As the film states in the opening, it’s “Based on real people in a surreal world.” Which means, as far as the filmmaking and brainstorming sessions go, more realistic than one might initially suspect. Do people lounge around all day throwing silly film ideas back and forth? Yes, yes they do. Overall, the film laces its absurdity with a significant, almost sobering, level of truth. However, I don’t know who this movie was made for?...
As Romagnoli previously discovered, making it as a stand-up in New Hampshire, or anywhere, is no easy task, and is definitely not for the timid or insecure. Wait a minute…maybe it is, since Wicked Funny 2 does reveal quite a few shy and shaky stand-ups, one of whom proudly admitting that she’s unable to eat right before her performance without risk of acute nausea. And while this might sound funny to us spectators, it’s surely no joke for her....
Our tale opens with Julie (Jen Hogue) unable to get out of bed. Her sister, Katie (Chrissy Hogue Bartels), because today of all days, Julie must get up and stand up for herself in court as she fights for custody of her baby boy. The stress of the situation has only amplified Julie’s bipolar disorder. In flashbacks, we witness altercations between Julie and her husband, and ultimately, the judge decides that Julie can only see her son through supervised visitation....
When talking about the situation and why Chris does this to makey money, he tells Seth “Better them than me.” What he means is that it’s better for them to lose money, to lose everything they’ve built their life for, than for him to lose when he can live like a king instead. This one line has always haunted me and reminds me of the message that Sean Patrick Fahey’s documentary Bailout is trying to convey: Everybody is out for themselves and people will go to awful lengths for personal gain....
We are introduced to the concept of the “Boo!” at the opening of the film. In Detroit (scary already), Halloween 1980, a man carries the mysterious chain letter. In 2018 parlance it’s like a FaceBook post declaring “bad luck if you don’t share this post on your wall.” The unnamed character disappears into his house, terrified. Once inside he is caught up in a furious cataclysm of light and sound, culminating in his apparent off-screen suicide....
Cut to three months later. Mason’s brother, Shawn (Lukas Haas), tries to get him out of hiding and out of retirement for another go at the whole “last score” angle. After Mason declines, Shawn attempts to lead the bank robbery on his own. Trying to protect his brother and old teammates from making a horrible mistake, Mason attempts to stop the heist from happening. However, he is instead sucked into a trap set by the FBI and other nefarious players....
At the end of Dune: Part 1, the House Atreides has been vanquished. The sole heir, Paul (Timothée Chalamet), and his Bene Gesserit mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), have met a band of Fremen led by Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and Paul’s future love, Chani (Zendaya). The Harkonnens have returned to resume spice harvesting, but the Fremen have made it almost impossible to restart production. Upset with the situation, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) sends his nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) to do the job his cousin Rabban (Dave Bautista) could not....
Luna’s journey is not just a physical one but an emotional one as well. She is running either away from a situation or toward one, and it isn’t clear until the end of the film why she’s on the road. Each encounter results in an experience that gives her insight into different people and aspects of life, and the audience is taken along on this emotional rollercoaster. Luna lands briefly in a hippie enclave, hanging out with a free spirit named Tug (Charlie Way Hayes)....
Potentially more disastrous problems for Danny stem from the fact that his girlfriend Lea (Tamara Lynch), having had her fill of his apathetic approach to life, has bounced his barely talented butt. Bad enough in its own right, but a double disaster given that Danny and his obnoxious, high strung brother Derek (David Holmes) face eviction in two days. That’s when their mom (Catherine Bevington) and her wealthy but tight-fisted new boyfriend Leonard (Dan Calvary) will put Danny’s childhood home up for sale....
The documentary catches up with the former members of King Loser almost twenty years after the band’s 1997 breakup. Celia Patel, Chris Heazlewood, Sean O’Reilly, and Lance Strickland reconnect to prepare for a reunion tour, which is intended as their final bow. We follow the group’s travels from gig to gig as the old bandmates collectively struggle to rekindle the passion of their craft along with their desire to play side by side once again....
