Film is Pwn

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers  is documentary that takes a humorous swipe at the divisive political and social perception of Christianity and God in general.  The film isn’t a salvo in the culture wars by any stretch of the imagination; rather it is an exploration as to why there is a culture war, if there is a culture war, and why “the Gospel of Love” has become such a contentious topic.  One of the critic quotations used in the trailer hits the nail on the head: “A peace offering, not a battlecry.”  I know, it’s not protocol to site other film reviews in your film review, but Film Is Pwn possesses no standard operating procedure, so let’s move on to some new quotes, shall we? (more…)

Scary movies are not my favorite genre.  It’s a matter of personal taste, of course. To me, fear isn’t an emotional response I want to plop down $10 at the theater in order to experience, especially when I can get it for free on the evening news.

I detest torture porn (the Saw franchise, Hostel, etc.) and I have no interest in slasher films (Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc.). The only kind of scary movie I actually get a kick out of is the spooky, Sixth Sensekind of movie, where the violence, if there is any, doesn’t exceed PG-13 caliber, and the terror is all in your mind as you wonder “What’s in the shadows?” (Yes, I know I’m a wuss, it’s something I’ve had to learn to live with ever since the “too scared to go on the Scooby Doo Rollercoaster” incident in my childhood.)
(more…)

Just got back from the closing night at the Charlotte Film Festival, and I’ll give some brief thoughts on the overall experience before crawling into bed and post some more detailed reviews of the individual movies later in the week.
(more…)

The winners are in:

Indie Truth Award for Best Documentary: “9500 Liberty”  Annabel Park and Eric Byler 

Indie Film Force Award for Best Narrative Feature: “In/Significant Others” John Schwert 

Indie Spirit Award for Best Short Film: “Surpise!” Fabrice Maruca

Indie Spirit Award for Best Documentary Short Film:  “I Am A Man: From Memphis A Lesson in Life” John Hubbell 

Indie Hope Award for Best Student Film: “stereolife” Benjamin Epps

Best Music in a narrative film:  Jaroslaw Bester & Carlos Bica – “Goodnight Irene”

Best Music in a Documentary:  Matt Morris, Producer – “Pickin’ n Trimmin’”
 
Best Cinematography:  Kenneth Wilson – “In/Significant Others”
 
Best Cinematography In a Documentary:  David Schmidt – “Pickin’ n Trimmin’”

Best Screenplay:  Wes Edwards – “Falling to the Top”

Best Actor:  Andrew Jenner – “Altar”

The festival will continue through Sunday, so there are plenty of films still to see!

The Heart Is a Drum Machine is a documentary by Christopher Pomerenke which explores the question What is Music?  To start off, the film was very enjoyable if only for the numerous musicians and actors who were interviewed.  I was particularly excited to see musicians such as John Frusciante, Matt Sorum and the always entertaining Juliette Lewis.  Also interesting was the fact that many of the most lucid explanations of what music is came from Bijou Phillips which was something in the order of “Music is a way of letting another person feel what you are feeling”.  I think anyone who has ever given a mix tape (yes, I understand that phrase dates me) will understand that sentiment.

Although the film was interesting and full of great interviews, it have one flaw which was the editing.  Cuts were jumpy and the pacing was not very good.  The movie starts off with a (more…)

The Heart is a Drum Machine is an interesting if ill-defined documentary on the hopelessly expansive topic of music.  The documentary is at times fascinating and beguiling, though it dragged for unbearable stretches and actually felt tediously protracted despite clocking in short for a feature film at roughly 75 minutes in length.
(more…)

Walking into the theatre, press pass dangling around my neck and garnering stares and questioning glances, New York Lately was exactly the type of movie I hoped for and expected. Don’t take that to mean that it was good. This is a Film Festival, having never been to one, I sat in anticipation imagining what it would be like. I pondered my lack of skinny jeans and ironic t-shirts; both of which would no doubt be uniform for the event. Then I imagined the type of movie a person wearing skinny jeans and an ironic t-shirt would make.

I’m not making fun of this as much as it might seem. I wish I was cool enough to wear skinny jeans and clever enough to have ironic t-shirts, but instead I just wear normal jeans and a button down shirt. I wished I had shaved to have cool facial hair of some sort, but alas I had to just be me. Then as we arrived and looked around, I didn’t see a single pair of skinny jeans, and since most everyone was in a uniform for the festival the ironic t-shirts had been left in the closet. I was acceptable.

