Charlie inspired me to try to do something new (check out The-Broll below), so I'm going to watch 4 movies a week and write my little review about them, or steal John's reviews from Making the Movie.
I won't give ratings, just a when you should see it rating...i.e. my favorites will be rated NOW, for "GO SEE IT NOW". Others will include Indie Film Mood, Date Night, or Drunken Guys Night ect..
You will learn very quickly that writing isn't my strongest skill so please excuse the many errors.
Showing posts with label Indie Film Mood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indie Film Mood. Show all posts
The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work.
This is one of the most entertaining documentaries that I have watched. It starts out following a french film maker as he enters the world of street art as it slowly starts to explode. He travels around filming various artists, until finally he meets the legendary Banksy. Reluctant at first, Banksy finally allows him to film him while he works.
This movie takes you deep into the street art world, something that has become immensely popular and that is around much more than you even notice. Banksy pushes the limits with his work and sends a message with each piece of work that he does.
The best part about this movie is that it is not only a documentary about street art, but it also shows the making of a monster. Someone who went from a nobody to a wealthy artist over night, but riding the backs of other people to get there.
This movie was cool enough just with the artists work to go see it, add in an interesting plot and you have a very cool documentary that most people will enjoy.
It's 1984, and Michael Jackson is king-even in Waihau Bay, New Zealand. Here we meet Boy, an 11-year-old who lives on a farm with his gran, a goat, and his younger brother, Rocky (who thinks he has magic powers).
I watched this movie while I was half asleep on an airplane, so I wasn't expecting much. As the movie started I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision in what to watch, but it didn't take long to realize that I had found a true gem.
The movie is about "Boy", a boy who always talks about two things, Michael Jackson and his dad. He hadn't seen his dad since he was just a little boy, but all of his memories make his father out to be a super hero. Then when his dad shows up at his house one day with his two friends, Boy thinks his life is perfect. He soon finds out that his dad is a kid trapped in a mans body.
Sometimes it is hard to understand what they are saying or they use words that I've never heard before, so that will occasionally take you out of the movie. It really is unfortunate because I feel like alot of jokes I might be missing.
The relationship dynamics in this movie are great, and how the change from the beginning to the end makes this more than just a comedy.
40-year-old Jimmy is growing up, or at least he's getting older. While mooching the upper bunk of his ten-year-old nephew's bed, he enjoys the never-ending generosity of his sister Aiko, and dodges the wrath of his impatient brother-in-law Tak.
This is one of the funnier indie movies I have seen this year. Hiroshi Watanabe plays Jimmy, who lives with his sister and her husband because his wife divorced him and he is trying to get back on his feet. Something is a little off about Jimmy, he moved from Japan to America because he ran out of the food that his wife had prepared after she she told him she wanted a divorce. So we know Jimmy has a hard time taken care of himself, but he also has a big heart and only wants whats best for his sisters family.
Jimmy makes this movie hilarious, he isn't afraid to say whats on his mind for better or for worse. He is also trying to get a girl that is 15 years younger than him, who is a family friend that refers to him as Uncle Jimmy. (Not as creepy as I made it sound, actually very funny).
The movie also has heart which is nice, as Jimmy try's to find love, his sisters family struggles through a marriage that seems very distant and a young child that seems to be completely ignored by the family. They will all have to discover things about each other in order to keep the family together, even it takes people accidentally stabbing themselves in the stomach. The one thing I felt like the movie didn't do was give enough closure on the family though. That was a little disappointing.
I laughed a lot more watching this movie then I thought I would when I first saw the trailer, but I'm glad that I watched it as it was a wonderful surprise.
In Brooklyn, a youth from an Orthodox Jewish community is lured into becoming an Ecstasy dealer by his pal who has ties to an Israel drug cartel.
Justin Bartha (The Hangover) and Michael Cer.......uh I mean Jesse Eisenberg star in Holy Rollers. Jesse Eisenberg really stands out for once for not being the quite awkward guy who wants the girl. He does start out the quite awkward Jew who wants the girl, but this time his character actually progresses into something much more. Justin Bartha was the only actor in The Hangover that didn't have a stand out role, so I was interested to see how he would do in a leading role. It would be nice to see a little more from him, especially in this type of role, but I think his performance was still good.
The movie started very slow and it was hard to keep my attention. Jesse's character is worried about what career he is going to be given and if he will be allowed to marry the girl he wants to. He has a strong business sense, but that doesn't help him in his fathers business. Once he finds out he can't marry the girl he wants he blames it on his families social status. Justin Bartha's character then brings him along to make extra money bringing "medicine" back from Europe. All of this seems to go very slow and is boring, it is not until Jesse finds out that he is actually smuggling ecstasy that the movie starts to get good.
The movie is very bland, probably intentionally in the beginning while in the Jewish community, but as it picks up and they are in Europe and Jesse's character is getting partying, drinking, and taking drugs for the first time that the movie starts to take a cool style. The movies pace picks up and Jesse's character development going from a quiet Jewish boy who is too awkward to talk to girls, to a drug smuggler who is making business deals and getting more Orthodox Jewish kids involved is fun to watch.