This musical, apart from the brassier and gayer departures, unfolds much like the 2004 original. Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) and her mother relocated to the North Shore area of Chicago after many years in rural Kenya. Enrolling in North Shore High School, Cady has a stupendously stressful first day. The stress continues until Regina George (the luminous Reneé Rapp) and ‘The Plastics clique invite her to join them at a lunch table....
O’Hearn is now online in an intriguing Web series of his own creation. In “Alter Ego,” he plays an ex-wrestler on the verge of transitioning to A-list movie stardom, but his mind begins to work against him and his grasp of reality becomes increasingly frayed. Film Threat caught up with O’Hearn to discuss his latest project. What is the genesis of “Alter Ego”? And what roles do you serve behind the camera on this project?...
In this case however, I’ll make the rare exception. Because without the story you’re left with… well, you know… Nothing. The film has Canadian Film Pacing (Read: slow), a plot stretched to its limit, minimalist dialogue and very blah characters. It survives solely because the premise is so interesting. What would happen if you hated the world so much that you could make it go away forever? Andrew and Dave are the sort of guys that no one wants to turn into after high school or college....
Meanwhile, the band’s lead singer, GG (Nina Bergman), is reprimanded by her manager John (Jonathan Erickson Eisley), for acting erratic ahead of an important show tonight. Said event is the big unmasking of Sin5’s members for record executives at a party. Thus, GB delivers a small mountain of white powder to John to add firepower to his and the attendees’ nostrils. John lets GB know he is willing to pay double that night for him to deliver a crazy, expensive new drug known as “Suggestive....
Neelsen interviews several of Davis’ students who carry on his legacy by teaching the new generations of bass players. The interviewees are upbeat and cover a variety of subjects. Some go on about how Davis approaches the bass, and others tackle what music means to humans. Current students talk about the inspiration they feel and how music allows them to express themselves. String Theory: The Richard Davis Method could use some restructuring....
The extended short film follows his writing and recording as he works with family and friends to achieve his goal, and some drama develops, most often between Carson and his sister, another musician who likes to work differently than he does, but for the most part things go pretty smoothly. At 47 minutes, however, the film sits in that short film no man’s land that I’ve discussed in the past (too short to be a feature, too long to be a short)....
Film director Don Spikes (Colby Cyrus) provides the source material, an adaptation of his film Tears of a Sparrow, for the stage. As Martin tries to balance the various competing interests and egos, he is challenged with the obligation to tell the assembled group that they are out of money. He reveals that the video we are watching is an entry to make a case for an arts grant that would fund the show....
A short war drama, The Business of the Day gives an interesting twist; I wouldn’t have expected the older soldier to be the one deserting, and the younger one being the authority in the situation. Still, there’s a logic to it. Just because most war films seem to show soldiers becoming numb to it all, it would stand to reason that, at least at some point, some older soldier got beyond the numbness and landed beyond their ability to take it anymore....
Now I never intended to catalogue a variety of inaccuracies or omissions in Bowling for Columbine, but considering that Moore took the time at the podium to state, “We live in fictitious times…we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious President…who’s sending us to war for fictitious reasons,” I cannot help but address his own struggle with authenticity. After enduring the rhetoric from Moore over what is “fictitious,” it now becomes necessary to point out that in Bowling for Columbine Mike Moore went beyond factual errors....
However, Daniel secretly plans to emigrate to Canada with his wife, Sabrina (Hafsia Herzi). His brother Joshua (Steve Tientcheau), who is stuck in a wheelchair, has no idea Daniel is going to flee either, as he relies on him to run drugs up the stairs to his customers. While making deliveries, they are cornered by a group of young people dressed in blue jackets with red hair dye. These are the Ronin, a group of young teenagers who are taking over the drug trade in the projects....
