Authors: Jimmy Martin
Hobo With A Shotgun
As soon as the bold vintage yellow font appears on the screen with Darius Holbert and Russ Howard III’s traditional 70s score playing in the background, it’s apparent director Jason Eisener has methodically examined the exploitation genre and adapted to fit today’s appreciation for the over-the-top filmmaking style. … read more
Life In A Day
Executive producers/brothers Ridley and Tony Scott and director Kevin MacDonald invited the world to participate in a global video project that has become a poignant testament to the human condition. Anyone willing to participate was asked to submit a video of whatever was occurring in their life as long as it was captured on July 24th, 2010. … read more
Miss Representation
The debate regarding the objectification of women in the media has been an ongoing issue for decades. In fact, it was the same topic discussed in Jean Kilbourne’s 1979 documentary short, “Killing Us Softly”. In an effort to reexamine and expand the research, director Jennifer Siebel Newsom has reopened the dialogue to investigate how far America has progressed in the past 32 years. Sadly, the result is still disheartening. … read more
Crime After Crime
It’s sickening to think of a world where battered women who fight back against their abusers can be locked up for simply defending themselves. Yes, nowadays victims can seek shelters, but such was not the case in the late 1970s and that fact is exactly why Deborah Peagler was incarcerated and sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder of her boyfriend, Oliver Wilson. … read more
Homework
This may be Gavin Wiesen’s feature debut as a director, but it’s blatantly clear he’s been watching and studying Sundance entries for the past 20 years, because nothing contained in his teenage love drama is remotely innovative. George (Freddie Highmore) is your typical independent film protagonist who attends a private school, is provided with an affluent lifestyle and calls his parents and teachers by their first name (how hip of him). … read more
Hot Coffee
We’ve all heard the tale about the elderly woman, Stella Liebeck, who spilt McDonald’s coffee in her lap while driving and was awarded over $2 million in compensation from the subsequent lawsuit. It was immortalized on “Seinfeld” with the character Kramer enduring a similar accident, which is exactly how “Hot Coffee” opens. … read more
The Woman
When a director stands before an audience and warns them of the forthcoming controversial material and recollects about previous screenings’ walkouts, you know you’re in for a memorable experience one way or another. To their wealthy neighbors and friends, the Cleek family appears to be the stereotypical American family, but the sinister truth behind their lifestyles would make even the toughest a tad squeamish. … read more
SLUG Offers Its Two Tokens at E3
E3 is one of the world’s largest dog-and-pony shows for the video games industry’s finest to showcase their latest and greatest developments. This year, I scheduled a strict agenda that allowed me to test, observe, judge and dismiss more games on the floor than ever before. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the “Good News” and “Bad News” of every game I got my grubby mitts on. … read more
Wish You Were Here
While on holiday in Cambodia, two couples, Dave and Alice Flannery and Steph McKinney and Jeremy King, partake in all the traditional tourist attractions the impoverished country has to offer, but after attending an underground dance party, Jeremy unexpectedly disappears and a dark secret is buried within the circle of friends.
… read more
The Queen of Versailles
Rather than going the been-there-done-that route of a rags to riches story, director Lauren Greenfield accidently (yet exquisitely) delivers a riches to rags tale with the intimate glimpse into the wealthy lives of David and Jackie Siegel.