A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man

SUNDANCE REVIEW Safety Not Guaranteed Directed by: Colin Trevorrow Written by: Derek Connolly Staring: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni This may seem odd, but this film is actually based of some slight reality. In Oakview, California, a man put out an ad in a magazine “WANTED” section, looking for a partner to go back in time with him. He states 3 things: he’s only done it once before, bring weapons, and safety not guaranteed. It’s an odd request, and I’m sure people answered the ad just to see who could actually WANT something so unrealistic (or to just poke fun at him. Whatever worked). But what would happen if someone actually believed he could accomplish time travel? That’s the focus of Safety Not Guaranteed, a fantastic romantic comedy filled with clever dialogue (mostly from Aubrey Plaza’s character) as well as brilliant acting from Mark Duplass. The story centers on Darius (Plaza), a cynical girl who works at a magazine publisher who is enlisted to investigate the person who placed a wanted ad for a time traveling partner. She isn’t too keen on going, but eventually she is chosen to go undercover as the person who answers the ad. She eventually finds out the man who placed it goes by the name Kenneth (Duplass) who takes his recruiting very seriously. Overall, Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass’ characters make this one of the most enjoyable features I saw at Sundance. Each character can be considered misfits in their environment (Plaza and Duplass the most), but that’s what made their chemistry so great onscreen.  I’m sorry this review is so short too. This was one of the features of Sundance, and it’s essentially like watching a major picture release before it hits actual theaters. Nothing is wrong with that; I loved the film just as much as I would’ve if I saw it at home. But there was nothing that pushed any boundaries. It was a simple romantic comedy with an odd story-line that was actually done very well due to creative writing and great casting.

SUNDANCE REVIEW

Safety Not Guaranteed

Directed by: Colin Trevorrow

Written by: Derek Connolly

Staring: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni

This may seem odd, but this film is actually based of some slight reality. In Oakview, California, a man put out an ad in a magazine “WANTED” section, looking for a partner to go back in time with him. He states 3 things: he’s only done it once before, bring weapons, and safety not guaranteed. It’s an odd request, and I’m sure people answered the ad just to see who could actually WANT something so unrealistic (or to just poke fun at him. Whatever worked). But what would happen if someone actually believed he could accomplish time travel? That’s the focus of Safety Not Guaranteed, a fantastic romantic comedy filled with clever dialogue (mostly from Aubrey Plaza’s character) as well as brilliant acting from Mark Duplass.

The story centers on Darius (Plaza), a cynical girl who works at a magazine publisher who is enlisted to investigate the person who placed a wanted ad for a time traveling partner. She isn’t too keen on going, but eventually she is chosen to go undercover as the person who answers the ad. She eventually finds out the man who placed it goes by the name Kenneth (Duplass) who takes his recruiting very seriously. Overall, Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass’ characters make this one of the most enjoyable features I saw at Sundance. Each character can be considered misfits in their environment (Plaza and Duplass the most), but that’s what made their chemistry so great onscreen. 

I’m sorry this review is so short too. This was one of the features of Sundance, and it’s essentially like watching a major picture release before it hits actual theaters. Nothing is wrong with that; I loved the film just as much as I would’ve if I saw it at home. But there was nothing that pushed any boundaries. It was a simple romantic comedy with an odd story-line that was actually done very well due to creative writing and great casting.

SUNDANCE REVIEW The Comedy Directed by: Rick Alverson Written by: Rick Alverson, Richard Donne, Colm O’Leary Staring: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn Sheil This is probably one of the most controversial films that is playing at Sundance this year. Though I did not see the controversy, I can understand why some aspects of it might be offensive. Before I came to Utah, this was actually something I was very excited to see. The chance to see Tim and Eric out of their element was very appealing (as well as James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem). Once I got here though, word of mouth started going around that this was a horrible film. Once I got the chance, I wanted to see what the internet had to say: some things were pretty good, while there were some other scathing opinions. For me, I found more good things about The Comedy rather than bad. The Comedy focuses on Swanson, a character who lives under the constant umbrella of privilege. He stands to inherits his sick father’s estate (which is a large, large sum of money) which causes him to basically loaf about and terrorize the streets of Williamsburg with his hipster friends. From the first scene, you realize Swanson is an undesirable character. You want to try to sympathize with him, but just when you’re about to, he does something insane that makes you return to your original disdain. The way I see it though, why does a character need to be liked in order for a film to be good? The aspect that made The Comedy so appealing to me was Swanson’s overall arch. He was a bored middle-aged guy who started to feel tired of his entitlement, and searched for a way out. At one point, he even went to a prominently African-American bar, drunkenly telling the patrons he needed “to get out of his comfort zone” (not surprisingly, the rest of this scene caused a good amount of people to vacate the theater). The Comedy is a challenging film to watch. Relying on only scenarios rather than dialogue (this whole movie was ad-libed, which I found incredible and just solidified Tim Heidecker’s talent) you really have to pay attention to Swanson’s character arch. It’s there, don’t get me wrong, but I think that people did find that the overall film was pointless. Yes, it’s pretty offensive and dark at times, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for not spotting SOME sort of change. If you’re up for the challenge, The Comedy is a very well done look at the curse of entitlement 

