Well it seems “After Dark” finally pulled it off. They’ve finally brought aboard a movie in to their film festival that may be their most controversial to date. Watching “The Final” made me cringe and feel utterly disgusted all the way through because it’s such a volatile revenge fantasy that’s all too realistic to be taken as just a simple horror film. If you were old enough to experience the horror that was “Columbine” (I still have the newspaper) and the resulting aftermath, you’ll know that we’ve reached a point in our society where the bullied simply can’t take it anymore. Regardless of the circumstances or the lives they may destroy, sometimes people find little to no options in fixing their bullying problems other than resorting to brute violence. Do I condone it? No way. Is it a reasonable solution? No. But when you’re tormented day in and day out without anyone to properly help you, what little choice do you have?
Tag Archives: Drama
One Love (2009)
I’ve had this title in the pile of movies we’re supposed to review for almost a year now and we finally decided to review it after being contacted by the producer, and we’re glad we did. “One Love” is, to put it quite simply: incredible. Based around the themes of loss and tragedy, director DJ Matrundola composes a truly compelling and horribly heartbreaking short film around vignettes involving parents to be.
Deaden (2006)
I’m a real sucker for revenge films and for the longest time I’ve tried to track down this little indie production and see what the fuss was about. This basically mini-budget action thriller is a typical raw vengeance piece that holds pieces of The Punisher, Death Wish and Scarface with just the right amount of Irish edge that keeps the story moving at a brisk pace. The chaos and carnage that is inflicted by our main character Rane is just sadistic, but in the end it’s a sick and demented series of payback plots for a group of sick and demented people.
Léon: The Professional (1994)
In spite of ranking on the top ten lists of many, many movie fans since its release, my love for “Leon: The Professional” was not immediate. As a matter of fact I pretty much disliked it on the first and second outings because I couldn’t quite grasp what Luc Besson was going for with this film. It’s not an action movie, it’s more of a love story set to the tone of bloodshed and corruption, a subtle poetic masterpiece that relies on characterization and artistic strokes of pure raw emotion than some shoot em up gangster flick.
School Gyrls (2010)
I swear the first person who asks me “Why did you even watch it?” gets a smack across the face “Melrose Place” style. I don’t know why I am prone to giving movies that assure me will be awful a chance. I’m just a sucker like that. Maybe it’s the hot girls, or maybe it’s the short running time, but I sat there and watched it and laughed at the appearances by the hip hop stars like Justin Beiber and Soulja Boy, people who supply cameos and are bound to be forgotten within the next two years. Attempting to be “Bring It On,” “Mean Girls,” and “Grease,” this Nick Cannon endorsed pop musical teen drama (that’s an exhausting description) watches like a parody that’s meant to do nothing more than market on the gullibility of its tween audience who want to see three annoying girls who we’re told are outcasts (since when are attractive fit girls outcasts?) overcome the odds by–dancing and singing!
Lunch Break (2005)
Re-watching “Lunch Break” reminded me what a joy it was to watch the first time, experiencing a short mock documentary centered around the working class and their reliance on big corporations to get by and support their family. John W. McKelvey’s short film is about something, and in the midst of a really bad repression where everyone is losing their jobs and working for basically nothing, “Lunch Break” holds a deeper social relevance now than it did five years ago. People are at a point where they’re sacrificing everything from their personal happiness to their dreams just to get a paycheck and survive another day, and “Lunch Break” has a resonance to it that reaches toward the audience or anyone who has ever been in a rut at a dead end job.
Black Coffee (2009)
Tran Quoc Bao is a very talented filmmaker who I first was introduced to with his short “Bookie” which was a pretty good neo-noir crime thriller. The only reservation I had with this is that Bao has potential to stage a truly exciting feature length thriller here and whether it’s about the budget or the capabilities to do so, I would love to see this eventually made in to a full length mystery that could fully realize the talents of the entire production crew. “Black Coffee” is a film that aspires to take a page from the Hitchcock book of filmmaking.