“Steps” from director Josef Rodriguez has a lot more coherency than “Take It Back” does, but it is still a work in progress. “Steps” is a short with a lot of potential to be a funny look at a jerk’s punishment when he crosses a girl at a party. When he’s kicked out, he realizes he has to pee and there’s not a bathroom in sight.
5. Bart of Darkness
Season Six
1994
“Flanders is going to kill Rod and Tod, that’s horrible…! In principle.” This episode drew a little bit of a connection for yours truly, as I could pretty much sympathize with Bart’s situation, sans the lunacy. Breaking my arm years ago, I was excluded from many summer activities including sports, and yes, going to public pools. In possibly one of the best episodes I’ve ever seen, the summer heat wave is so bad in Springfield that a guitarist singing “Sunshine on my Shoulders” gets knocked cold by a passerby, and the ice cream man drives around the neighborhood announcing that he’s all out of Ice Cream.
Much of what we do and say has consequences. Every step we take in human relationships from body language to even the most minute word has a profound impact on how we see one another and approach our lives. “Within a Blink of an Eye” astutely examines such a factor in the human dynamic, while also examining the concept of fate.
Much of what we do and say has consequences. Every step we take in human relationships from body language to even the most minute word has a profound impact on how we see one another and approach our lives. “Within a Blink of an Eye” astutely examines such a factor in the human dynamic, while also examining the concept of fate.
Director Rob Bowman’s 1993 inline skating dramedy “Airborne” is the most nineties-est film of the entire decade, and damn it, I love it. It’s so 90’s, it automatically cancels out “Empire Records” and “Clueless,” combined. I suspect Warner and Bowman expected to begin a brand new nationwide rad inline skating craze with “Airborne,” by pandering to their love for all things extreme and edgy of the sport. Including long hair, surfing, flannel, hockey, and an extreme final race that’s so extreme it’s extra-eme.
In the interest of full disclosure, author Mike Watt is a friend and respected colleague who sent us a PDF of his latest book for review. This is nonetheless an objective review of his book “Fervid Filmmaking.”
You have to give it to author Mike Watt. His book isn’t built around 66 great films, or even 66 of his favorite films, but 66 films of importance and relevance that really say something about the genre they’re representing. Take for example the entry in to “Survival of the Dead” by director George Romero. While I’m often a Romero apologist, author Watt really does manage to break down the specifics of the film, and cite past interviews with director Romero to paint “Survival” as a film made by a man perpetually chained to the sub-genre that made him a horror icon.
From Nic Barker comes one of the funniest short films I’ve seen in a while. Two buddies are sitting along their couch drinking beer and pondering on the hypothetical questions that everyone goes through. At least everyone with a bit of a mental defect. “Hypothetical” isn’t so much a short film as it is a situation comedy, but it’s still one that achieves the intended comedic effect.