I’m not a movie critic. I don’t sit in the theatre with a little flashlight and pen taking notes to distill into a scathing review. I’m a videophile. I love movies. I have seen many movies, and I love talking about them, and I love recommending the ones I like to my friends. And even more, I love it when my friends end up liking a movie I recommend. But there is a trick to suggesting a movie and giving…
Columbus (2017) If you find architecture boring and character-driven movies slow, then you should probably skip seeing Columbus. If on the other hand, you are interested in a well-constructed drama with top-notch acting and beautiful visuals, then you should hurry to the theatre before it is gone. Jin, played by John Cho, is called to Columbus Indiana where his famous architect father has fallen ill. While stuck in the limbo of waiting for his sick father to recover he meets…
Housebound (2014) Kylie is an angry, destructive, juvenile delinquent who gets sentenced to house arrest after a botched ATM robbery. She is forced to move back into her childhood home with her mother and stepfather, and to make matters worse the house might be haunted. Kylie is placed under house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet enforcing her confinement. This turns out to be every bit of a bad punishment for her mother and stepfather as it is for her….
The Little Death (streaming on Netflix) Taken from the french “La Petite Mort” which describes “the brief loss or weakening of consciousness” or for my American movie going audience “I’ll have what she’s having”. I’m glad I don’t have to try and pronounce the “La Petite Mort” because I sound stupid when I speak french correctly, and a complete idiot when I get it wrong, which is most of the time. And speaking of stupid, there is nothing that makes…
Tallulah (2016) Netflix Streaming Tallulah is not your average girl. If this were the 60’s she would have been a hippy, but it’s not and she is just a girl living off the grid and out of her van. She will work if she has to and steal when she can. She has a good heart, but not a lot of integrity. Her life works well for her until her boyfriend leaves her and while looking for him she ends up…
While I liked many movies in 2016, only a few of them made any lasting impression. Here are the ones I ended up seeing twice or in a few cases ended up purchasing for my collection. The Conjuring 2 (2016) This sequel is as good or better than original. Loosely based on a case from supernatural detectives Ed and Lorraine Warren when they traveled to England to investigate a haunted house. Scary, suspenseful and sure to entertain. [rating=4] Green…
Tubitv.com Tubi TV (Tube-E TV) has an impressive library for a new up-and-comer to the online streaming market. Tubi TV is a free streaming service that utilizes commercials for funding, much like YouTube and Crackle. I searched through their catalog and found many movies I liked so I thought I would list a few as an introduction to their service. 12 Angry Men (1957) Henry Fonda stars as the sole holdout in a jury negotiating a seemingly open and shut case involving a…
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) A girl walks home alone, a boy searches for his stolen cat, a drug addict jones for a fix, and a drug dealer mistreat everyone he meets. Also a strange quiet girl might be a vampire. If this is your first foray into contemporary Iranian cinema you might be a little confused by this quiet/still/strange little black-and-white film, but stick with it and your time investment will be shortly repaid. This film…
The Babadook (2014) If Dr. Seuss and Edgar Allan Poe combined forces to publish a children’s book it would be The Babadook. A fiendishly clever pop-up book in all black and white that tells of a dark force called Mister Babadook that won’t leave after entering your house. This book appears among the stacks of bedtime books and is accidentaly read by the mother. The mother and son never make it through the first reading when little Samuel is scared half-to-death…
A Bag of Hammers (2011) What do you do when life hands you lemons? Everyone knows the answer to that question. How about when you’re handed “A Bag of Hammers”? Really, what can you make from hammers? This small drama about two slacker/thieves living in LA. gives you one possible poignant solution. Satisfied with their life of petty crime these two man/boys are forced to deal with their troubled past in order to prevent the same misery from repeating…