Category Archives: Indie Films

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

Cop Car (2015) Movie Review

September 2, 2015 Alex Brannan

Director Jon Watt’s Cop Car opens on two boys (Hays Wellford and James Freedson-Jackson) walking through a field carrying walking sticks as big as their bodies. They alternate reciting swear words; one gleefully energetic and the other dourly reluctant. Both are confident in their juvenile assumptions.

The pair come across a police squad car parked in the woods with no one attending to it. They cautiously approach it as if it is some wild beast, throwing rocks at it and fearfully running up to touch it. Then, they realize that Continue reading Cop Car (2015) Movie Review →

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

Phoenix (2014) Movie Review

September 1, 2015 Alex Brannan

In the World War II drama Phoenix, Nelly (Nina Hoss) is liberated from the concentration camp Auschwitz, but she has been wounded to the point of facial disfigurement. Following reconstructive surgery that leaves her appearance slightly altered, Nelly spends her nights searching for her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) at the night club Phoenix.

The street outside of Phoenix is a wash of red light that gives the bar a foreboding aura. Nelly, her face masked in a black veil that further conceals her identity, looks on in almost a surprised horror as she Continue reading Phoenix (2014) Movie Review →

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

White God (2014) Movie Review

August 28, 2015 Alex Brannan

In the Hungarian film White God, young Lili’s (Zsofia Psotta) mixed-breed dog Hagen (Body and Luke) is abandoned by her overbearing father (Sandor Zsoter) and left for dead. Now a stray, Hagen wanders the streets fruitlessly searching for his owner, only to find himself among a group of other strays who run about the city avoiding the human world that has rejected them.

Large swathes of the first half of this film show Hagen walking through heavy-trafficked streets, moving in and out of the hands of various dog-hating lowlifes. At times, minutes go by without Continue reading White God (2014) Movie Review →

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

Cheap Thrills (2014) Movie Review

August 26, 2015 Alex Brannan

Craig Daniels (Pat Healy) is a mechanic and a family man. At least, he was a mechanic. Then he got fired. On the same day that he received an eviction notice. As he scrubs his grimy hands at the end of his short last day, a closeup reveals the wedding ring on his finger. A finger that is tensely tapping against the sink with the knowledge that its owner has fallen into dire straits.

Enter Vince (Ethan Embry), the sleazy but well meaning high school friend of Craig. Vince is a debt collector. The off-the-books type of debt collector. Then enter Colin (David Koechner), a seemingly well-off stranger who just wants some drinking company on his wife Violet’s (Sara Paxton) birthday. As per the genre’s usual tropes, something seems off about Colin and Violet. Colin is uncharacteristically charismatic and friendly. Violet is uninterested in almost everything.

As the night moves on and the drinks start flowing, Colin starts engaging Craig and Vince in a series of bets. They are innocent bets, but they come with tempting Continue reading Cheap Thrills (2014) Movie Review →

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

Teacher of the Year (2014) Movie Review

August 2, 2015 Alex Brannan

In Teacher of the Year, Matt Letscher plays the eponymous character, Mitch Carter. Mitch is humble and dedicated to his craft, yet also clearly tired and showing the desire to be somewhere else with his career. After winning California’s Teacher of the Year award, a documentary crew begins following him and the small charter school that he works for. He also gets offered a high paying position at the National Independent School Association, a job that he is hesitant to take.

The movie is filmed in mockumentary style, a genre that has become somewhat tired through its prevalence in television. In this case, nothing new is brought into the mockumentary genre. However, the talking head interviews that are employed are easily Continue reading Teacher of the Year (2014) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Indie Films, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

Creep (2015) Movie Review

July 23, 2015 Alex Brannan

Creep is an independent horror film starring Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass. Brice also doubles as the director and triples as co-writer with Duplass. In it, Duplass plays Josef, a man suffering from inoperable brain cancer who has hired freelance videographer Aaron (Brice) to film what could be his final days for the sake of his unborn child.

The film begins with heartfelt scenes of Josef optimistically narrating fun activities that he would like his son to experience once he is gone. These scenes are also accompanied by innocent jump scares. In one, Continue reading Creep (2015) Movie Review →

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

Faults (2014) Movie Review

July 23, 2015 Alex Brannan

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.

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 →

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

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

April 15, 2015 Alex Brannan

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.

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

April 12, 2015 Alex Brannan

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.

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

March 5, 2015 Alex Brannan

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.