𝔽𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔽𝕚𝕝𝕞𝕤

2012 Directed By Jennifer Chambers Lynch Starring Vincent D’Onofrio Julia Ormond Eamon Farron Ever since Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 masterpiece Full Metal Jack Vincent D’Onofrio has been an actor you should pay attention to. With movies as varied as Happy Accidents, JFK, Men in Black, The Break Up and the upcoming Jurassic World the only common thread in D’Onofrio’s work is the quality of the performances he turns in. This man has range. Even when I don’t enjoy the movies as a whole his performances are always noteworthy.  With all that in mind D’Onofrio is often playing smaller ancillary characters and is rarely given the amount of screen time he deserves.  Chained is not one of those films. Bob (Vincent D’Onofrio) is front and center for the duration of this film. This is his story. Well, in truth it’s the story of Bob and Rabbit (Eamon  Farron.) Bob is a cab-driving serial killer who kidnaps Rabbit at the age of 9 and holds him hostage for several years. Over  the years whi

2011 Directed by Philip Gelatt Starring Alexandra Chandro, Nina Lisandrello, Patrick Breen & Charlie Hewson Leo Tolstoy famously wrote “All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” A stranger comes to town, for some reason it is a concept that has always captured my imagination. The unknown forces that can disrupt and shape our lives have always made me lock my doors and check my closets before I go to bed. Philip Gelatts 2011 horror film is one these stories, one that will make me use the peep hole when someone knocks on my door and never trust a man in a white seersucker suit. The opening shot of the film sets an ominous tone that will be slowly delivered upon for the next hour and twenty minutes. The Smith family is like most in that it has a past and would prefer to keep their uncomfortable secrets hidden after all “Small towns have a long memory.”  The opening twenty minutes establishes the uncomfortable natu

2012  Directed By Todd Berger Starring: Rachel Boston, Laura Adkin, Kevin M Brennan, David Cross, America Ferrera and Julia Stiles  Sometimes a movie sits in your Netflix queue for months if not years and you have no clue how it got there. You have no idea who if anyone recommended this piece of entertainment. Who can you blame for wasting your time if you decide to watch it and it sucks? The longer a movie or a show sits unwatched the more it feels like homework. The more it becomes a chore. Something you know you need to do, something you know you might enjoy but for some reason it becomes more and more difficult to take the time to sit down and watch this enigmatic beast.  The weird thing is 9 times out of 10 it ends up being something I really enjoy.  So was the case with Todd Bergers 2012 comedy It’s a Disaster.  This is a film that has been taunting me from my queue for the last 6 months or so. I’m glad to say that I finally overcame my Netflix procrastination and wa

2014 Directed By Daniel Stamm We've all had that conversation with our friends, the one where you ask each other what you would do for x amount of dollars. The one where you explore how much would it take for you to do that cruel thing or that gross thing. The strange thing about that conversation is it assumes that we all have a price. The only question is, what is that price? 13 Sins introduces us to Elliot Brindle (Mark Webber) a man buried in student debt with a mentally challenged brother (Devon Graye) a pregnant fiancee (Rutina Wesley) and a father (Tom Bower) who is about to be kicked out of his assisted living facility. Did I mention Elliot is fired in the opening scene of the film? At this point the sympathy has been pretty well loaded for our protagonist. It easy to put yourself in Elliot Brindles shoes. Most people have undergone financial worries and stress. If you have never dodged a call from a creditor you were far more responsible in

The Sacrament 2013 Directed By Ti West     If you are not familiar with the story of the Jonestown massacre don't read this review. The Peoples Temple were direct inspiration for Ti Wests latest film The Sacrament. This is the second found footage horror film that I have seen in the last week and I loved both of them. I had convinced myself that there was no life remaining in the found footage concept but Bobcat Golthwait and Ti West have shown me that I was way off. Before the opening scene of The Sacrament title cards give a brief explanation of the Vice multimedia company. Vice is a company that is known for “covering provocative & controversial stories” that are normally “overlooked in the mainstream media” and the type of journalism they practice is known as “immersionism.” In the opening scene of The Sacrament we are introduced to Sam Turner and Patrick Carter. Sam is a journalist from from Vice and Patrick is a photographer whose sister Caroline di

Big Fish 2003 Directed by Tim Burton The last live action Tim Burton film that didn’t star Johnny Depp is eleven years old? Big Fish is the story of a man attempting to learn more about his father. This film is beautiful and it proves that Tim Burton is capable of producing amazing things, not just visually stunning but powerful stories leave a lasting impression. Road To Predition 2002 Directed By Sam Mendes Michael Sullivan Jr (Tyler Hoechlin) decides to hide in the back of his fathers’(Tom Hanks) car and inadvertently  witnesses something that will forever change the nature of their relationship.  When I first saw this film I was struck by how easy it was for me to relate to Michael Sullivan Jr., granted I didn’t grow up in the depression and my father wasn’t employed by the mafia but my father was something of a stranger in my youth and I never really understood what he did for a living. I’ve grown to respect and love my father but he not unlike Michael

