Produced for American Masters, this look at the life and career of Ian is awesome. This film is everything you could want to know about her and then some. Full of great music and great stories it's sure to please fans and non-fans alike.
This is a sweet little film about how a penguin changed the lives of everyone he meets. To be certain the basic thrust of one man changing because of circumstances is a tale we’ve seen before, but the fact that this is true and the time it’s set adds all sort of shading to the material. This is not how Hollywood would have done it had a big studio gotten its hand on it.
That the film works is due in large part to the cast. Sure, Steve Coogan and Jonathan Pryce are great, but the rest of the cast is excellent also. I love that the cast of kids who are the students actually make them all stand out. Also excellent is Alfonsina Carrocio who makes such a stirring impression that she brings tears to our eyes in the final moments. She’s also so good that I want to see everything she’s done previously… and whatever comes next.
This is super film and assuming you can fall into its unique rhythms you are going to have a grand time each and every time you see it.
Highly recommended.
As someone who has had aquariums for much of his life, this is a shocking story. I never realized that most fish last less than a year in their tanks and have to be replaced. (I say this because the fish that we had tended to last for years.) As pretty as the fish are I no longer see the reason to have something that is going to die so quickly.
While very much a one sided film, there really isn’t any talk about why putting the fish in a tank is a good thing, the film still makes its point if only in that it reveals how out of control the harvesting of fish is. And it also reveals how dangerous can be as the collectors violently try to stop the anti aquarium activists via means that are deadly.
If you care about the environment this film is worth a look.
The plot has two snipers each manning a tower on either side of a gorge somewhere in Europe. They are to prevent whatever is in the gorge from coming out. They are not to communicate but they do and a romance blossoms. Things become complicated when Miles Teller finds himself in the gorge and Anya Taylor Joy has to go rescue him and they discover what the secret the gorge is.
Long part of the black list of unproduced scripts, I'm left to wonder how many interations this went through. The ideas are cool, but the reasoning (it's not supernatural devils or creatures from the center of the earth) of it being a long running corporate project really makes no sense...especially since it went back to the Second World War.
Also a huge problem is the shifts in tone. Thriller to rom com to action to meet cute ending gives us whiplash and destroys the suspense-once we hit the romcom bits I lost all fear either of the lead would die.
While not bad as such, I was ready to hang it up in middle, and only stayed to find out if the explanation makes sense.
Only worth a look on a desperate night on the couch
This a tense little thriller that score points by not being like most other films out there. Set in a world most films never show us this is a place where everyone is connected by technology and where old beliefs still hold sway. Personal feelings and petty jealousy trump rational thought, and the result is a film where the mood is off. We aren't in Hollywood or even in the world of many European filmmakers but something made from a different point of view. The result is a film that grabs us and pulls us into a vice grip hold.
I loved this film. I loved that it didn't behave like anything that I've seen recently. Its a film that breaths and is alive and isn't a carbon copy of everything else.
I know this isn't a deep and detailed review, and I'm sorry about that, but the truth is that HOOD WITCH deserves to be seen on t's own terms and taken for what it is. I did not have any real idea of what the film was about and I think that helped the film feeling special. From the opening moments when the mother and son went through customs I realized I had no idea where this was going to go and it was a feeling that made me love the film more. It's something I want tou to feel so all I'm going to say is - if you hate the typical mainstream movies- see HOOD WITCH to have atrip to somewhere else.
This is an intriguing documentary that actually shows the various ceremonies that Le Guillou is part of. It’s so atypical that the film begins with a warning saying that the filmmakers are not responsible if anything bad or strange happens to the viewer after watching the film.
For me the most interesting part of the film is not the ceremonies but the discussions that happen around them. The confused nature of the various shaman, priests and practitioners is gripping. Their confusion that anyone would want to put themselves into any sort of danger intentionally or not is very real, if one wants proof of something why put yourself in danger to do so?
I liked A CURSED MAN. I liked that it didn’t cut away from the various ceremonies. I liked that there was serious discussions about the mature of the “supernatural”. In the age of flashy cable TV shows that amp up and over sell every moment, I like that the film was tethered to reality.
Worth a look.
The plot of the film has a hood (Paul Guilfoyle) making the acquaintance of a security guard in an art museum (Taylor Gray). He’s deeply in debt and Guilfoyle has an offer for him that could solve his problem.
