Tag: U.S. Indie Film Review
Everly | Review
Everly, Baby: Lynch’s Grindhouse Glory Shoots Blanks
If Pam Grier had starred in a 1970’s version of Oldboy directed by Jack Hill, it probably would’ve...
All the Wilderness | Review
Wild at Heart: Johnson’s Solipsistic, Sincere Coming-of-Age Drama
Initially titled The Wilderness of James when it premiered at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival, Michael Johnson’s...
Amira & Sam | Review
The Misfits: Mullin’s Modest, Yet Conventionally Charming Debut
Director Sean Mullin makes his directorial debut with Amira & Sam, a modest, carefully performed New York...
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus | Review
S’Blood: Lee’s Facsimile of Bill Gunn an Odd Satisfaction
Surprisingly, after the failure of his 2013 remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, provocateur Spike Lee’s latest,...
The Voices | Review
Playing Off-key: Satrapi’s English Language Debut a Grating Misfire
Iranian born director Marjane Satrapi, best known for her 2007 debut, Persepolis, and a 2011 follow-up,...
I Am Michael | 2015 Sundance Film Festival Review
True Story: Kelly’s Objective Exploration of Sensational Subject
For his directorial debut I Am Michael, Justin Kelly takes a provocative, controversial subject and crafts it...
City of Gold | 2015 Sundance Film Festival Review
Eating One's Way To Enlightenment: Gabbert Follows Gold Down A Rabbit-Hole Of Crucial Cultural Cuisine
Everyone in Los Angeles knows that Jonathan Gold is the...
Song One | Review
Title Track: Barker-Froyland’s Cloying Debut Plays Familiar Tune
“Sad song at night, hipster’s delight” should be the opening line in Kate Barker-Froyland’s mournful, musically inclined...
Cake | Review
Let Them Have It: Barnz Banks on Adept Aniston
Grief is a prickly emotion to convey within the confines of the indie American melodrama, a...
The Humbling | Review
Or The Unexpected Convenience of Sexism: Levinson's Perplexing but Deviously Funny Stab at Roth
Decades passed between initial adaptations of novelist Philip Roth’s novels (1969’s...
Little Accidents | Review
Casualties of Class War: Colangelo’s Well Performed, Soporific Debut
The directorial debut of Sara Colangelo, Little Accidents, finds a filmmaker afforded the possibility to expand...
Match | Review
Stewart’s Eccentricity Barely Keeps “Match” Lit
Groomed and primmed ballet dancers create arches and points which are lauded and corrected by their instructor, kept sharp...
Still Alice | Review
Red Queen’s Lost Her Head: Westmoreland & Glatzer’s Poetic Elegy of Familial Tragedy
It’s been a busy year for Julianne Moore, in between tent pole...
The World Made Straight | Review
Civil War on Drugs: Burris Turns Southern Gothic into Southern Comfort
Though its title sounds something you’d expect to grace a Christian propaganda film starring...
Predestination | Review
Adjustment Bureau: The Spierig Bros. Resuscitate Heinlein’s Dime Store Sci-Fi
Though it gets off to an idle, clunky start, the Spierig Bros, an Australian directing...
A Most Violent Year | Review
Year of Living Stressfully: Chandor Returns with Slow-Boil Scald
Baby, it may be cold outside, but the climate’s sure changing in J.C. Chandor’s flashback to...
Ask Me Anything | Review
Ask and You Shall Receive: Burnett’s Adaptation Buoyed By Arresting Performances
Landing somewhere on a spectrum of unraveling female adolescent prototypes that plays like one...
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks | Review
Dance, Fools, Dance: Performances Elevate Seidelman’s Stagnant Adaptation
Marking the fifth film collaboration between director Arthur Allan Seidelman and writer Richard Alfieri is Six Dance...
Life Partners | Review
She’s the One: Fogel’s Debut a Top Tier Examination of Co-Dependent Friendship
Borrowing shades of autobiographical instances from their own lives, director Susanna Fogel and...
The Foxy Merkins | Review
American Gigola: Olnek’s Hilarious Sophomore Film Reinvents the Masculine Realm of Hustler Bonding
Few filmmakers are able to successfully create a distinctly unique universe of...
Wild | Review #2
A Prayer for the Wild at Heart: Vallee Continues Reinvention of Lost Souls
Arriving at the end of star Reese Witherspoon’s auteur binge is one...
Butter on the Latch | Review
Pass the Butter: Decker Cooks Up Female & Peyote Driven Experiment
Serving as a statement more so than a film, Butter on the Latch, tosses...
Before I Disappear | Review
The Sting Called Love: Christensen’s Debut Rife with Melodramatic Cliché
Shawn Christensen, who won an Academy Award for his 2013 short film, Curfew, expands his...
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night | Review
Walking After Midnight: Amirpour’s Expressive, Moody Debut
Described as an Iranian vampire film with all its characters speaking Farsi, yet filmed in California and set...
V/H/S: Viral | Review
Headcleaner: VHS Series Gets Third Installment Blues
Perhaps after this third installment this franchise can enter the same void for the format which it’s named,...
