Film
Movie Review: Muppets Most Wanted
After successfully reviving the franchise with the 2011 release of “The Muppets,” director James Bobin returns with his cavalcade of felt-covered misfits in a sequel that they guarantee is not as good as the original. Seriously, it’s mentioned in the opening music number. … read more
Movie Review: Divergent
The five factions might as well be the houses in the Harry Potter universe. I swear Tris’ faction was going to be declared, “Hufflepuff!” Kate Winslet’s character reminds me so much of Donald Sutherland’s in The Hunger Games it’s unnerving. Finally, the whole training to become warriors with sparing and mock battles is too close for comfort with Ender’s Game. So, with all of these similarities, I am now referring to this film as “Harry Potter and Ender’s Hunger Game.” … read more
2014 Tumbleweeds Film Festival 03.14-16
This year I was once again presented with the opportunity to check out the festival, this time, with a much older and wiser young lady to accompany me. I am glad to say that we did feel the warm embrace of my fellow parents, and Alice, a bond with her own, slightly larger and less stinky peers, as we set out to enjoy free pizza and a new world of cinematic exposure for kids in SLC that has no rival. … read more
SXSW Film Festival: A Wolf At The Door
The most terrifying element to Coimbra’s exploration into infidelity is how rapidly everything flips from pleasure to sheer horror. The final minutes will absolutely haunt your memories for far longer than the 100-minute running time. … read more
SXSW Film Festival: Above All Else
With gorgeous cinematography in the dense woods of the Lone Star State, Fiege stands by a small collective of demonstrators who refuse to stand down against billion-dollar bullies even when it seems all is lost in an unfair legal battle. … read more
SXSW Film Festival: The Winding Stream
The Winding Stream is a documentary about the influential Carter family, a clan of musicians that helped shape country music for years to come. Johnny Cash shows up and gives some of the best bits, but it’s the music that really drew me in. Watching this film is a bit like going to a family party at Christmas, listening to your older relatives talk about ‘Nam and Nixon, little details about an old house, or an old car, relics of a not-so-distant past.
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SXSW Film Festival: Leave The World Behind
Leave The World Behind was one of the best electronic documentaries I’ve seen to date, as director Christian Larson excellently captured the emotional roller coaster that was Swedish House Mafia’s One Last Tour from the perspective of both the group and the fans. … read more
SXSW Film Festival: Animals
Sometimes a film or a work of art or a piece of music tries to tell you something, in a whisper, barely audible so you have lean in real close, and really listen. Other times it shouts what it wants to tell you from 3 feet away so that nobody could misunderstand or mishear it. I prefer the former. No need to shout, I’m a good listener, I can understand what you’re saying without hearing a word. Pandering to your audience is a good way to win awards, sure, but what I really want when I watch a movie is something that challenges the way I think and exist.
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SXSW Film Festival: Thank You a Lot
Texan director Matt Muir’s Thank You a Lot is the sort of film you find yourself watching late at night in a hotel room in the middle of Idaho or Nevada. For some reason, you never manage to change the channel. … read more
SXSW Film Festival: Sequoia
Andy Landen’s Sequoia, while suffering from some problems with clichéd characters—its cast looks like a mix of privileged if troubled film students and out-of-work soap stars—actually takes some serious risks in terms of subject matter. … read more