This is a small gem of a film that isn’t what you expect. I don’t think the trailer or the official write ups do this justice. The reality is this film that is its own thing. It doesn’t really follow the typical plot lines and instead give us a collection of atypical characters who don’t do the typical gangster sort of things. Actually this plays closer to life than the movies with everyone being people rather than characters.
Honestly I had a blast with this. I loved the characters and I loved that we weren’t going down the same crime riddled road that most other American gangster film gives us. We aren’t watching a film full of cliched characters.
Is this the greatest thing since sliced bread? No, but god damn is it entertaining.
I should give one word of warning, that while the film is billed as a comedy it’s not fall down funny. There are some off kilter laughs, but it’s not a straight comedy. Its also not a straight on thriller either, as I said it is its own thing.
Recommended
This is an absolutely beautiful film about the right/need to maintain nature and it’s beauty. It’s a film that goes deep into the protests showing us the protesters and the members of the First Nation fighting to maintain the forest. It’s a film that demands to be seen on a big screen where the images can truly give you a sense of what is being fought over.
While the arc of the film is largely what you expect, the film still holds our attention because of the urgency of the telling.
I really liked the film.
Recommended- more so if you can see this on a truly BIG screen.
The press notes tell the story of how Workman had become friends with Michael Townsend in Greece. They were talking and Michael began to tell the story of how he and his friends had built this apartment in a mall that no one knew about and lived there for four years. Workman was entranced by the tale. However when Michael dropped the bomb that they and filmed the whole thing he knew he had to do something with the story.
Continuing the wonderful run of films about people and stories you may or may not have heard about but should have, director Jeremy Workman brings us another delight. This is a film that is going to change how you look at public spaces. You will end up asking yourself could someone be hiding just outside of view.
Explaining how it happened and why it might never happen again (circumstances collided correctly) the film introduces us to some really fun people and lets us hang out with them as they relive this crazy thing they did. It's a film that will make you talk out loud as you lean in to see what is going to happen next.
I had an absolute blast watching this.
You'll forgive me for not saying too much about what happens, but so much of the delight of the film is seeing the things that happen along the way.
Easily one of the best films at this year's SXSW, it is highly recommended.
The plot of the film had Noelia (Rodriguez) running out on her partner and back home to her mother when it's clear her cancer is no longer in remission. There she reconnects with friends and family and ponders the damage done to the small island by the American military which left the landscape littered with unexploded bombs and poison.
While the script juggles way too many plot threads for a 90 minute film, we continue to watch and stay focused on what's happening because we fall in love with Rodriguez's performance. She lets it all hang out and we feel her pain, both physical and emotional. She brings us in and holds us close and as a result we are there for the duration. As a character study this film can't be beat.
This is one of my favorite films from Sundance 2023
Recommended
For those who don't know, the Aum cult gained infamy when the the cult released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway. It was a move that put the group into spotlight that revealed all their dirty laundry.
This film will tell you everything you want to know about the cult and then some. More importantly the film does what most other films doesn't do and that is put the cult into the context of Japan and the world. The film also tells is clearly and susinctly what happened and why. This is important because there have been several other docs that got lost in the teachings or lost talking to cult members
I loved this movie. This was the first time that I saw something on the cult where I didn't come away feeling they left something out.
If you love true crime this film is a must.
I need to say at the out set that my having recently seen the similar Korean exorcism film DARK NUNS affected how I feel about this film. While the plots are not really similar there are enough simularities, owing to the subgenre of horror, that I found myself comparing them. That's not really fair but it happened.
The reason it happened is that this film has very deliberate structure. The film starts with a truly frightening sequence where the sounds of an exorcism fills a families house. Its one of the most chilling sequences of the last few years and it sets the stage for what is to come. After the explosive first sequence the film switches modes to a slow burn tale that slowly builds to the conclusion. While the slow build is fine unto itself it suffers from having come after a gangbusters sequence. My interest waivered.
This isn't to suggest that the film is bad or doesn't work, more that you need patience until the film clicks again. Once it does its creepy again.
My own reservations aside I had a good time and I look forward to hunkering down with the film again on some dark and rainy night.
Recommended.