The movie opens up your eyes to how some kids in these communities grow up and how their decisions are made for them. How every decision that they make is scrutinized by the community. It is also a pretty crazy true story about how the Jewish kids were not ever searched by airport security because no one would think that they would be doing anything wrong.
Unfortunately being based on a true story it has kind of an abrupt ending. The movie is just picking up to a great climax and then two minutes later its over it seems. It's a good thing if that is how the real story happened, but it does feel like a let down to the audience. The movie is fairly short anyways so the abrupt ending feels like there could have been more to enjoy.
After experiencing what they think are a series of "break-ins", a family sets up security cameras around their home, only to realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they seem.
I am not a big fan of these type of movies. I did not see the first movie, and don't really find it worth the money to go to a theater to just be scared. That being said, if you are the type of person who likes to be scared this would be a good movie for you. The way the movie is shot using the "security" cameras and the occasional shots from the hand held camera add alot of anticipation, because at any point anything can happen. You aren't warned by any creepy music or seeing the villain sneaking up on someone.
The story itself is not that exciting, but it is cool that it ties into the first movie (or so I'm told), and is not just another random security camera movie that is trying to just make money off the first movies success. The biggest problem I have with the story besides all of the boring filler that takes up 3/4 of this movie is when things start to go crazy and the family watches it on the security footage they still stay in this same place and don't really take any action. I know this there wouldn't be a movie if they did not do it this way, but its hard to believe a movie that is being shot like real archival footage if the people take it unrealistically. I'm not sure I know anyone that would stay in a house after watching footage of the things that are happening to these people.
With a 3 million dollar budget it has already made over 40 million dollars, which goes to show that you don't have to have a high budget movie to scare and entertain people.
The acting in the movie is pretty bad, but at the same time, you aren't watching this movie to see good acting or to see a great story. You are there to be scared, and Paranormal Acticity 2 has quite a few jump out of your seat moments that come out of nowhere that will leave you satisfied.
A period comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960s.
Carl is sent by his mother to live on a pirate radio ship that broadcasts rock n' roll to Great Britain. On board he meets a wide range of characters who all bring something new to the table. Together they all live life with no regrets, just trying to bring rock n' roll to Britain. Meanwhile the British government is trying to find ways to make these radio boats illegal.
One of the biggest problems with this movie is it doesn't really feel like there is much of a story. While on the boat it seems like one big party, sex, drugs and music. There is the occasional issues between the people on the boat but it is usually solved very quickly, in a funny way. Life for them is all about having the best times of their life. Then we see the one member of the British government who only cares about shutting them down no matter what he has to do. We rarely see anything that he does have an impact on them until the very end of the movie, which really seemed to make them feel like an afterthought.
The movie is fueled by yet another great performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite actors. Even though he is not the main actor in the movie I think he still steals the spotlight in the scenes he is in. Rhys Ifans and Bill Nighy both put in notable performances. This movie is very character driven, the story itself would be nothing without the interesting, fun characters. One bad performance could have ruined this movie, but I thought the movie was cast very well and it is the highlight of the film.
A movie about pirate radio in the 60's needs a good soundtrack, and Pirate Radio did not disappoint, this was the other thing that stood out baout this movie besides the acting. The movie features a wide selection of music, with bands including Cat Stevens, Rolling Stones, Neil Young, The Box Tops, The Yardbirds, The Kinks, The Hollies, Smokey Robinson, The Seekers, and Leonard Cohen.
Overall it was a fun movie, the story has its issues and I'm not sure how much I liked the ending, but it was worth it with a solid cast and great music.
Waking groggy in pitch darkness, Paul Conroy, an American truck driver working as a contractor in Iraq in 2006, slowly realizes he is trapped inside a wooden coffin, buried alive.
When I was buying my ticket, I was asked by the employee why I was going to see this movie. He said "why would you want to see a movie where there is only one actor in the entire movie and he is in a coffin the entire time. Other people have been leaving very angry that this is the entire movie."
That is what this movie is, so do not go to this movie expecting to see an action packed thriller. Prepare to be in a suffocating, dark hole with Ryan Reynolds for 95 minutes.
Ryan Reynolds has come a long way since Van Wilder. I thought he did a very good job in this role, having no one to feed off of and only a tiny space to act in, he really played a convincing role. He takes us on a emotional roller coaster that really makes this film enjoyable.
The film is very frustrating to watch but in a good way. Every step that Reynolds character has to go through seems to be hindered by someone who seems to ask to many stupid questions or has other priorities above him. That's what really made the script good, you know he doesn't have much time to live and with limited cell phone battery every second is important. Yet everyone he talks to seems to take forever to help him out.
What hurts the movie is that the movie is what it is. A man stuck in a coffin. He can say the same thing on the phone over and over trying to get out, but he is still stuck in the coffin, there are no other story plots developing. They also don't answer some questions that they bring up, like what is his relationship with his co-worker?