SUNDANCE REVIEW

The Comedy

Directed by: Rick Alverson

Written by: Rick Alverson, Richard Donne, Colm O’Leary

Staring: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn Sheil

This is probably one of the most controversial films that is playing at Sundance this year. Though I did not see the controversy, I can understand why some aspects of it might be offensive. Before I came to Utah, this was actually something I was very excited to see. The chance to see Tim and Eric out of their element was very appealing (as well as James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem). Once I got here though, word of mouth started going around that this was a horrible film. Once I got the chance, I wanted to see what the internet had to say: some things were pretty good, while there were some other scathing opinions. For me, I found more good things about The Comedy rather than bad.

The Comedy focuses on Swanson, a character who lives under the constant umbrella of privilege. He stands to inherits his sick father’s estate (which is a large, large sum of money) which causes him to basically loaf about and terrorize the streets of Williamsburg with his hipster friends. From the first scene, you realize Swanson is an undesirable character. You want to try to sympathize with him, but just when you’re about to, he does something insane that makes you return to your original disdain. The way I see it though, why does a character need to be liked in order for a film to be good? The aspect that made The Comedy so appealing to me was Swanson’s overall arch. He was a bored middle-aged guy who started to feel tired of his entitlement, and searched for a way out. At one point, he even went to a prominently African-American bar, drunkenly telling the patrons he needed “to get out of his comfort zone” (not surprisingly, the rest of this scene caused a good amount of people to vacate the theater).

The Comedy is a challenging film to watch. Relying on only scenarios rather than dialogue (this whole movie was ad-libed, which I found incredible and just solidified Tim Heidecker’s talent) you really have to pay attention to Swanson’s character arch. It’s there, don’t get me wrong, but I think that people did find that the overall film was pointless. Yes, it’s pretty offensive and dark at times, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for not spotting SOME sort of change. If you’re up for the challenge, The Comedy is a very well done look at the curse of entitlement 

SUNDANCE REVIEW Excision Directed and written by : Richard Bates Jr. Staring : AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Roger Bart, Jeremy Sumpter, and John Waters John Waters said this film was weird. JOHN WATERS said this movie was weird. This was the only thing I knew about Excision besides the small premise on the Sundance website. Part of the midnight series, Excision (at first glance) is the story about an outcast girl named Pauline who wants to become a surgeon. After the final scene of this film though, it became clear that it was MUCH more than that. Through funny, horrific, and downright disturbing scenes, Excision will soon become a cult classic among horror fans. As soon as the film started, I honestly felt disgusted with the opening scene, something I cannot remember feeling while watching anything. It wasn’t enough to make me leave, but it was both fun and horrifying actually feeling disturbed within the first minute. From there, Excision did not let up. Part of me wants to go through some of the horrific scenes that happen, but part of me also wants to wait JUST in case it gets some sort of distribution. The way I see it, if Teeth could be released, Excision can.  This was easily one of the best films I’ve seen at Sundance, nay, the best film I’ve seen in awhile. The story panned out to something I never would’ve expected (I don’t think much of the audience did either). AnnaLynne McCord was PERFECT as the role of the main character Pauline. This is essentially Welcome to the Dollhouse on crack. After reading that, you should basically be all set seeing this. I haven’t given a rating for any other film, but this is a MUST see (5 out of 5 I guess). Distribution or not, I hate to say it, but if you can find it online check it out. But if you can support this director, please do. He’s very talented and knows what he’s doing when it comes to horror films.

SUNDANCE REVIEW

Excision

Directed and written by : Richard Bates Jr.

Staring : AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Roger Bart, Jeremy Sumpter, and John Waters

John Waters said this film was weird. JOHN WATERS said this movie was weird. This was the only thing I knew about Excision besides the small premise on the Sundance website. Part of the midnight series, Excision (at first glance) is the story about an outcast girl named Pauline who wants to become a surgeon. After the final scene of this film though, it became clear that it was MUCH more than that. Through funny, horrific, and downright disturbing scenes, Excision will soon become a cult classic among horror fans.

