Big Sky (2015)

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“Big Sky” really isn’t that bad a picture until it decides to start getting surreal and existentialist. You figure a movie about survival would keep it simple, but Jorge Michael Grau tries to play the narrative with much more depth. That said, “Big Sky” is a perfectly fine thriller with a solid cast. It kept me invested, and it’s always fun to see child stars evolve in to more unique performers. This is one of the few roles Bella Thorne has taken on in her adult career where she’s not a shrew, and she plays the heroine very well.

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Synchronicity (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Jacob Gentry’s “Synchronicity” is the kind of film I really do enjoy. It’s non-linear, it has a taste of noir within it, and it’s filled with existentialist themes about parallel worlds and wormholes that dare to challenge its audience. “Synchronicity” is the kind of challenging fiction that will spark conversations among its audience and leave them pondering on the bigger questions that it poses right through to the end. I didn’t quite understand what was happening in the film for the first half, but Gentry really brings all of the narrative together making what seems like a scattershot series of events feel like one giant master plan. It’s a film in the tradition of “Memento” sparking brilliant visuals and a vivid world where nothing is ever really what it seems.

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Crumbs (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

It’s amazing how a film like “Crumbs” is only an hour or so in length and can feel like an eternity. Goodness knows how much I love post apocalyptic films, but “Crumbs” ventures for surrealism and often too strange for its own good. Judging by the research I’ve performed online, the confusing material and disjointed story is intentional and director Miguel Llanso really had no answers for the symbolism in the film any more than the audience.

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The Demolisher (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

I really do want to see more from Canadian director Gabriel Carrer, mainly because “The Demolisher” brought back waves of Nicholas Winding Refn and Michael Mann with it. “The Demolisher” is a slow burn and really stellar revenge thriller that picks up after an admittedly sluggish first half hour. “The Demolisher” picks up steam and collides in to an all out assault of blood shed, gore, and violence that help to explore the crumbling of a man’s sanity. Evocative of films like “Ms. 45” and “Death Wish,” Carrer channels the idea of trauma and its lasting effects and how it can toy with one man’s idea of justice for his beloved wife.  Continue reading

The Case of Hana & Alice (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Shunji Iwai’s “The Case of Hana & Alice” is apparently an animated prequel and adaptation of a much beloved indie titled “Hana and Alice.” The pair of women are almost like pop culture’s most iconic best friend in its home country, and this film chronicles how they met and became the best of pals. You really don’t have to see the original film, claims much of the press releases, but I’ll say that it might just help. Surely, there aren’t many references to the original film, but the original actresses return to voice their younger selves, and this might be exciting to folks that love the original film. For me, it was just a nice little bit of lip service and nothing more.

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It Follows (2015) (DVD)

91knd7FVW5L._SL1500_It’s always a thrill when an indie horror movie, a good indie horror movie, manages to take America by storm. “It Follows” is the big horror indie of 2015, and for good reason. It’s a creepy, intelligent, complex, and occasionally terrifying glimpse in to a nightmarish world where having pre-marital sex results in dire consequences. Particularly there’s the demon simply identified as It. Maika Monroe is great and absolutely gorgeous as Jay, a young girl who goes out with a guy named Hugh on a date. After they hit it off they have sex in his car, and Hugh proceeds to kidnap Jay. Rather than harm her, he explains that during sex he’s passed on a supernatural curse, and he explains the rules on how to evade the demon. One of the main guidelines being that sex passes the curse on and she must find someone to sleep with to save her own life.

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The Murders of Brandywine Theater (2015)

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It’s refreshing in this day and age that some indie filmmakers aren’t just content with splattering the audience with red ooze and goo and calling it a horror film. There are some filmmakers that really want to convey a story, and Larry Longstreth seems to be one of those directors who aren’t happy with just grossing people out. “The Murders of Brandywine Theater” is a complex, and very unique horror film that isn’t just eerie, but it’s also damn spooky to boot. To say Moxxy is a creepy antagonist really is underplaying the top notch puppetry that’s put to work here. Moxxy seems very rigid when we first see him, but soon enough he not only begins to take on his own life, but his limited expression make him a menace to be reckoned with.

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