Tag: U.S. Indie Film
Gravitas Ventures Find Late Bloomer in Carter Smith’s “Jamie Marks Is Dead”
Some Sundance titles take their sweet time making a deal -- just this week we've had two other 2014 Sundance title announcements. Unlike, say...
Hellion | Review
Boys of Summer: Candler’s Latest Effort a Meandering Glance at Troubled Youth
If there’s anything as frequently explored as the ‘coming of age’ archetype in...
Coherence | Review
Time Crimes: Byrkit’s Exercise Somewhat Overbaked by Inchoate Ideas
Fans of Shane Carruth’s blend of intelligent and hyper complicated low-fi sci-fi should certainly be interested...
Willow Creek | Review
The Fault in Their Yeti: Goldthwait’s Found Footage Cheapie a Generic Endeavor
Following his bitterly angry vituperation of American culture in 2013’s God Bless America,...
Lullaby | Review
And Goodnight: Levitas’ Debut Works Too Hard for Genuine Catharsis
Headlined by one of those casts that seems too good to be true, actor Andrew...
Taissa Farmiga & Ben Rosenfield Find Common Ground in Hannah Fidell’s Latest
Technically her sophomore point fifth of a feature (65-minuter We're Glad You're Here precedes A Teacher) which has amusingly gone by a vast array of titles...
All Cheerleaders Die | Review
Sapphic Sillies: Sivertson & McKee’s Latest Lacks Spirit
Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson, old college friends and now notably notorious film directors (though for different...
Test | Review
Some Gentle People There: Johnson’s Sophomore Effort Recalls Place of Fear
Here’s an arresting point of intrigue into the miasma of historical reexaminations of the...
Words and Pictures | Review
Word Play: Schepisi’s Formulaic Romance Elevated by Lead Performances
Australian director Fred Schepisi gets a lot of mileage out of his headlining duo at the...
The Angriest Man in Brooklyn | Review
Prognosis Negative: Robinson’s Return a Detached, Tepid Exercise
His first outing since the ill-fated 2002 film The Sum of All Fears, director Phil Alden Robinson’s...
A Night in Old Mexico | Review
Siesta Fest: Aragon’s English Language Debut Incredibly Forced
The one discernible reason to watch Cuban director Emilio Aragon’s English language debut, A Night in Old...
2014 Cannes Critics’ Panel Day 4 | “Homesman” is Strong Marriage Material & Rohrwacher Farms a Solid Sophomore Pic with “The Wonders”
Due to some unfortunate circumstances (laptop's hard drive went kaput), I wasn't able to update our grid for Day 3, but we're finally back...
Palo Alto | Review
My So Called Strife: A Coppola Debuts With a Flurry of Restless Teens
Hollywood nepotism and the tableau of the teenage wasteland make for oddly...
God’s Pocket | Review
Pocket Full of Sunshine: Slattery’s Debut Weak in the Knees
The devil’s not in all the details he should be of God’s Pocket, the directorial...
The Obvious Pair; Holm & Gillian Robespierre Prepare Divorce Proceedings at Oddlot
Among those crowned as the new indie queens at this year's Sundance, writing/director Gillian Robespierre and writer/producer Elisabeth Holm will, according to TheWrap, be...
A Damsel in Distress; Analeigh Tipton Comes Under Attack in Joost/Schulman’s “Viral”
Only a couple of weeks after landing their directing team in Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the formerly titled "Peste" has according to Variety...
Schilling, Adam Scott, Schwartzman & Godreche Climb into Bed for Patrick Brice’s “The Overnight”
Veteran indie film world thesps Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman, Orange Is the New Black's Taylor Schilling along with French actress from Potiche fame...
Belle | Review
But Your Picture On My Wall: Asante’s Sophomore Feature Revisits Compelling Historical Episode
A decade after her 2004 directorial debut, A Way of Life, director...
Walking with the Enemy | Review
Walk to Remember: Schmidt’s Debut Sincere and Gawky
Director Mark Schmidt attempts to recount an obscure chronicle of WWII heroism to generally awkward effect, though,...
Small Time | Review
Refurbished: Surnow’s Debut a Casserole of Cliché
Seasoned television writer and producer Joel Surnow makes his directorial debut with Small Time, based on an autobiographical...
Proxy | Review
Lady Liars and Psycho-sexual Thrills; Zach Parker's Proxy is a Rocky Ride
Countless blockbusters have used and abused the idea of doppelgängers and surrogates, but...
Proxy | Review #2
Pinch-hitting: Parker’s Latest as Surprising As it is Unwieldy
With a series of continuously improving indie horror thrillers under his belt, filmmaker Zack Parker launches...
13 Sins | Review
Game On: Stamm’s Latest a B-Grade But Fun Genre Flick
Director Daniel Stamm leaves behind the found footage genre for his third outing as director...
Only Lovers Left Alive | Review
Eternity and a Day: Jim Jarmusch's Vampire Flick Is Typically Jarmuschian
After his droll yet audience-friendly quirkfest Broken Flowers took home the Grand Prix at...
It’s Not About a Girl: Josh Mond’s “James White” Has Much More in Store
Freshly deposited in our inbox, we've been directed towards a Kickstarter film project that...we're already itching to see. Inching ever so closely to a...
