Community
Slamdance Film Review: Wizard’s Way
If I’m being completely honest, I’m a little done with the “found footage” types of faux documentaries. That being said, Wizard’s Way is able to move beyond the cliché it starts in because of the superb character portrayals provided by Kristian Scott as Julian “Windows” Andrews and Socrates Adams-Florou as Barry Tubbulb.
… read more
Slamdance Film Review: Sometimes I Dream I’m Flying
Opening with an incredible visual metaphor—a slow-motion horse race with close ups on the legs and muscles of the horses, representing ballet dancers—and moving through the film with gorgeously-shot scenes, Sometimes I Dream I’m Flying visually feels much more like a feature narrative than a documentary.
… read more
Sundance Film Review: God Help The Girl
Belle & Sebastian’s Scottish frontman Stuart Murdoch takes us to his hometown for a musical narrative that has all the quirks and melodrama of an indie pop song wrapped up in the most stylish movie you’ll see at Sundance this year. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Glena
In this rousing and inspirational documentary, first-time director Allan Luebke follows amateur MMA fighter Glena Avila as she works, fight by fight, towards reaching pro status.
… read more
Slamdance Film Review: Kidnapped for Christ
David is a close-to-4.0 student enrolled in AP classes and an International Baccalaureate Diploma candidate, but once his parents find out that he’s gay, he’s forcibly taken from his home in the early morning and enrolled in Escuela Caribe—a Christian youth correctional school in the Dominican Republic. Here, these born again Evangelicals manipulate biblical doctrine in order to brainwash teens to conform. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: I Play with the Phrase Each Other
I Play with the Phrase Each Other is a film solely consisting of phone calls, filmed solely on cell phones and shown in black and white. Director Jay Alvarez, who plays Sean, has constructed a plot where his character urges Jake (Will Hand) to move to “the city”—Portland—to indulge in the glory of the Bohemian life of 20-somethings. Once Jake arrives, though, Sean’s possessions have been pilfered by a junkie with whom he’s staying, and Jake’s “in” to city life is no longer viable. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: La Bare
In his directorial debut, Joe Manganiello (HBO’s True Blood, Magic Mike) offers an inside look at La Bare, an all male revue club in Dallas, TX that’s been in operation since 1978.
… read more
Sundance Film Review: Listen Up Phillip
I haven’t laughed as consistently through an entire film as I did with Listen Up Philip. Alex Ross Perry uses a fast-paced vérité approach, narration, a cool jazz soundtrack and super-witty, literary dialogue to examine the meaninglessness of a cliché young, misunderstood writer’s life. Every line from every character is perfect and the acting is flawlessly believable—this is one of the best narrative features I’ve seen at Sundance, or anywhere, for that matter. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Blue Ruin
Refn and Tarantino can fuck off now that Jeremy Saulnier has joined their ranks with his genre-defying revenge flick. Saulnier manages to keep the audience on the edge of their seats throughout with a main character who remains expressionless and silent for nearly the entire film—yet draws us in better than Ryan Gosling’s pretty pout ever did. This is top-notch cult classic material. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: The Sublime and Beautiful
I once took a writing class where the teacher told us that the best way to get readers to care about your characters is to make terrible things happen to those characters, forcing some type of reaction. The Sublime and Beautiful is the greatest example of this that I’ve ever seen.
… read more