As soon as the film started, I honestly felt disgusted with the opening scene, something I cannot remember feeling while watching anything. It wasn’t enough to make me leave, but it was both fun and horrifying actually feeling disturbed within the first minute. From there, Excision did not let up. Part of me wants to go through some of the horrific scenes that happen, but part of me also wants to wait JUST in case it gets some sort of distribution. The way I see it, if Teeth could be released, Excision can. 

This was easily one of the best films I’ve seen at Sundance, nay, the best film I’ve seen in awhile. The story panned out to something I never would’ve expected (I don’t think much of the audience did either). AnnaLynne McCord was PERFECT as the role of the main character Pauline. This is essentially Welcome to the Dollhouse on crack. After reading that, you should basically be all set seeing this.

I haven’t given a rating for any other film, but this is a MUST see (5 out of 5 I guess). Distribution or not, I hate to say it, but if you can find it online check it out. But if you can support this director, please do. He’s very talented and knows what he’s doing when it comes to horror films.

SUNDANCE REVIEW Indie Game: The Movie Directed and written by: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky Before I got here, I had heard about Indie Game through the various film and video game blogs that I follow. So obviously, this instantly became one of the top films I had to see. Lately though, independent games have been starting to get much more attention. “Minecraft”, for instance, recently just broke 4 million purchases. Counting international sales, the game made by Marcus “Notch” Persson (alone, mind you) has grossed well over $40 million. But what goes into making a living like this? Indie Game aimed to answer that question, but did much more than that in the process. The film looked at the development of 25 games, but eventually settled on 3: “Super Meat Boy”, “FEZ”, and “Braid”. I’ve played 2 of these (“FEZ” STILL has not been released yet due to multiple push backs), but they are fantastic games, nonetheless. The best thing about this film for me was looking at the work that was put into each game. Yet, it wasn’t just guys trying to get rich quick making a video game. These were people who are putting EVERYTHING they have into their game; their personality, their history. Literally, everything that made them created their games. Directors Lisanne and James made this VERY clear and were able to do every creator justice, really making the audience feel a strong connection with each subject. This is a documentary that (hopefully) will be picked up and shown around the world. People who love the vidya will appreciate this piece the most, but for those who know nothing about it, Indie Game will easily pull you into a new world that hasn’t had alot of light shed upon it. The passion these people have is equal to any other artist in their medium (like film makers and their films) and I feel this film did them the most justice. Video games are an art form (no matter what Roger Ebert says) and it’s great it’s getting the recognition it deserves. 

SUNDANCE REVIEW

Indie Game: The Movie

Directed and written by: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky

Before I got here, I had heard about Indie Game through the various film and video game blogs that I follow. So obviously, this instantly became one of the top films I had to see. Lately though, independent games have been starting to get much more attention. “Minecraft”, for instance, recently just broke 4 million purchases. Counting international sales, the game made by Marcus “Notch” Persson (alone, mind you) has grossed well over $40 million. But what goes into making a living like this? Indie Game aimed to answer that question, but did much more than that in the process.

The film looked at the development of 25 games, but eventually settled on 3: “Super Meat Boy”, “FEZ”, and “Braid”. I’ve played 2 of these (“FEZ” STILL has not been released yet due to multiple push backs), but they are fantastic games, nonetheless. The best thing about this film for me was looking at the work that was put into each game. Yet, it wasn’t just guys trying to get rich quick making a video game. These were people who are putting EVERYTHING they have into their game; their personality, their history. Literally, everything that made them created their games. Directors Lisanne and James made this VERY clear and were able to do every creator justice, really making the audience feel a strong connection with each subject.

This is a documentary that (hopefully) will be picked up and shown around the world. People who love the vidya will appreciate this piece the most, but for those who know nothing about it, Indie Game will easily pull you into a new world that hasn’t had alot of light shed upon it. The passion these people have is equal to any other artist in their medium (like film makers and their films) and I feel this film did them the most justice. Video games are an art form (no matter what Roger Ebert says) and it’s great it’s getting the recognition it deserves. 