From Portlandia to Cincinnati… Sketch Comedy Queen Carrie Brownstein Lands Role on Haynes’ Carol
Eat your heart out Julianne Moore. Less than 24 hours after actor John Magaro was mentioned as a supporting player add-on, we now learn...
Long Term 12; Brie Larson Takes Up Residence in Lenny Abrahamson’s “Room”
Brie Larson is about to delve into some coarse dramatic terrain that will make Short Term 12 look like a walk in the park....
Before Lolita; Samuel Goldwyn Films Swashbuckled by “The Last of Robin Hood”
Filmmaker tandem Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland know a thing or two about being on opposite ends of luck. It wasn't for a lack...
August: Osage County | Blu-ray Review
Since the hubbub of Oscar season has finally died away and we can look past the strategy of campaigns, August: Osage County arrives on...
Safety Not Guaranteed… Radius-TWC Lands Patrick Brice’s “Creep” & Makes Two More Scary Movies
Sort of what Dimension Films represented back in the heyday of Miramax era, Tom Quinn and Jason Janego are proving that RADiUS-TWC is a...
Hateship Loveship | Review
Shipping Out: Johnson’s Sophomore Effort Misses the Boat
Director Liza Johnson follows up her 2011 directorial debut, Return, with Hateship Loveship, an adaptation of a...
Tucson Toughie; Denis Villeneuve Corrals Emily Blunt to Topline “Sicario”
He premiered a pair of films at TIFF this past September, of course his latest film Enemy works in twos, and a rarity in...
Suffering in Silence; Worthington, Kendrick, Messina & co. Slice into “Cake”
Jennifer Aniston will have quite the "support" group of actors for her next journey into indie film format. Moving away from familiar rom com...
Afflicted | Review
From Dusk Till Foregone: Prowse & Lee’s Entertaining Debut Suffers From Formatting Traps
There’s a lot of uncomfortable fun to be had as Afflicted unspools,...
In the Blood | Review
Blood Crush: Stockwell Returns to Exotic Paradise for B Movie Thrills
Considering that In the Blood was scripted by James Robert Johnston (The Howling Reborn;...
10 Rules for Sleeping Around | Review
To Sleep Perchance to Scream: Grief’s Latest a Comedy Cancer
Every once in while a film comes along that’s so horrendously botched in every regard...
Cinedigm Lets Genre Breeze in; Grab SXSW Preemed Nacho Vigalondo’s “Open Windows”
After last year's notable SXSW fest pick-ups in Short Term 12 and Our Nixon, Cinedigm is taking a trip into genre-land item with Nacho Vigalondo’s...
The Retrieval | Review
Repo Men: Eska’s Latest a Gripping Coming of Age Narrative
Certain to be referred to as an indie film counterpart to Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 Django...
Dom Hemingway | Review
Vacant Domicile: Shepard’s Latest Hides Absence of Narrative Behind Titular Character
As foul mouthed and over-the-top as it sometimes tends to be, Richard Sheperd’s latest,...
Unconscious Uncoupling; Magnet Ties Knot with Leigh Janiak’s Honeymoon
Despite SXSW not be the wheeling and dealing epicentre that Sundance is in terms of theatrical pick-ups, we can still expect to see a...
Mysterious Skin | Blu-ray Review
It’s been a decade since Gregg Araki’s arresting coming-of-age examination of the ramifications of child molestation debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2004...
Maladies | Review
Crazy, Stupid, Art: Carter’s Directorial Debut Less than the Sum of its Parts
Multimedia artist Carter makes his directorial debut with Maladies, an intriguing sounding...
Black is the New Black; Simien’s “Dear White People” Counts on Two for Theatrical Release
Deemed by our Nicholas Bell as a film that is "both prescient and topical in a refreshing representation of modern day’s evolving prejudices", we...
The Wolf of Mean Streets; Focus Features Taps Justin Lin for Times Square
The Universal folks are keeping their enemies close and their family members in-house. Justin Lin, who has been working with asphalt skidmarks (Fast &...
Kino Sing the Gospel; Tim Sutton’s “Memphis” to Receive Summer Release
Deemed the verite American indie film that has a stronger resemblance/likeness to Euro fare, indieWIRE reports that Kino will distribute the Tim Sutton's Venice...
West Wants Revenge; “In a Valley of Violence” Lassoes Travolta & Hawke
Set about half a century after Kelly Reichardt's wagon wilderness Meek's Cutoff, Ti West is switching gears. A planned move away from the comfort...
John Hillcoat Hooks’em and Books’em; Harrelson Completes Ensemble “Triple Nine”
Adding to his recent pile-up of "men in uniform with guns" type roles, Woody Harrelson will follow up fashionable stints in green (Oren Moverman's...
Cheap Thrills | Review
Foolish Games: Katz’s Debut Collapses Under Excessive Shock Value
There’s certainly a palpable amount of perverse thrill checkered throughout E.L. Katz’s directorial debut, Cheap Thrills,...
A Birder’s Guide to Everything | Review
Bird is the Word: Meyer’s Debut a Well Meaning But Slight Observation
Bird watching seems to be something of a recent cinematic inspiration, though has...
Rob the Mob | Review
Dog Eat Dog: De Felitta’s Entertaining Take of a Take
After the success of his 2009 indie feature, City Island, Raymond De Felitta turns to...
