It’s important that we look back on the history of physical media, since the beginning of physical media for movie collectors was never Hollywood’s biggest plan. Since the creation of the home reel projector, studios have been working hard to fight the appeal of physical media, and now with its decline, we’re reverting to digital copies of films that can be monitored. With its introduction, comes the potential decline of honest independent filmmaking, and filmmakers that have an even playing field with Hollywood. That becomes an uphill battle as the physical media that does exist is nothing but overstocked Hollywood dribble, with stores openly refusing to stock independent cinema.
Tag Archives: Indie Film
Playing God (2017) [Hot Docs 2017]
In the US (and other countries), when mass casualties happen, people and organization plan the payouts and how much each person gets. This person often times, in the biggest cases, is US attorney Ken Feinberg. Playing God is a documentary about him and his life, working on some of the toughest cases in the country including 9/11, the BP oil spill, and a case of pension funds being taken away. Through the film, his persona is slowly shed to reveal the man behind the cases, making him more human and more relatable.
Strad Style (2017) [Hot Docs 2017]
A young man obsessed with building the perfect violin. After he meets a famous soloist on the internet and tells him he can replicate a very specific violin, he now has a mission and a deadline that comes faster than expected.
Island Soldier (2017) [Hot Docs 2017]
Micronesians are a big part of the US military forces but get very little in terms of recognition or assurance that they will be taken care of if and when things take a bad turn. Here the Nena family is followed through their sons’ and their struggles and joy with the process of them joining the American military, going abroad, training, going into service, et al.
Vision Room (2017)
It feels like Director Phillip Stainsby has a large premise ahead of him that’s just way too big for a twenty minute movie. “Vision Room” has a short time to unfold its story and a large narrative that only has so much space to breathe. Thus what we’re left with is a movie that’s mostly captions and subtitles that establish the mythos, the concept, and the world, and only visits the actual characters sporadically. The movie feels almost like nothing but captions most of the time, and I wanted to see so much more characters doing things and moving the film forward rather than having director Stainsby explain everything to us.
Love The Original Way (2016)
I really like what writer Keldamuzik and director Hassan Leo bring to the table in the realm of romance comedies. “Love the Original Way” is a short film with big screen potential that deals in ideas about romance and how tough it can for a recovering alcoholic. While the film itself is steeped in the classic tropes of the romance comedy, it also charms with a relatable protagonist named Sissy, who is trying to find a way to navigate love and life without the crutch of alcohol.
The Violent Shit: Five Film Collection (DVD)
You have to give it to Synapse films. With the decline of physical media, more studios are open to delivering movie buffs the classics, and the obscure titles. Let’s face it, until now, no other major label would have ever made the “Violent Shit” collection available for mass consumption. At the end of the day, this five movie collection of shot on video horror gore films from Germany are strictly a niche release, but they’re at least there for everyone to view. While the “Violent Shit” movies, in fact, complete shit, they are also important cinematic relics. Back in the eighties, when Germany enacted heavy censorship on all film releases, including horror movies, that were cut for mass consumption, a bunch of indie filmmakers got together and made their own gory, graphic, and obscenely splatterific horror movies.