SUNDANCE REVIEW Grabbers Directed by: John Wright Written by: Kevin Lehane Cast: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey, Lalor Roddy, David Pearse, Bronagh Gallagher For my first ever Sundance film (also, first ever world premier of a film) I could not be happier with the way everything went. A few hours of wait-listing on tickets eventually turned into two random guys selling theirs off, guaranteeing us a spot to see the premier. At this point, I had been running on almost 48 hours of no sleep, so my excitement THAT late at night had to be due to my ignorance of how overtired I was. But enough about that, let’s get to the real gem here: Grabbers In what can only be described as an homage to 80’s monster films, Grabbers actually does what most other films of the genre couldn’t: be good. While watching, I couldn’t help but start to remember other similar movies like Tremors and Shaun of the Dead (in fact, in a Q&A after the showing, the writer had said that a big inspiration for the film did actually come from pieces like Tremors and Gremlins). Yet, there were some concerns for me walking in to an indie scifi/horror film. It could either be another Attack the Block, or it could become part of the genre they (slightly) aimed to poke fun at. Grabbers, simply put, is the story of a small fishing town in Scotland that succumbs to an alien invasion. Not many people in the town know about it, but those who do know that there is only one way to combat it: Getting completely shithoused. Overall, the story mirrors what B-monster movies should be, with a much different direction.  It’s a very funny movie with some choice scenes that add to the ridiculousness of the premise, but this isn’t what it’s supposed to be. And I don’t mean that in a bad way; I just really appreciated that this was first and foremost supposed to be a monster movie. Monster movies, in my opinion, can be great or terrible depending on one thing: how they portray (or reveal) the monster. For me, I love when monster movies don’t show the actual monster. That’s what made Jaws so frightening; when you don’t show the monster, the audience will never know what to expect. Fear derives from the unexpected. Grabbers was able to do this for alittle bit, but ended up revealing it a half hour through. It was alittle bit of a disappointment, but at the same time, it was awesome seeing it. For such a small budget, the creature graphics were UNREAL. Anyone who has an interest for things like that will most definitely enjoy this film. Grabbers, overall, did a great job taking a genre and adding some fun ridiculousness to it. Though some of the characters seemed one-dimensional and bland, it added to the whole “B-movie” feel of it. The creature effects were my favorite part about this whole film. The fact they could do what they were able to with a $5.1 million budget really showed the talent of their creature designer. For monster movie lovers, you will not be dissapointed

SUNDANCE REVIEW

Grabbers

Directed by: John Wright

Written by: Kevin Lehane

Cast: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey, Lalor Roddy, David Pearse, Bronagh Gallagher

For my first ever Sundance film (also, first ever world premier of a film) I could not be happier with the way everything went. A few hours of wait-listing on tickets eventually turned into two random guys selling theirs off, guaranteeing us a spot to see the premier. At this point, I had been running on almost 48 hours of no sleep, so my excitement THAT late at night had to be due to my ignorance of how overtired I was. But enough about that, let’s get to the real gem here: Grabbers

In what can only be described as an homage to 80’s monster films, Grabbers actually does what most other films of the genre couldn’t: be good. While watching, I couldn’t help but start to remember other similar movies like Tremors and Shaun of the Dead (in fact, in a Q&A after the showing, the writer had said that a big inspiration for the film did actually come from pieces like Tremors and Gremlins). Yet, there were some concerns for me walking in to an indie scifi/horror film. It could either be another Attack the Block, or it could become part of the genre they (slightly) aimed to poke fun at.

Grabbers, simply put, is the story of a small fishing town in Scotland that succumbs to an alien invasion. Not many people in the town know about it, but those who do know that there is only one way to combat it: Getting completely shithoused. Overall, the story mirrors what B-monster movies should be, with a much different direction.  It’s a very funny movie with some choice scenes that add to the ridiculousness of the premise, but this isn’t what it’s supposed to be. And I don’t mean that in a bad way; I just really appreciated that this was first and foremost supposed to be a monster movie.

Monster movies, in my opinion, can be great or terrible depending on one thing: how they portray (or reveal) the monster. For me, I love when monster movies don’t show the actual monster. That’s what made Jaws so frightening; when you don’t show the monster, the audience will never know what to expect. Fear derives from the unexpected. Grabbers was able to do this for alittle bit, but ended up revealing it a half hour through. It was alittle bit of a disappointment, but at the same time, it was awesome seeing it. For such a small budget, the creature graphics were UNREAL. Anyone who has an interest for things like that will most definitely enjoy this film.

Grabbers, overall, did a great job taking a genre and adding some fun ridiculousness to it. Though some of the characters seemed one-dimensional and bland, it added to the whole “B-movie” feel of it. The creature effects were my favorite part about this whole film. The fact they could do what they were able to with a $5.1 million budget really showed the talent of their creature designer. For monster movie lovers, you will not be dissapointed

Waiting on our first film

Waiting on our first film

This is pretty awesome if you ACTUALLY give it a chance

This is pretty awesome if you ACTUALLY give it a chance

they’re weird as fuck, but fuck I can’t get over this song.