2012 Directed By Ryan Polito The Greatest Movie ever rolled is Doug Bensons follow up to his 2007 documentary Super High Me. Both films have titles inspired/lifted from Morgan Spurlock documentaries, Greatest Movie Ever Sold and Super-Size Me.  While Super High Me took the concept of Super-Size Me and replaced McDonalds with marijuana, Greatest Movie Ever Rolled takes the concept of Greatest Movie Ever Sold and replaces corporate sponsorship with a stand up tour… sort of. This is really just a film about life on the road with Doug Benson and Graham Elwood. This is not a sober examination of the isolation and depression that make up the life of a road comic and despite the title this is not a stoner movie either.  GMER is a lean 80 minutes of hilarious interaction between Doug and Graham. The movie shows our protagonists trying to sell tickets, getting high with fans, traveling from gig to gig and promoting a show on morning television; more or less what you would expect

2012 Directed By Mark Christopher Covino Have you heard Death? Let me phrase that another way have you heard of three black teenagers from Detroit who were playing punk rock “two years before The Ramones?”  David, Dannis and Bobby Hackney formed a band in the early 1970’s that would eventually land on the name Death. They played fast, loud and with undeniable heart. After David saw The Who play in Detroit he knew how his band should sound. Friends and neighbors called it “white boy” music but David had been inspired and could not be discouraged when it came to his artistic vision. The same steadfast attitude applied to the bands’ name.  As you might imagine the name Death was a huge turnoff to record executives, producers, and pretty much everyone else. While by today’s standards the name Death probably wouldn’t cause anyone to bat an eye, by 1970’s standards it was dangerous. The name and music were ahead of their time. When you look back it might give you some sola

2012 Directed By Thomas Vinterberg “Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.”  -Bertrand Russell The opening scene of Thomas Vinterbergs  (2014 Best Foreign Language Oscar nominated)  film encapsulates the overall theme of the film in a subtle but powerful way. We are introduced to Lucas a character who appears uncomfortable while everyone around him is laughing and having a great time. None of this is said outright, it's told through our main characters eyes and posture. His smiles are forced and his body language conveys how anxious this particular group of men make him feel. We have been introduced to a man who is so guarded with his “friends” he jumps in a lake with all his clothes on while his peers are naked. The following scene shows Lucas in a different light. He appears comfortable and more content with his surroundings. We see a different man. In those scenes he is wi

2013 Directed By James Ponsoldt The Spectacular Now   is everything a coming of age story should be. It’s poignant without being preachy, funny while remaining truthful and uncomfortable as hell at times.  It is an honest film about growing up and facing the great unknown that comes after high school, something we can all remember and relate to. But it tells that story without the forced nostalgia of other mainstream films. Miles Teller  plays Sutter Keely and his performance is nothing short of astounding. His role is very well written but in the hands of a lesser performer the movie could have fallen apart. I can’t think of many films where I so completely disliked a character at a films onset and by its conclusion I was fully pulling for him to get his shit together.   Shailene Woodley  plays Sutter’s rebound girlfriend named Aimee and also turns in a stellar performance. This is Ponsoldt’s third film, and his third film which deals with alcoholism. In  Smas

1999 Directed By Antonia Bird What’s the best way to measure a film’s success? I’ve never really cared how a movie does at the box office or what the critics think but when a film fails to connect on both levels it’s a safe bet that the movie just did not work and that it was in fact a failure. If you make that assumption about Antonia Birds 1999 film Ravenous you would be flat out wrong. While the film only grossed $2,062,045 on a $12,000,000 budget and currently has a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes this film by my personal measurement is a resounding success.  In March 1999 I saw Ravenous in a nearly empty theater. After the movie was over my friend looked at me and said “that was brilliant, where is everybody?” Apparently they went to see Analyze This and Forces of Nature that weekend.   In the opening sequence of Ravenous we are introduced to Capt. John Boyd played by Guy Pearce. Capt. Boyd is a US soldier fighting in the Mexican-American war who is afraid of dying in batt

2014 Directed By Bobcat Goldthwait  Bobcat Goldthwait has done something truly remarkable with his latest directorial effort. He has made a found footage horror film that could not have been made better if it were told as a conventional narrative feature. Most found footage films pull me out because I can't quite give in to the fact that the characters on screen would still be filming while all hell is breaking loose around them. Willow Creek centers on Jim and Kelly, a couple who are traveling to northern California making a documentary about Bigfoot. The first half of the film shows our characters interviewing the residents of Willow Creek. The interviews focus on Bigfoot sightings and the Patterson-Gimlin film that captured the only known footage of the fabled creature. The only actors in the first half the film are our two leads, the rest of the cast is made up by real people who are telling their first hand accounts of living in the Area 51 of the Bigfoot un

2013 Directed By Daniel Farrands Daniel Farrands has a special place in my heart. His 2010 documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is one my favorite films about the making of a film. Yes, I put NSA up there with Man from La Mancha and Hearts of Darkness. NSA clocked in at 240 minutes and somehow made Nightmare on Elm St part two not only interesting but the most compelling film in the series, that by the way was no small feat. I have gone back and watched part two with new eyes. Could Daniel Farrands do this again with the  Friday  the 13 th  series? I’m happy to report that he has. I’ve always preferred the Nightmare films to the  Friday  films but I can say without any trepidation this is a very well made documentary that leaves very few if any stones unturned.  To say that Crystal Lake Memories is comprehensive would be underselling the film. CLM clocks in at 400 minutes or 6.66 hours. Get it? This is probably the most complete look at this film se