Indie
Film Review – Blaze (Second Take)
Blaze begins with a quote by Willie Nelson, solidifying Blaze Foley’s place in music history. Many people, or possibly most, like myself, have never heard of Blaze Foley. A fan of Blaze’s music, Ethan Hawke directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Blaze’s wife,…
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Film Review – Puzzle
Puzzle is a deep, emotional character study that takes us on a great journey with a fuzzy ending that doesn’t diminish how we got there. Agnes (Kelly Macdonald) is a long-time housewife in a blue collar family whose life is pretty well defined. She calmly puts up…
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Film Review – Leave No Trace
In the midst of the expected summer blockbusters, there are smaller films that grapple for attention and your hard-earned money. Enter Leave No Trace, written by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini (both wrote the screenplay for Winter’s Bone) and based on the novel My Abandonment…
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Film Review – My Friend Dahmer
Derf Backderf’s graphic novel My Friend Dahmer is an honest character study of a person who lacks so much basic humanity that he was barely able to function beyond whatever role society wanted to project onto him. Jeffery Dahmer was a real life monster; a…
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Film Review – Patti Cake$
Writer/director Geremy Jasper’s Patti Cake$ (2017) has all the trappings of an underdog story. The hip-hop music will call to mind 8 Mile (2002) or Hustle & Flow (2005). As our protagonist delves into her fantasies of glamour and fame, we’re reminded of similar dream…
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Film Review – It Comes at Night
A24 is an independent film company that has certainly made a name for itself since opening in 2012. A24 is synonymous with indie films that are widely regarded as special, brilliant, interesting, and the most important, usually well-reviewed. It Comes at Night is its latest…
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Film Review – Sleight
As a movie lover, the best feeling one could have is being caught off guard. When one watches many films over the years, you start noticing patterns, clichés, and tropes emerge. But when a picture can spin something familiar and make it feel fresh, the…
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SXSW Review – The Archer
The Archer (2017) is a competent B-movie thriller that has big aspirations on its mind, even though its ambitions are a tad too far for its reach. Penned by Casey Schroen and directed by Valerie Weiss, the film tells of a young woman trapped by…
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