Category Archives: Drama

Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Faults (2014) Movie Review

 

Faults begins with a cold open in a diner, where Ansel Roth (Leland Orser), a washed up expert on de-programming former cult members, is furiously eating a meal that he is unable to pay for. After a sparsely attended seminar in a hotel, a couple approaches Ansel about their daughter Claire’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) involvement in a cult called Faults. Ansel, struggling with financial problems, agrees to kidnap Claire in order to counteract the brainwashing Faults has placed on her.

 

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Claire responds to her kidnapping in a partly normal, partly eccentric way. She doesn’t sleep, opting instead to stare at a television set of static through the first night of her capture. She holds back threats of Continue reading Faults (2014) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Lists, Romance

The Best of 2015 in Movies (So Far)

We’re about half-way through 2015 and, as such, have been presented with plenty of films. Early-year diamonds in the rough and breakout summer blockbusters have surfaced. Here are my favorite movies of 2015 as of June 21 (in order of their respective release dates).

Continue reading The Best of 2015 in Movies (So Far) →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Irreversible (2002) Movie Review

Caution: Minor Plot Spoilers Ahead.

 

Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible is not easy to watch. Midway through the film, the camera remains a static, unflinching observer to Monica Bellucci’s Alex as she is violently raped in a stark blood-red tunnel by a stranger (Jo Prestia). The camera, and thus the viewer by proxy, is a voyeur, a peeping tom viewing the proceedings of the night with cold nihilism.

 

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Viewing the film in this way, it is understandable why someone could Continue reading Irreversible (2002) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Drama, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Me & Earl & the Dying Girl (2015) Movie Review

In Me & Earl & the Dying Girl, self-deprecating loner teen Greg (Thomas Mann) begrudgingly befriends Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a classmate who has been recently diagnosed with stage four leukemia. Throughout the course of his senior year, the somewhat selfish and self-absorbed youth grows to care for the titular dying girl.

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The film, coming off the heels of last year’s The Fault In Our Stars, Me & Earl & the Dying Girl is cashing in on the young-adult terminal-illness tearjerker novel adaptation genre. It also utilizes Continue reading Me & Earl & the Dying Girl (2015) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Horror, Indie Films, Like It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words), Romance

[Quickie]: Felt (2015) Movie Review

Felt is an independent romance-horror-drama from filmmaker Jason Banker. In it, Amy (Amy Everson), an artist who has experienced an unknown sexual assault trauma, hides her identity in her artistic creations. She is distant and reluctant to connect with people.

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I will be brief with this review only because I have not let it sink in to the point where I can elaborate on many of my reactions with adequate conviction. What I can say is that Continue reading [Quickie]: Felt (2015) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Power/Rangers (2015) Short Film Reaction/Review

For those who aren’t aware, an unlicensed short film surrounding characters from the Power Rangers universe has been circulating the web recently. The film stars Katee Sackhoff as original Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart and James Van Der Beek as the second incarnation of the Red Ranger Rocky DeSantos.

 

Note: my Power Rangers mythology knowledge is rather limited, so some of these characters may be mis-labeled.

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The film takes the children’s television show to the extreme with Continue reading Power/Rangers (2015) Short Film Reaction/Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, F Movies, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Romance

Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) Movie Review

Fifty Shades of Grey is an erotic romance film adapted from E.L. James’ novel of the same name. In it, nervous lip-biter Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) is subbed in to interview billionaire playboy Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) for a graduate school newspaper. During the interview, sparks fly (I’m using this phrase loosely) and they become romantically involved. But Mr. Grey is oddly distant and afraid of commitment. Ana soon finds out Grey’s secret: a hidden life of playing out a sexual domination fantasy. Virgin innocent Ana doesn’t know how to handle this news at first, but soon becomes wrapped up in the “taboo” world of BDSM, falling for Christian in the process.

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From the title sequence, we are immediately flooded with exorbitantly sleek mise-en-scene, namely with shots of Christian’s wardrobe. We are also given beautiful landscape shots of the Seattle skyline. All the while, Annie Lennox singing “I Put a Spell On You” fills the scene with soulful body. This lush opening is enticing and inviting. It is only when characters begin to speak that problems arise.

Continue reading Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Drama, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Hits (2015) Movie Review

“Get ready to laugh more than three times, but less than 10,” comedian David Cross says in the pay-what-you-want intro to his directorial debut Hits, warning the audience that what they are about to see is a dark comedy and, as such, not a laugh riot. This is a humble opinion of the film. Dark as it is, there are plenty of opportunities for deep belly laughs.

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The film, which Cross wrote and directed, follows a hapless dump worker Dave Stuben (Matt Walsh) and his daughter Katelyn (Meredith Hagner), who is determined to Continue reading Hits (2015) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Indie Films, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

The Guest (2014) Movie Review

The Guest is a film by director Adam Wingard. In it, a man named David (Dan Stevens) approaches a family claiming to be a close friend of the family’s eldest son, who died in Afghanistan during the war. The stoic, smooth-talking David says that he has just been discharged from the military, and Continue reading The Guest (2014) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Indie Films, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Rover (2014) Movie Review

The Rover is a film from Australian director David Michod (Animal Kingdom, writer: Hesher). Ten years after a worldwide collapse of civilization, the Australian outback is a dystopian landscape dominated by crime and poverty. Following a botched robbery, three thieves (Scoot McNairy, David Field, and Tawanda Manyimo) crash their car Continue reading The Rover (2014) Movie Review →