Events
Sundance Film Review: Happy Valley
If you haven’t heard about the sexual abuse scandal erupting from the Penn State University football program, then that rock you live under must be mighty hefty. Director Amir Bar-Lev embedded himself within a town that was once revered as a wholesome community until tragedy stuck due to the multiple sexual molestation charges brought up against the Penn State University’s Assistant Coach, Jerry Sandusky. Bar-Lev lightly touches on Sandusky’s case and verdict, but the primary focus is set upon the head coach, Joe Paterno. Records indicate Paterno was made aware of an incident with Sandusky and a minor and emailed his superiors, but nothing ever came of his report. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Fishing Without Nets
Fishing Without Nets reflects the new generation of filmmakers who think outside the box in terms of perspective, focusing on characters Hollywood keeps on the sidelines and revealing rich stories where the white guy doesn’t swoop in to save the day. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Crimes Against Humanity
As the previews of Crimes Against Humanity suggest, Lewis (Mike Lopez) is an asshole. The opening scene includes him not so passive-aggressively berating his girlfriend, Brownie (Lyra Hill), for not having a job. Crimes Against Humanity functions as an interesting character study of Lewis and Brownie; of an irreverent prick and an unconfident, pitiful mess, respectively. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Kinderwald
John (Frank Brückner) and Flora Linden (Emily Behr) are raising their two children, Caspar and Georgie (Leopold and Ludwig Fischer Pasternak) while John works in a coal mine in Pennsylvania in the mid-1800s. (Their names, along with the word “kinder,” are half the lines of the film.) When the two boys go missing, the couple entreats the surrounding community to help find them to no avail, which brings them some unwanted attention. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Skanks
If I had a nickel for every documentary about an original musical from a community theater in Birmingham, Alabama, I’d have one nickel and one hilarious documentary.
… read more
Sundance Film Review: We Come as Friends
A young Sudanese girl wonders why she is beaten at school when she wears her native clothing; Texas evangelists set up a colony on Sudanese land to save the souls of the naked, godless locals and build a “New Texas.” We Come as Friends is a powerful, troubling and possibly life-changing look into the real people involved in this monumental disaster, and the real consequences of economic and cultural imperialism. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Skeleton Twins
The tone is set in Craig Johnson’s dramedy immediately as we’re introduced to twins Maggie (Kristen Wiig) and Milo (Bill Hader). As Milo lies in a blood-soaked bathtub with two slit wrists, Maggie, on the other side of the country, is questioning whether or not to take a handful of pills, but a call informing her of her brother’s situation makes her think otherwise. However, all is not fine when the pair is reunited and Milo moves in with his estranged sister and her overtly courteous husband, Lance (Luke Wilson). Johnson takes on an array of taboo topics including suicide, infidelity, molestation and successfully walks a fine line between dark realities and comic relief. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Cold in July
Director Jim Mickle returns to the Sundance Film Festival after terrifying people last year with his cannibalistic horror “We Are What We Are.” This time around, we’re transported to 1989 in a small town in East Texas. After hearing a window break in the middle of the night in his home, Richard Dane (Michael C. Hall) shoots and kills the intruder. Upon hearing the invader’s father (Sam Shepard) has just been released from prison, it doesn’t take long for the parolee to bring his own wave of revenge to the Dane’s home. However, just when you think Mickle’s tale is about two fathers fighting against each other, a cyclone of mysteries, twists and turns band the adversaries for a greater purpose. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Web Junkie
I’m a gamer. I’ve caught myself playing for hours on end with titles like “Grand Theft Auto 5” and “Halo: Reach,” but, after a session of that magnitude, my brain chimes in with, “Hey, jackass, go do something productive.” For others who enjoy the thrill of virtual adventures, such is not the case. China has become the first country to deem “internet addiction” as an official clinical disorder. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Ivory Tower
Is the price of higher education really worth it? Director Andrew Rossi asks this question, and many others, in this overwhelming look at the direction of colleges and universities in the United States. Rather than focusing on one area, Rossi jumps from subject matter to subject matter to address every angle of the debate—from the fact that 68% of American students do not graduate in four years, which increases their vast student debt, to multiple schools that offer free tuition to its students. … read more