Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Inheritance (2017) [Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2017]

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After inheriting a very expensive house from the father he thought long dead, Ryan moves in with his girlfriend Isi. While trying to figure things out about his father, Ryan finds more than he bargained for.

Writer/director Tyler Savage creates a film that is very low key and takes its time to develop its characters and story. This leads to a slow burn of a film that is deliberate and works for the story. The film is one of those films that will take too long for some viewers but should delight those loving when films take their time and bring the creep factor in slowly and in small doses. This is not a jump scare type of film, but one that works on the psychological level of things. The story is mainly about Ryan and his quest to understanding why his father left him this how and why he stayed silent and away for so long. This is done through calculated reveals and scenes that are created with a great attention to details.

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La pazza gioia (Like Crazy) (2016) [San Diego Italian Film Festival 2017]

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Two women interned in a psychiatric facility in Tuscany escape looking for a little bit of happiness.

Written by Paolo Virzy and Francesca Archibugi based on a story by Virzy who also directs, La pazza gioia is a lovely story of two women with not much in common coming together to try and find some happiness. Given that both are crazy leads to this being complicated by where they live and their issues as well as how they are viewed on the outside of the facility. These characters are charming even as their issues come to light and they are clearly not completely innocent. Their background is explored in a way that gives a view on mental facility patients that is not all negative. It’s a view on them that is gentle, loving, and caring. The characters are shown as humans first, crazy second. Their goals are like anyone else’s; they just go about things a bit differently. The way the film approaches mental health is refreshing as the story is not at the expense of the patients but respectful of them and their beings. They are fully fleshed characters and not caricatures of their issues, something that brings the viewer in and creates a story that is easily enjoyed while showing how hard life can be for people with mental problems and issues.

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Nite Nite (2017)

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Chad Meisenheimer’s “Nite Nite” is an ambitious little horror tale that its heart in the right place. I like director Meisenheimer’s enthusiasm for horror, even if “Nite Nite” needs a bit more spit and polish here and there. There is only so much you can do in three minutes, and “Nite Nite” works toward a basic horror tale of babysitting gone awry we often see with independent features.

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Happy Death Day (2017)

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If the premise for “Happy Death Day” sounds eerily similar a certain Bill Murray comedy where a man has to re-live the same day over and over, it’s not you. “Happy Death Day” is unofficially a remake of said movie but with a murder mystery injected for good measure. The thing about “Happy Death Day” is that it knows it’s literally a redoing of “Groundhog Day.” Seriously, it literally stops to acknowledge the fact that we’re watching a modern re-imagining of a sort. Not that that hinders the experience of “Happy Death Day” thankfully. Through and through it’s mediocre, but it charms as an engaging coming of age romance painted in the shade of a horror comedy.

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The Halloween Tree (1993)

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Ray Bradbury’s “The Halloween Tree” is easily one of the greatest Halloween movies ever made. It’s not just a movie about the holiday, but it’s a celebration of what the holiday stands for. For years Halloween has been incorrectly identified as a holiday that celebrates Satanism and evil, when in reality, Halloween is about observing death and celebrating life. Even the famous colors black and orange represent the ideas of death and life. The fantastic adventure we witness in “The Halloween Tree” is absolutely compelling while also helping to destroy the stigmas that often come with the ancient holiday. Mostly though, Bradbury’s story is about how we should learn to accept that there is a certain beauty in the concept of death as well as the concept of life.

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A Witches’ Ball (2017)

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At best I’d say that “A Witches’ Ball” is a serviceable movie. It’s exactly the kind of movie you’d find at Walmart one day that you’d probably buy for your daughter in hopes of distracting her with a fantasy while you’re preparing for dinner or something. It’s mediocre and hits about all the right beats for a movie heavily aimed toward small girls. Director Justin G. Dyck is a man whose entire filmography revolves around filming cheaply made, holiday oriented, family films and “A Witches’ Ball” s right up his alley.

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Rope (1948)

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While most people would consider films like “Psycho,” or “Rear Window” to be top notch Hitchcock, I often insist that “Rope” is where Hitchcock manages to shine the most. At the very least it’s what I consider the best Hitchcock has ever been because he manages to challenge himself at every turn here. With “Rope,” adapted from an actual real life crime, Hitchcock lingers on his characters and his setting, adopted ten minute long extended takes that were the length of a normal camera magazine. With the long takes, Hitchcock is allowed to use the camera as a proxy for we, the spectator, who are watching and waiting to see if our villains Phillip and Brandon are going to be caught.

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