Interestingly New York Lately was still much the type of movie I imagined those non-existent stereotypes would produce. It was along the vein of movies like Babel and Magnolia. It’s the story of several people whose lives intertwine in some intricate way to produce a story that paints the picture of modern life with its connections and isolation. The problem is that few of these characters seemed real and the stories didn’t really intertwine at all. So it was more like the make-believe stories of disjointed people.

(more…)

Bronson is the story of a man. A man completely detached from the realities of the world and what it means to be human. He’s not nice, good or really evil in the typical sense of the word. What he does is evil but to him it appears that it’s nothing more than a game, a foray into the woods rather than being the very real actions with tangible consequences that they are.

I don’t believe I’ve enjoyed watching a movie more in a very long time. It seems clear to me that Director Nicolas Winding Refn had a clear vision when he chose to venture into this film. He was determined and he pulled together an outstanding cast and crew to see it into fruition. Tom Hardy as “England’s most violent criminal” is spot-on. His performance is dark and menacing, without remorse and completely insane. Exactly the type of man I rather imagine Bronson to be. There is no sanity to this film. No character to stabilize you. You feel constantly at odds against the main character, much, I imagine, like the prison guards must have felt these thirty years.

(more…)

I had a very different review of New York Lately planned in my head as the closing credits rolled.  This was the first narrative film I’d seen at the Charlotte Film Festival, and I wasn’t impressed.  It was a full length feature, a notch above student films, but much of the cast looked like they were film student buddies of the director or struggling actors who happened to be available that week and were willing to work for half a Subway sandwich.  A couple performers stood above the rest (Mark DiConzo, Susan Cagle, and that’s the list), a couple scenes had some genuinely interesting moments, and I think I chuckled twice (this is a romantic-comedy-drama, or, as we with Press passes at film festivals say, a “rom-com-dram”.)

New York Lately is about a bunch of disparate, loosely connected New Yorkers falling out of love, falling in love, and looking for love.  There are familiar archetypes, like the two coffeehouse girls, one trying to become an actress and the other trying to become a singer; there’s the disaffected office worker who’s afraid his job — firing people, it seems — has sucked the soul out of him; there’s the guy whose girlfriend wants time apart, and he is torn between winning her back and moving on.
(more…)

Bronson.  It’s an independent movie skillfully and artfully made.  Tom Hardy, looking like a true Haberdasher, plays the titular Bronson — based on the real life story of Britain’s most notorious and expensive — and is brilliant.  If someone were to talk Best Actor for Mr. Hardy, I couldn’t disagree; it’s a brave, bold, menacing performance. 

The director makes some stylistic choices with Bronson, in his mind, putting on a campy stage show to an enraptured audience where he gets to explain his sick, perverse outlook on life.   There are other more serious moments where Bronson speaks to the camera directly as if in a confessional, where the nutjob is about as lucid about his madness as possible.  I thought they worked and were interesting.

And I utterly detested the movie.  I can’t fathom why a talented group of men and women would willingly conspire to write, produce, cast, direct, and perform the material.  I derived no entertainment value from the experience and I would strongly encourage any caring human being to keep clear of theaters screening Bronson with a 30 mile radius, just to make sure they don’t accidentally wander into one of the showings by mistake.  If there is a scientist who intends to show Bronson to criminally, clinically insane lab rats to gauge their reaction, I would gladly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those loons from PETA to protest cruelty to animals.
(more…)

The Charlotte Film Festival opened last night at the Regal Park Terrace Stadium 6 with a showing of Stanley Kubrick’s classic black comedy Dr. Strangelove: or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.  The fourth annual festival, which runs from September 21st – September 27th will feature 69 screenings including 20 world premiers and 14 North American premiers (click here for a full schedule).  Begining Thursday the festival will expand to Epicenter Theaters and include showings at Queens University.  Many films are also being shown with a short film preceding them giving viewers additional exposure to even more writers, directors and actors.  The festival also includes workshops where those aspiring to make it in the industry can learn such things as Film Financing Fundamentals and how to Organize Your Life, Make Your Movie.

The festival will also feature a screening of Michael Moore’s new film Capitalism: A Love Story.  While there are those who are put off by Moore’s films, the arranging of a screening of this film prior to it’s October 2nd release date is a coup for the festivals organizers as it will undoubtedly attract attention to the festival. 
(more…)