Tag Archives: Drama

Overdrive (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

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A duo of car thief brothers runs into trouble after making a deal with a local crime boss in the South of France.

Written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas and directed by Antonio Negret, Overdrive is a fun car heist film with exhilarating chases, twists, turns, and beautiful vintage cars.  It takes a few cues from The Fast and the Furious, Gone in 60 Seconds, the Transporter series, etc and makes them all its own.  The use of the car is definitely a plot device, but it works quite well here.  The characters are not particularly deep, but as the film is mostly action car porn, it doesn’t really matter in the end.  What matters is that they are believable enough to take the viewer through the story and its twists and turns while being entertaining and fun to watch.  This film is one of those that is made for the fun of it and not to pass on some kind of grand message, something that is perfectly fine and well done here.

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Pilgrimage (2017)

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A group of monks is sent to escort a sacred relic across the land in 13th century Ireland.  Along the way enemies and friends alike try to derail their mission.

Written by Jamie Hannigan and directed by Brendan Muldowney, Pilgrimage is a period piece peppered with action sequences that make logical sense within the confines of its story.  Here the monks are working with knights and others to battle enemies and bring the sacred relic their guard to a higher Catholic Church power.  The story is simple at its based, but the characters added, including a mute stranger helping the monks, create a mystery and help the tension along with the twists that take their time to come and be revealed.  This way of developing the story works well with the time period its set in and the group of characters involved.  The characters created here have some background in terms of their archetypes, but not that much information on who they are as people and where they come from or what their goals are besides keeping the relic safe or obtaining the relic.

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Sex and Fantasies in High Demand: The Girlfriend Experience

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It’s no surprise that, rather than a most established performer and actress like Scarlett Johannson or Christina Hendricks, director Steven Soderbergh sought out Sasha Grey for the lead role in “The Girlfriend Experience.” Grey had spent years making millions off building the fantasies of her male (and female) audience with dozens of notable porn movies, as well as building a humongous line of sex toys that promote fantasy fulfillment for an audience that want every piece of her. Much like Grey, “The Girlfriend Experience” is about the fantasy and the reality that we may not realize isn’t always enticing.

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Broken Sword Hero (Thong Dee Fun Khao) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

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A young fighter goes on a quest to learn as much as he can to perfect his fighting skills following a hard loss.  He travels his province in search of many masters to learn from and makes friends along the way.

Written by Suwan Takongkaew and Preayaporn Boonpa and directed by Bin Bunluerit, Broken Sword Hero is an action film with a quest at it center and a philosophical angle to how it approaches some of the fights and the learning the lead does during his travels.  The way this is approached is interesting here but ultimately feels a bit long.  The story around the fights makes this a film about more than just the fights, but also about the different techniques and the human element.  Unfortunately, the film feels a bit uneven between the fighting being very strong and entertaining and the story parts feeling a bit slow and a lot less entertaining.  This leads to the whole of the film feeling a touch long with some pacing issues.

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Savage Dog (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

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In 1959 Indochina, a legend is born.  A man fights his way out of jail and to make money until he is forced to fight for revenge.  Through this, he learns a lot about himself and what he is ready to do.

Written and directed by Jesse V. Johnson, Savage Dog is a decent fight film with a bit of story created with the purpose of setting up fights for star Scott Adkins and co-star Marko Zaror.  The story is decent enough but not exactly fascinating, something that should not bother fans of fight films as this one has a few very good fights and some side ones that are also interesting.  The dialogue is decent while the setting is interesting, but not used to its full potential.  The characters are almost all created with a purpose relating to Adkins’ character, making him the center of just about everything.  The story is not bad as it develops in ways that keep the attention and introduces fights in a manner that makes sense.

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It’s Alive (1974) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]

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A family expecting their second born is surprised to have a mutant child as it arrives in this world and kills all in its path when scared.  As a baby, being scared is something that happens quite a bit, creating a mounting body count for this tiny tot.

Written and directed by Larry Cohen, It’s Alive is a tale inspired by pollution and environmental effects on humans’ reproductive systems, eventually leading to a damaged progeny trying to survive when it’s scared and ready to kill for survival.  The film takes this and turns it into an easy to watch horror film about a newborn mutant monster that can easily be taken as just that, a monster film, but is much more once one delves into the environmental message.  Here Cohen creates a tale that is deeper than it seems and works with monster film tropes to pass along its message and entertain at the same time.

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After Love (2017)

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A couple divorcing after 15 years together is navigating life and its changes while still living together and trying to find a way to make things work as best they can.

Written by Fanny Burdino, Joachim Lafosse, and Mazarine Pingeot, with collaboration by Thomas van Zuyken, After Love is directed by Joachim Lafosse who navigates through this divorce story with an unflinching look at how a couple that is no longer functioning as such try and make things work through their separation, divorce, and division of assets.  The film created here is an honest look into the lives of two people who are a bit lost and definitely trying to have a better life.  The way this is developed makes it into a realistic look into a divided family unit, a franc view of what it’s like to divorce with two kids in the situation, what it’s like to divorce with assets, and what it’s like to not want to give up on your principles while doing this.

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