Starry Eyes | Review
Eyes Without a Place: Kolsch & Widmyer’s Horrors in Hollywood
Madonna’s famed verse asks the hypothetical question of Hollywood, “How could it hurt you when...
Miss Meadows | Review
A Spoonful of Violence: Hopkins’ Unbalanced Sophomore Effort
Actress turned screenwriter turned director Karen Leigh Hopkins unleashes her sophomore feature Miss Meadows after its premiere...
Rosewater | Review
Solitary Confinement Is Boring: Stewart's Adaptation Of Bahari's Lengthy Detainment is a Slick, Tame Affair
Jon Stewart’s first foray into the fictional film arena is...
Beyond the Lights | Review
Why you wanna fly, Blackbird?: Mbatha-Raw Vibrantly Imbues Prince-Blythewood’s Showbiz Melodrama
A systematically underrated director, Gina Prince-Bythewood returns with her third feature film, Beyond the...
A Merry Friggin’ Christmas | Review
Blight Christmas: Shapeero’s Debut is Not the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
There’s a reason why Tristram Shapeero’s film debut A Merry Friggin’ Christmas...
Elsa and Fred | Review
Anything Elsa: Radford’s Remake Rough Around the Edges
English director Michael Radford, still best known for earlier works 1984 (1984) and the critical darling...
Winter in the Blood | Review
Blood Simple: The Smith’s Sophomore Effort a Lyrical, Uneven Production
It’s been well over a decade now since their first film, 2002’s The Slaughter Rule,...
Nightcrawler | Review
While the City Sleeps: Gyllenhaal Gets His Money Shot in Gilroy’s Debut
You’ll be hard pressed to find a more enjoyably witty criticism of modern...
The ABCs of Death 2 | Review
Same Old Song: Scant Few Highlights Justify Lengthy Omnibus
Well, alphabet soup horror is back with The ABCs of Death 2, a follow-up to the...
Laggies | Review
We All Float Down Here: Shelton’s Latest Winning Slice of Arrested Development
Remarkable in the sense that this is her third consecutive film to premiere...
Low Down | Review
Groovin’ High: Hawkes Nuanced Performance Elevates Albany Memoir
Despite taking home the best cinematography prize for Christopher Blauvet (who also provided superb camerawork on Kelly...
White Bird in a Blizzard | Review
Skin Deep: Araki Weathers a 4th Decade in Filmmaking
Gregg Araki’s latest ode to youthful alienation, White Bird in a Blizzard, is his most restrained...
John Wick | Review
Who the Hell is John Wick?: Leitch & Stahelski’s Revenge Flick Energetically Entertaining
Against the general mediocre trend of stuntmen turned directors, Chad Stahelski’s unassumingly...
The Heart Machine | Review
Feel It In Your Heart Beat: Wigon’s Debut Explores Jagged, Media-Moderated Romance
Film critic Zachary Wigon makes his directorial and screenwriting debut with The Heart...
Exists | Review
The Pictures Got Small: Sanchez Unwisely Revisits Found Footage
The co-director of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, Eduardo Sanchez, returns to the fold of the...
Summer of Blood | Review
Hemogobble: Turkel’s Latest Assay into Misanthropy
Indie filmmaker Onor Turkel seems determined to remain hilariously unlikeable as his self-effacing, self-directed on-screen alter ego with his...
Default | Review
Piracy Politique: Brand Uses Topical Subject for Common Critique
Colombian born filmmaker Simon Brand cashes in on the current fascination with hijacking pirates for his...
Birdman | Review
Bullets Over Broadway: Inarritu’s Vibrant, Exuberant Portrait Of Celebrity, Relevance, and Creative Passion
Not only is Birdman (or The Virtue of Ignorance) arguably the best...
Young Ones | Review
Young at Heart: Paltrow’s Sci-Fi Western is All Dried Up
Dystopic draught heralds the end of times for the parable that serves as Jake Paltrow’s...
Listen Up Philip | Review
Philip A. Dick: Perry’s Literary Minds Stuck In a Lonely Place
Following up his dark hearted homage to road trip cinema with 2011’s The Color...
The Pact II | Review
Murky Contract Part Deux: Hallam & Horvath Continue to Stir a Slushy Cauldron
A vaguely administered narrative continues to plague the concept of what comprises...
Addicted | Review
A Dirty Shame: Woodruff’s Erotic Fiction Adaptation Flatlines
Demurely arriving before the anticipated film version of E.L. James’ erotic fiction nonsense Fifty Shades of Grey...
You’re Not You | Review
You-Hoo: Wolfe’s ALS Drama Tries To Balance Sentiment With Schmaltz
Hilary Swank seems attracted to playing daunted heroines, continually up against considerable odds---the homophobic rednecks...
St. Vincent | Review
Sinners And Saints: Melfi’s Debut an Unobtrusive Crowd Pleaser
For a few moments during its initial set-up, Theodore Melfi’s directorial debut, St. Vincent, seems on...
Kill the Messenger | Review
Crack is Whack: Cuesta Revisits Contras Affair as Political Thriller
Though he has several films under his belt, director Michael Cuesta has probably made more...
