It’s been a while since I’ve delivered the Shorts Round Up of the Week as I was previously incapacitated with the flu for most of December. Now that we’re on a new year and a new chapter for the site, I thought it only fitting to unveil the first “Shorts Round Up of the Week” for 2021.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
Savage State (L’Etat Sauvage) (2021)
A French family settled in the United States decides to leave home during the Civil War with the help of a man of unclear past. Soon, someone is seemingly after them as they make their trek across the land as best they can.
Haymaker (2021)
After saving her, a former Muay Thai fighter becomes a singer’s bodyguard. Through the process, he gets to see a new way of life and goes back to his roots to truly find himself.
PG: Psycho Goreman (2021)
A girl and her brother find a gem while digging in the yard, she claims “finder’s keeper’s” and ends up in charge of a being with incredible power who may just be there to start the beginning of the end for humans.
American Wisper (2020)
One of the things I really like about Russ Emanuel’s direction is that he’s able to conceive a true crime movie that feels respectful and not at all exploitative. That’s a tough feat to accomplish especially in a time where a lot of indie studios are inexplicably anxious to exploit actual horrible crimes. “American Wisper” (formerly “Wisper”) is a true crime thriller that actually managed to engage me, and that’s saying a lot for someone that almost never cares to dive in to this kind of material.
My Summer as a Goth (2020)
Tara Johnson-Medinger’s “My Summer as a Goth” is a lot like “Edge of Seventeen” but with so much less insight and charm than its predecessor. That’s not to say that “My Summer as a Goth” is terrible, but it’s a mostly unpleasant and surface level teen coming of age film that doesn’t re-invent the wheel. It definitely doesn’t seem to want to re-invent the wheel, spending a lot of its time trying to work in the inexplicable, often clumsy plot elements in to the narrative.
Will Reading (2020)
Director Jamie Insalaco’s movie has a lot going for it as a comedy about adults relying on one big score to adjust their lives once again. But once everything came to a close, “Will Reading” ends up being a cinematic experience that’s hindered by so many of its flaws, in spite of so much it brings to the table. I wouldn’t say that I’d recommend it, but if you’re in the market for a movie that feels like a zany send up of “The Big Chill.”