In the end of it all it was good for what it was, a 95 minute movie about a man in a coffin buried someone in the middle east. Don't expect anything more than that.
A young man, realizes the shortcomings of the Utopian ideals on the hippie commune where he was raised...
This story takes an interesting look at the youth who are raised in a polygamist society. Instead of following in their parents footsteps and becoming free-loving hippies, they have become an angry, self-destructive group. Addicted to drugs and alcohol, they try to find any release from the world they live in.
I found it very interesting, trying to imagine what it would be like to grow up in this other world with practically no rules. As hard as the kids try to be different from their parents the things that they grew up around still have become a part of their lives. Such as casual sex between all of them from night to night, even though it seems that this is one thing that disgusts many of them when it comes to their parents.
The movie is shot beautifully, and has a unique style to it. It gives the feeling that you are in a place where normal isn't normal. I liked how the dream sequences were put together, really putting you in the head of one of the kids.
The movie seemed to drift in certain places and start to tell the story of another character, but then bring you back to the main character. Also at times it felt like the movie wasn't progressing, and they were just trying to show you how unhappy these kids are in as many ways as possible. With a run time of only 88 minutes though it didn't seem to hurt the movie to much.
Overall I really liked how they brought this film together to take you inside this world that seems like it should have been lost in the 70's but instead is a reality for these kids.
A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He becomes friends with a group of skinheads that become his like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.
One of the things that stood out about this movie to me is Thomas Turgoose, who plays a Shaun, a 12 year old boy who's father was one of the Falkland casualties. This is Thomas's first major acting role and it is really hard to believe. He is outstanding as he progresses throughout the film from a lonely boy who is struggling to fit in, to a skinhead who's maturity is pushed way above his age.
The other actor I really enjoyed in this film was Stephen Graham (Snatch, Public Enemies). He plays a skinhead fresh out of prison who comes back to recruit his old friends into a revolution to "take back England". He see's Shaun as a younger version of himself and takes him under his wing.
The film is carried by strong performances, which director Shane Meadows crafts very well. The film is based on Shane's experiences and it really comes out in his directing.
The only part of this film that I did not like was how the movie ended. It seemed to leave a lot of questions unanswered. We see how things change for the lead character but it feels like there are a lot of characters that are built up, just to see them leave one scene and never come back again.
Overall I really enjoyed this film, and would recommend that people check it out.
When to Watch Rating: Indie Film Mood
Available on Netflix Instant View
As the light fades and the city goes to sleep, two forces emerge. They are invisible except for the power they exert over us in our sleep, battling for our souls through dreams. One force delivers hope and strength; the other infuses the subconscious with desperation through nightmares.
I stumbled across this movie by picking a theater that was playing five movies that I had never heard of. I watched trailers for all the films and decided to go to the one with the coolest trailer. Ink's caught my eye. You can view it here.
Ink is a story about the fight for a little girl and her fathers soul, both in the real and subconscious world. In the subconscious world there is a battle between good and evil every night to control our dreams. We have or guardians who bring us good dreams and protect us. The Incubus are the faces of evil that bring nightmares.
Ink is a character who has not yet become a Incubus, and he has been given a task to bring a young girls soul back to the council.
It is written, directed, edited, composed and produced by Jamin Winans who shows that he is truly talented on multiple levels. After watching it the first time in theaters I remember coming out and being blown away by the visual effects and shots that are in this low budget, independent movie. But I was disappointed in the acting and script.
I re-watched the movie and came away with a different opinion on the acting. The little girl, played by Quinn Hunchar, I thought was very good. This was her first major film and I believed really stood out. Christopher Soren Kelly and Jessica Duffy play two of the other leads and they also have good performances.
The visual effects are very good for this type of movie, many of the films you see with much higher budgets looks much worse than this. It is very risky to make an independent movie that is so effect heavy, because it can turn a viewer off very quickly if they look bad.
Jamin Winans has a great vision throughout the film, he creates interesting characters who really bring us inside the subconscious world. He reminds me a lot of Guillermo del Toro with his creativity and versatility as a director. I would really love to see what he could do on a studio film.
I do believe that the script still lacks what this movie needs to take it to the next level as a film. Some of it seems like it is trying to hard to force things into movie, like comedy. One of the coolest characters in the movie, the pathfinder, is ruined for me due to the over the top antics, that originally came off as just bad acting. Some of the scenes also seem very amateur in dialogue, especially the scenes where one of the characters is trying to make a billion dollar business corporation deal.
The movie is over stylized with color which hurts it as well, some of it looks perfect and you feel like that this is what the subconscious world would feel like. Some of time though it just makes it look very low budget, especially when the visual effects look so good and the color looks so bad.
I liked the movie both times I saw it, by no means is it a great movie that everyone will like, but for what the movie is I think it was very well done. It had a reported budget of around $250,000, so watch it knowing that you are seeing a low budget indie and I think it will impress.
