Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
“Whip-smart and well-acted.”
AFF 2014 Review – Having Fun Up There
Starring: Jon Ryan, Maria Natapov, Hana Carpenter Directed by: Frankie Frain (“Sexually Frank”) Written by: Geoff Tarulli (debut) In “Having Fun Up There,†37-year-old musician Mark (Jon Ryan) is struggling to keep his life together. After a series of bad gigs and going nowhere in the music industry, Mark can’t seem to catch a break […]
AFF 2014 Review – Phantom Halo
Starring: Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Luke Kleintank, Sebastian Roche Directed by: Antonia Bogdanavich (debut) Written by: Antonia Bogdanavich (debut) and Anne Heffron (debut) In “Phantom Halo,†a pair of brothers, Samuel (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and Beckett (Luke Kleintank) are forced to commit crimes, giving all of their proceeds to their alcoholic and abusive father Warren (Sebastian Roche). Fed up with […]
AFF 2014 Review – Looking for Lions
Starring: Chelsea Gilligan, Todd Julian, Norman Lesperance Directed by: Bradley W. Ragland (“So Long Jimmy”) Written by: Norman Lesperance (“Future Murder”) In “Looking for Lions,†a full-length adaptation of a promising short film called “Savage,†the question of “how far will a person go when they are desperate to save the person that they love?†[…]
AFF 2014 Review – Mentor
Directed by:Â Alix Lambert Between 2005 and 2010, five students from Mentor High School in Mentor, Ohio committed suicide. The one common thread between them was the suspicion that bullying played some role in these cases. So what happened in this town (one that was ranked one of the best places in America to live in […]
AFF 2014 Review – The Last Time You Had Fun
Starring: Kyle Bornheimer, Eliza Coupe, Mary Elizabeth Ellis Directed by: Mo Perkins (“A Quiet Little Marriage”) Written by: Hal Haberman (“Special”) In “The Last Time You Had Fun,†two pairs of friends (or in one case siblings) who find themselves in various stages of disappointment in their relationships randomly meet at a wine bar and decide to […]
John Wick
“After a well-executed set-up, anything unique or higher-level gets lost in a blaze of bullets.”
Fury
“Succeeds is in its character designs on a very general level and in its action sequences.”
Kill the Messenger
“A mostly well-driven narrative and a great performance from Renner make this a story worth telling.”
The Good Lie
“Underdeveloped. It opens a lot of storytelling threads, but fails to follow through with them.”
A Walk Among the Tombstones
“A slow burn that takes far too long to ignite.”
Frank
“Has a certain sweet streak running through its veins and is an interesting look at mental illness.”