As far as mumblecore goes–a genre defined by its hyper-naturalism–Your Sister’s Sister comes off as one of the most natural.
Unmotivated and perhaps alcohol dependent Jack (Mark Duplass) has just spent a year without his late brother Tom. He has no Continue reading Your Sister’s Sister (2011) Movie Review
Following an alien invasion, a diverse group of 50 people are sucked up into a black void space that is meant to be a spaceship. Each person is forced to stand on a red circle, or they’ll be struck by a killer lightning bolt. Touch one of the other people. Killer lightning. Do nothing for too long. Killer lightning. Turns out, each person gets a vote as to who gets killed every few minutes. It’s like some perverted democracy.
And that’s where the ethical questioning begins.
As the ensemble tries to logically break down the situation at hand, they bicker about Continue reading Circle (2015) Movie Review
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
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
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.
Viewing the film in this way, it is understandable why someone could Continue reading Irreversible (2002) Movie Review
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
House of Cards S03E03 Recap/Review
The cold open of season three: episode three sets the stage for some topical commentary. Protesters on the Mall are chanting anti-Russian sentiment over the political mistreatment of the LGBT community. Apparently, Continue reading House of Cards (2015) S03E03 Recap/Review
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
House of Cards: Season 3 Episode 1 Recap/Review
Note: major spoilers ahead.
In the opening scene of the Netflix Original Series’ third season premiere, we see Continue reading House of Cards (2015) S03E01 Recap/Review
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