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LIFE ITSELF Review

Steve James’ Life Itself is an impossible film to criticize in an objective way.  It’s a poignant, funny, and heartbreaking documentary about one of the most influential film critics ever, and someone that I’ve looked up to my whole life.  Thankfully, the film itself is actually quite well made, something we’ve come to expect from the director of Hoop Dreams.   Life Itself chronicles the life of prolific film critic Roger Ebert.  Although it’s structured like any typical talking dead doc, there’s enough variety with the interviews, photographs, and clips to keep everything fresh and interesting throughout.

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Sundance NEXT FEST Announces Its 2014 Lineup

One of my favorite programming sections of the Sundance Film Festival is its NEXT series, which features new filmmakers with bold visions.  Sundance is celebrating this series by holding a Summer festival featuring some of the more popular entries, and the lineup

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CUT BANK Review

Outside of being known as “the coldest spot in the nation,” there doesn’t seem to be much else going on in the sleepy town of Cut Bank, Montana. It’s the sort of small town where everyone may know your name, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they really know who you are. It’s the sort of town where news travels fast, especially when you’re trying to keep things quiet.

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CODE BLACK Review

That dreaded and unexpected trip to the emergency room. All sorts of thoughts and anxieties will likely run through your mind should you find yourself there. What’s wrong with me? Am I going to catch somebody’s germs? How long am I going to be here? Can I afford this? Will my insurance cover it?

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HELLION Review

Hellion is the latest film from director Kat Candler, based on her short film by the same name. While the film follows a slightly typical arc of family turmoil and drama, the great performances and solid script excuse the ordinary plot. It’s a solid familial drama that proves to be riveting, heartbreaking, and emotionally exhausting. More than anything however, Hellion is about taking ownership of one’s responsibilities.

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LA Film Fest 2014: SNOWPIERCER Review

Sci-fi films, well most films actually, often leave themselves open for scrutiny. When a film takes place on another planet or in a different time, like the distant past or future, and the filmmakers do a decent job of setting up the environment in an engaging way – it’s usually easier for an audience to buy into the faux locale or point in time, making the viewer more susceptible to the unfolding drama.

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DWF 2014: SAND CASTLES Review

The story at the heart of Sand Castles could be ripped from the headlines. A young girl is abducted by a sex offender and held captive for more than a decade. Some films would focus on the abduction, the search for the kidnapped girl, and/or the apprehension of the perpetrator (for example, see Prisoners). However, Jordon Hodges’ screenplay deals with the girl’s return and what that means to her and her family.

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DWF 2014: THE HISTORIAN Review

The world of academia is incredibly ripe for real-life drama. I should know, I spent more than a decade in it. So, too, did director Miles Doleac before he took to acting a few years ago. His immaturity is evident in his first all-consuming project – The Historian – which he also produced, wrote and directed. With a meandering script and a heavy amount of overacting, it is easy to argue that Doleac is not in the same class as other triple threats like Woody Allen. But for a first-time attempt, it's not a total loss.

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TORMENT Review

Release Date: June 10, 2014
Director: Jordan Barker
MPAA Rating: NR

“When one has not had a good father, one must create one.”

Jordan Barker’s Torment opens with this Friedrich Nietzsche quote.  It’s a quote that

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OBVIOUS CHILD Review

Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child is by far the funniest film about abortion I’ve ever seen. Jenny Slate’s cute as a button, yet absolutely vulgar demeanor help make this one of the most fun breakup comedies to come out in recent years.

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WE ARE THE BEST! Review

Outcasts. Misfits. Weirdos. Troublemakers. These are labels that could easily be attached to any number of teenage social groups. What’s a young person suppose to do when they are looked down upon by others? Well crying about it isn’t the answer. Accepting who you are and standing up for yourself and your friends by forming a punk band is the obvious answer. What? In Stockholm of the early eighties that is exactly what two young girls do. Tired of being told to confirm and be like any other teenage girl at school two friends decide to start a band to protest the state of music and society as they see it. Lukas Moodysson’s latest film We Are the Best! follows three girls as they try to establish their identities through their music and their friendship.

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DELIVERY: THE BEAST WITHIN Review

The found footage genre. The genre where the audience is watching “recently discovered” footage about an event or in some cases a mystery. It raised eyebrows and churned stomachs in 1980 with Cannibal Holocaust. It came to prominence with the immensely successful and trend setting 1999 release The Blair Witch Project. It likely reached its zenith with the Paranormal Activity franchise. Primarily a staple in the horror genre the found footage film has met with mostly disastrous results. Chernobyl Diaries, The Amityville Haunting and Apollo 18 are just a few titles that have used the format and all of them were pretty bad films. Now comes Brian Netto, who makes his directorial debut, and his refreshing and mostly effective found footage thriller, Delivery.

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Cannes 2014: Drafthouse Films Picks up LA FRENCH

Drafthouse Films has announced they picked up the U.S. rights to Cedric Jimenez’s crime thriller La French, which just premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  Described as “the European flipside to William Friedkin’s The French Connection,” the film stars Jean Dujardin (The

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Cannes 2014: WINTER SLEEP Wins Palme d’Or

Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) Winter Sleep won the coveted Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  Other notable winners include Bennett Miller winning the Prix de la Mise en Scene (best director) for the Steve Carell,

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