“Rhino” is an immense departure from director Patrick Rea’s norms in the film world. Typically Rea is more prone to delivering more darkly comic or horrific films that are often quite excellent. So it’s rather jarring to see Mr. Rea tackle what is possibly one of the best crime dramas I’ve seen in recent memory.
Tag Archives: Indie Film
88:88 (2011)
Many directors think that in order to lure in audiences, they have to have a pay off that reveals their menacing villain in their film. Whether it’s a short or a feature length film, they’re not often concerned with leaving things up to the imagination. The fact that “88:88” was filmed around a very small budget with only two set pieces, benefits the overall creative work to display a film and a premise that’s both terrifying and awe inspiring. Thankfully “88:88” doesn’t crowd the film with a lot of dialogue, nor does it need to explain everything that’s happened.
The Gate (2011)
Director Matt Westrup is the latest indie success story as his 2011 directed short film “The Gate” is being turned in to a feature length film by Wayfare studios. As a short film it’s a product of a premise that definitely could benefit from a feature length treatment, because Westrup inadvertently serves up so much story for us and throws so many questions in the air, that eleven minutes just isn’t enough to keep us satisfied.
Swelter (2012)
One of the most interesting aspects of “Swelter” is that even though the film is basically animated and without dialogue, you can sense the character’s struggles and efforts to survive. There’s not a lot of extrapolation on why the world is suddenly a sweltering wasteland at record hot temperatures, but that doesn’t need a lot of focus. We meet a father and a son in the middle of a deserted tundra who seek the remains of a well where they’re able to sap water that’s fit for at least half a day.
Not Another B Movie (2010)
Say, do you want to know what it takes to make a horror movie on a low budget? Do you want to know what trials a filmmaker and screenwriter go through to make a film and appease their stars? Do you want to know how hard it is to deal with executives and producers? After watching “Not Another B Movie,” I realized that no. I didn’t. And you know what? I didn’t care. The film is basically centered on a screenwriter who is meeting at a restaurant with some producers about his movie script and he basically spends the entirety of the movie imagining scenes from the horror movie, as well we recalling his experiences with snobby actors, and psychotic performers. There are also badly conducted audition scenes where the film gets to squeeze in some cameos for the audience, and nothing about the film is every really as entertaining or exciting as the filmmakers perceive it to be.
Archetype (2012)
These days in an effort to get movies off the ground, indie filmmakers are prone to creating short films that exposit the concept of their feature film for the audience allowing them a chance to expand upon it should they be offered a chance by studios. That’s the basic reasoning for “Archetype.” Made for a little money, “Archetype” is actually quite excellent for such a short film that works as a prologue for the premise of Aaron Sims’ film. What happens when artificial intelligence becomes so intelligent it’s convinced it led a past life? And what happens when the corporation that created the AI finds little ability to convince them otherwise?
Ruin (2011)
I was so giddy when the film ended on a “To Be Continued” note, because if Wes Ball plays it smart, he can have a series of amazing films on his hand that will tell a story piece by piece. I can definitely picture this series of short films garnering a massive cult following if Wes Ball were to pursue a series. But alas, I imagine what with the massive animation Bell and his company undertakes, we just have a short sequel coming up. And I can do with that.