Brock Wilbur

It is rare these days for me to encounter a film I wish I could live inside. That’s probably on me, choosing to mostly watch dreadful horror or terse thrillers or whatever dogshit Ryan Murphy has served up this quarter. Boys Go to Jupiter, currently playing at Screenland Armour and coming soon to VOD, is a rare highlight for me in...

Courtesy IFC Films Earlier in the year, Good Boy got announced and immediately filled my friend group with equal parts demand to see it immediately… and of course, dread. A horror film told from a dog’s perspective hooked us. Who wouldn’t want to see that? Well, I suppose, most people. Considering how things tend to go for dogs in horror films,...

Soccer fans react to the official FIFA World Cup host city announcement on Thursday, June 16, 2022, at the Kansas City Power and Light District in Kansas City. (Zachary Linhares/The Beacon) It’s a good idea to make dinner reservations for parties of more than six people. It allows the restaurant to be staffed and prepared for larger-than-usual groups. Well, FIFA...

Courtesy Chris DeVille “Indie rock” as a genre is unfortunately near-universal in its applicability. There’s an idea of what the sound technically reflects, but you can find the wording applied to everything from noise electro to death metal to, on at least one occasion I’ve witnessed, even Taylor Swift. So to hear that a single writer would take a stab at...

KC G.I.F.T. is equipping Black entrepreneurs with the tools, funding, and mentorship to build sustainable businesses.

In 2002, 28 Days Later hit cinemas and was, arguably, the most influential film a young Brock Wilbur would ever see. It wasn’t just something I liked or loved; it was a cornerstone of my personality. It made me change colleges that I had planned on attending, so that I could move from finance to film school. It made me...

Photo by Micah Thompson In mid-May, Charlotte Street/KC Public Theatre did a quick run of performances around a new stage play from Kansas-based writer (and KU professor) Darren Canady. It was directed by Teisha M. Bankston, whose prolific work has helped define this era of KC theater, and the small cast was populated with familiar faces who have been singled...

Photo by Don Ipock My overhanded complaint that KC theatre simply has too many great productions going on simultaneously is renewed again this month, as standing tentpole shows overlap with a firehose of edgy, clinically masterminded ‘new voice’ or ‘theatre lab’ shows. While I’m playing catch-up on all the reviews The Pitch needs to write up, its worth saying from the...

I’ve felt left behind in the general antipathy directed at horror films “based in trauma” as an excuse to wave away a whole swath of films from the last decade. Plenty of people I like and respect have started yawning at the predictable nature of what they see as a recent turn into every terror flick needing to explain how...

Another Simple Favor. // Courtesy Amazon Hi. It’s Friday, you’ve got a weekend ahead, I’ve got a weekend ahead—we can cut this short. Paul Feig, as a film director, is always a roll of the dice. When he hits, he only hits home runs. When he whiffs, he whiffs so spectacularly that it’ll make your head spin. For me, A Simple...

Photo by Brandon Parigo Spinning Tree Theatre continues its excellent work in staging new, inclusive productions with bold statements, by now adding First Generation to its roster. The original hour-long show, written by KC local Victor Wishna and directed by Michael Grayman-Parkhurst, was commissioned to bring some difficult (and unfortunately timely) themes into focus. Though its short run at Johnson...

Look, from the minute the announcement email hit my inbox, Arts Asylum knew that I would be in attendance for Exit 16. On par with my personal brand love of nachos, cats, bright shirts, and dance-punk music, I am repeatedly and publicly That Guy for any piece of media that wants to fuck around and find out with a time loop....

The Pitch has partnered with a local political awareness organization called Loud Light. Their goal is to engage and empower individuals from underrepresented populations to build community power. And impact decision-makers. Each week of the year that the Kansas statehouse is in session, they release a short video recapping what the legislature is up to. Knowing the nitty-gritty of what’s happening with your...

Doctor Moloch at Unicorn. // Photo by Don Ipock In a time of unprecedented throwing your hands up in the air and asking wtf is going on, next to the systemic dismantling of our government by an unelected oligarch one of the most pressing areas of confusion, frustration, and ethical quandary is the rapid creep of artificial intelligence into every...

In this tender French art film, the server shutdown of a multiplayer videogame sparks a criminal romance

Kansas City Film Critics Circle announce 59th James Loutzenhiser awards for cinematic excellence

This month's Letter from the Editor is asking you to treat yourself after a rough go at this year's election season.

Joshua Johnson as Jimmy Livingston (the Bubble Boy) and Jordan Rosenwald as Chloe Molinski. // Photo by Micah Thompson/Spinning Tree Theatre If you caught the 2001 Jake Gyllenhaal film Bubble Boy, there’s a better than non-zero chance you haven’t thought about it since. The cartoonishly over-the-top story about a boy allergic to the air is probably more closely associated with the...

What’s your favorite Christmas movie? Easter movie? Pentecost movie? Casual viewers and movie buffs alike have favorite movies to watch at certain times of the year. But for film critic Abby Olcese, movies with spiritual themes aren’t just limited to the holiday season. As our Film Editor at The Pitch, we can attest to that firsthand. The way she’ll program...

Orrin Grey lives for horror. Not just the horror of modern existence, but the horror of life itself. It’s easy to be the kind of person who appreciates big jumpscares or killer clowns, but there’s a real talent in the mind that chooses to derive joy from the terror of the minutiae. This eye for detail has helped Grey become...