Yes. People are this stupid. Just to answer the question you’ll be asking yourself over and over while watching “Compliance,” one of the most controversial movies of 2012. Supposedly a film that inspired one woman to slap her knees, shout “Oh come on!” and storm out of the theaters, director Craig Zobel’s infuriating dramatic thriller is a film that draws inadvertent parallels to Abu Ghraib. Where most of the armed officials who took part in the humiliation and torture of prisoners on the bases that they were merely following orders, “Compliance” sheds the light on a day in a fast food restaurant where a young girl was subjected to humiliating and degrading acts of torture and pain on the bases that folks were merely following orders.
Tag Archives: Drama
Frankenweenie (2012)
As far as animated efforts from Tim Burton goes, “Frankenweenie” isn’t such a bad bit of fan service. Director Tim Burton has always expressed interest in remaking his short film “Frankenweenie,” and it’s a shame since the original short isn’t a bad movie. All things considered, it’s short, sweet, and to the point. Not to mention it’s cute, sad, and has that Burton American Gothic whimsy we’d later see in “Edward Scissorhands.” With 2012’s remake of “Frankenweenie,” director Tim Burton is able to do pretty much whatever he wants, while expanding on an already interesting twist on Mary Shelly’s story.
Red (2008)
Brian Cox has proven himself to be one of the most underrated actors of all time. While he’s consistently a character actor who works in small often thankless roles, when he’s put on the spot with the right script, he can turn in an amazing performance. “Red” is a bleak and often somber revenge film where Cox is really able to shine on his own. What’s interesting about Jack Ketchum’s stories is that they’re relentless and often unflinching stories about the utter epitomes of human cruelty and the ability of the human to be as utterly amoral as possible, and often times the figures in his stories are either too old or too young to do anything to battle the cruelty.
Smiley (2012)
Come on. I think there could be a lot more done with the horror medium involving the digital age. “Smiley” takes what could be a wonderful and brilliant premise and just waters it down to create a standard slasher flick. Granted, I adore slasher movies, but this is the kind of derivative, generic, manufactured slasher garbage that never entertains. It’s a dull and unevenly paced horror thriller with a nugget of an original concept that never fully realizes it at all. “Smiley” is often so poorly made, even the fake shock scares are telegraphed seconds in advance and fail to land. It also doesn’t help that the two female protagonists of “Smiley” are so irritating, hearing them talk and interact is equivalent to nails on a chalk board.
LOL (2012)
In vogue bright eyed teen stars are a dime a dozen in America, and they have a shorter shelf life than a can of beans. Often times a teen star can rise and fade before anyone even remembers their name, and it’s a struggle to fight for career success beyond being young and beautiful. What’s worse is teen stars are more and more presenting talent and aren’t the manufactured product that Disney keeps churning out. Miley Cyrus has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that, like most teen Disney stars the studio churns out year after year, she’s pretty much fading in to the background.
5 Choice Indies of 2012
Special Mention:
88:88
Directed by: Joey Ciccoline
Written by: Sean Wilson, Joey Ciccoline
Official Trailer
Watch It Now!
Originally a contender for an online short film festival, director Joey Ciccoline’s short “88:88” is a wonderful and absolutely remarkable horror short about a woman who simply can not escape her destiny. She’s built her life around her over night occurrences, and on the day we meet her, she’s decided to stop becoming a victim and start resisting. In spite of her life around her wondering where she is, our young heroine spends her time building mechanisms and odd devices around her room.
Though she’s calm and resolute throughout the course of the short, she is racing the clock, and before she knows it, night has fallen and it’s time to sleep. With a wonderful eye on the small budget, and low maintenance special effects, Joey Ciccoline delivers an onslaught of horrific images, and devastatingly traumatic monsters that desperately try to bring this woman in to their throes and by her own clever instruments, shows them that she’s not one to be reckoned with any longer. A striking and downbeat short, this is a film to watch, if only because it’s one of the few extra terrestrial films that have succeeded in turning its menaces in to terrifying beings that have been tamed over the years.
The House at the End of the Street (2012)
Elissa is the new girl in town. Elissa just met Ryan, a good looking neighbor of hers, who she really wants to sleep with. Elissa doesn’t realize that Ryan may or may not have a dangerous past behind him. You know, he has no parents, and every time she enters his house, he screams for her to run for her life and never come back, but you know, Elissa wants him to come over for dinner. Elissa’s mother Sarah is uncomfortable about Ryan and tries to warn her about him, but where does she get off? What is she, her mom or something?