Fourth weekend. 

Both the grim and bright sides of humanity show up in the documentary Runner about one of Sudan’s Lost Boys war victims. 

With a nod to the old Twilight Zone series, a new movie called The Vast of
Night takes viewers back to the nineteen-fifties through a television screen
leading to Paradox Theater and a set of strange events. 

Two projects originally slated for theaters probably get better play with their recent Covid induced straight-to-streaming release rather than fighting it out with giant projects in big movie houses.

In the tradition of Clueless and The Easy A, the new Netflix release called The Half of It transfers a classic piece of literature to a high school setting while maintaining the source material’s ultimate message. 

With a track record that includes Glee, American Horror Story, and Feud, Ryan Murphy puts his own fantasy spin on movie history in his project called Hollywood. Setting the story in nineteen forty-eight, Murphy and his co-creators imagine a world where an openly gay Rock Hudson finds work, while non-whites like Anna Mae Wong manage to win Oscars.

People continue finding flexible and creative movie watching methods as Covid-Nineteen restrictions continue. For instance, Reno’s science film festival called Sci-on goes completely online next Monday rather than use its usual base at the National Automobile Museum.

Besides catching up on all those streaming options you meant to watch for the past three or four years, the Covid-19 pandemic provides opportunities to start your movie making career. 

A look at a horror film shot in Ely, Nevada.

The new Netflix documentary.