Tag Archives: drama

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 →

Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It, Television Reviews, TV Drama

House of Cards (2015) S03E04 Recap/Review

March 10, 2015 Alex Brannan

Caution: major spoilers for this episode follow, as well as possible spoilers from episodes prior.

Episode four of this political drama opens on a Supreme Court hearing, the same hearing that the President was ignoring earlier in the season in his jumbled attempt to get his America Works project off the ground. The hearing surrounds a drone strike that apparently killed innocent civilians.

While this is going on, Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is attending the funeral of three soldiers. In the Supreme Court hearing, we hear that he has given authorization to the Solicitor General Heather Dunbar (Elizabeth Marvel) to effectively put full responsibility on the government for the attack that caused innocent deaths, arguing that the strike killed its criminal target and was legal and justified. The cross-cutting with the funeral tells us that Continue reading House of Cards (2015) S03E04 Recap/Review →

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

House of Cards (2015) S03E02 Recap/Review

March 3, 2015 Alex Brannan

Caution: major spoilers for season three: episode two (and possibly prior episodes) ahead.

You can find my recap/review of season three: episode one here.

The second episode of House of Cards season three opens on a hearing over Claire Underwood’s (Robin Wright) proposed nomination to the title of Ambassador to the U.N. She is heavily interrogated by Republican Senator Mendosa–who pledged in the previous episode to not fight her nomination openly–which causes a media frenzy. While this is going on, Frank (Kevin Spacey) walks into a meeting where he is informed by other party leaders that the Democratic Party does not want him to run for President in 2016. Things aren’t going well for the Underwoods.

The ramifications of these two events carry on for a few scenes. Probably for a few too many. A cross-cutting and split-screening montage ofcampaign phone calls from Claire and Frank seems a bit much.

The more interesting plot line Continue reading House of Cards (2015) S03E02 Recap/Review →

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

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) Movie Review

February 22, 2015 Alex Brannan

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a horror film written and directed by Iranian-American filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour. It is Amirpour’s directorial debut. In it, The Girl (Sheila Vand), a silent vampire, stalks the empty streets of fictional location Bad City at night, preying on the seedy people that inhabit the same empty nighttime landscape. Soon swept into the world of this vampiric prowler are an aging drug-addict Hossein (Marshall Manesh), his drug dealer, and his son Arash (Arash Marandi).