S. Roy

Samir is a talkative and excitable film graduate who parlayed his cinephilia and obsession with all things media into a degree w/honors, and earned him the William Nestrick Award from UC Berkeley's Film and Media Department. He also loves telling stories, and cannot quell his fascination with reality tv and the Olympic Games. His love of the macabre, paranormal and perverse is so over the top, he may have been raised by the Addams Family (or perhaps this is just a side-effect of his Mormon and Hindu upbringing).

12 Minutes

Movies | Reviews

Film Review: The Purge: Anarchy

S. Roy July 23, 2014

Co-written with Margaux Poupard. Samir: The proverbial “they” say sequels are never better than the original. Unless it’s a Godfather movie. But when it comes to crappy movies, that rule doesn’t always apply, does...

9 Minutes

Movies | Reviews

Film Review: MALEFICENT – I’m Just a Girl, That’s All That You’ll Let Me Be –

S. Roy May 31, 2014

As a child I rarely rooted for the heroes in movies. I usually sympathized with the villains, and was secretly disappointed when their dastardly plans failed to come to fruition. John Waters once said...

6 Minutes

Movies | Reviews

Movie Review: “A Million Ways to Die in the West”

S. Roy May 30, 2014

A Million Ways to Die in the West; or A million ways to tell the same joke. Full disclosure: I am not a Family Guy fan. Or an American Dad fan. Or a fan of anything created...

14 Minutes

Movies | Reviews

My Trip to “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

S. Roy April 13, 2014

In “The Grand Budapest Hotel” we discover a particular shop, Mendel’s, whose sole culinary creation plays a pivotal role in the film. Characters in every level of this faux-eastern European locale’s society know what...

10 Minutes

Movies | Reviews

There’s nothing lurking “Under the Skin”

S. Roy April 12, 2014

When I saw “Under the Skin” at the Telluride Film Festival (TFF) last summer, I was struck with one emotion more prevalently than any other: the desire to angrily gouge my eyes and ears...

18 Minutes

Television | Reviews

“Beauty and The Beast” – A Tale of Two Skaters on Film

S. Roy March 19, 2014

With the Winter Olympics and Paralympics now over, it comes as no surprise that one of the pejoratively greater stories was the judging controversy of the figure skating competition, and how it reinforced long-standing...

14 Minutes

Television | Reviews

The Voice: The DVR review

S. Roy March 19, 2014

Battle Rounds: It’s always best to watch shows like The Voice on DVR. Not only so you can fast forward through the commercials, but so you can also streamline your viewing of the show. ...

3 Minutes

Television News

JEOPARDY Loves the 90s!

S. Roy March 4, 2014

JEOPARDY Loves the 90s! You know, no one talks about “Jeopardy!” as much anymore. Ever since that winning machine (Ken Jennings) was beaten by that IBM robot “Watson,” it feels like people just don’t...