excursions 3

Slamdance 2016: EXCURSIONS Review

Excursions is excruciating. Ostensibly about two couples congregating at a cabin in the woods to reach some sort of enlightened state of being by way of meditation and other unexplained hokum, the trip is certainly long (even at only 80 minutes) and strange, it’s just missing a point. A dialogue-free, uneventful opening ten minutes sets the stage for the pretension of a grating, eye-glazing existential crisis of a film. Whether we’re supposed to pity these poor folks, take them seriously, or laugh at them is completely immaterial because we’re never made to care at all.

Sundance 2016: Werner Herzog’s LO AND BEHOLD Trailer

One documentary that’s getting a decent amount of buzz out of Sundance this year is director Werner Herzog‘s latest, Lo And Behold: The Reveries of the Connected World, which now has a trailer. Accompanied by the stoic and always welcome narration from Herzog

Sundance 2016: Sex Comedy BRAHMAN NAMAN Gets a Teaser Trailer

Making its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival as part of the World Dramatic Competition is Qaushiq Mukherjee‘s (Q. for short) Brahman Naman, a coming of age sex comedy about a group of friends heading to the National Quiz Championships looking to win the

How To Plan An Orgy In A Small Town 7

Slamdance 2016: HOW TO PLAN AN ORGY IN A SMALL TOWN Review

After the death of her mother, writer Cassie Cranston returns to the small town she grew up in (and was subsequently driven out of) to collect her inheritance money. The professional sex expert, who is harboring a major secret, hopes to get in and out of, ahem, Beaver’s Ridge quickly but finds herself being pulled back in by some of of her childhood acquaintances.

Chemical Cut 5.5

Slamdance 2016: CHEMICAL CUT Review

Inspired, in large part, by her own experiences navigating the modeling profession in Los Angeles, writer/director Marjorie Conrad mines the painful yet somewhat amusing (and at times, slightly bizarre) memories of that stretch of time, familiarities - both flattering and unbecoming - stripped bare and presented for the world to see. Conrad appears to be introducing herself to the world of film through a debut biopic feature with the central performer being a version of herself reenacting the motivating sequence of events that inevitably led to the production of this film.

avalanche

Sundance 2016: Matt Johnson’s OPERATION AVALANCHE Poster

XYZ Films and Lionsgate have revealed the first poster for Matt Johnson‘s (The Dirties) upcoming film Operation Avalanche, which revolves around two CIA operatives posing as documentary filmmakers who accidentally uncover a terrible secret about the United States space program in the

31

Sundance 2016: Rob Zombie’s 31 Gets a New Poster

Ahead of its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival as part of the Midnight programming, a new poster has been released for Rob Zombie‘s 31, a film in which a band of carnies are terrorized by a group of psychobilly fascists.

embers1

2016 Oxford Film Festival Lineup Announced

The 2016 Oxford Film Festival has announced the official lineup, featuring 25 features and 119 shorts and music videos. Highlights include Amy Berg‘s Hollywood sexual abuse doc An Open SecretClaire Carré‘s subdued science fiction film Embers, and John Wildman‘s Ladies of

body_poster 5.5

BODY Review

What would you do if you accidentally killed someone while hanging out in a house that you weren’t exactly supposed to be in? Most rational people would immediately call the police and tell the truth. But if you’re one of the three friends in Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s Body, however, you’re going to do pretty much anything but that.

weiner-dog-movie-image-600x400

Sundance 2016: Premieres, Docs, Spotlight, and More Announced

The Sundance 2016 announcements keep rolling forward with the reveal of their complete feature lineup including the Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Spotlight, Sundance Kids and Special Events: Bright Stars, New Stories and Fest Favorites programs.

Although I definitely have to do some more perusing of the

Christmas, Again 7

CHRISTMAS, AGAIN Review

Yet another indie Christmas-themed film thickly coated in an overall sense of bah humbug. Even the film’s title suggests a feeling of irritation towards the recent influx of holiday melancholy over the years. However, first-time writer/director Charles Poekel’s Christmas, Again reverses the trend with an uplifting tale of one man’s emotional turnaround at the hands of some old-fashioned Christmas spirit.