{"id":34461,"date":"2021-01-29T14:54:07","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T19:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=34461"},"modified":"2021-01-29T14:54:07","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T19:54:07","slug":"shorts-round-up-of-the-week-1-29-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/29\/shorts-round-up-of-the-week-1-29-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorts Round Up of the Week: 1\/29\/21"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dt-zunifetishdoll.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-34462\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dt-zunifetishdoll.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dt-zunifetishdoll.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dt-zunifetishdoll-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/dt-zunifetishdoll-2x1.jpg 2w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a>It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve delivered the Shorts Round Up of the Week as I was previously incapacitated with the flu for most of December. Now that we\u2019re on a new year and a new chapter for the site, I thought it only fitting to unveil the first \u201cShorts Round Up of the Week\u201d for 2021.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FviTEE0cKDQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>8 (2019)<\/strong><br \/>\nGabriele Fabbro\u2019s drama is a pretty good, if uneven narrative that seems to be going in one direction, but resolves on an odd closing note. I was never sure what Fabbro, who stars, was going for, which kind of ruined the overall experience here. Fabbro plays a selfish and sexist billiard player that hustles for living. When he meets his match with a quiet young woman named Jessie who beats him at pool, he struggles to hone his pool skills before she returns, hoping to romance her. All in all \u201c8\u201d is a solid drama. It\u2019s very well made, and the direction is great. I also loved the performances by Fabbro, and Jordan Knapp, respectively. I just wish the movie was more cohesive in the end. It all felt so messily assembled with some fantasy elements, some ideas about karma, and not wholly justified reason why the pool player would fall for Jessie. <em><strong>Now Available on Amazon Prime Video.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/48fwqpGq8ww\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>Camera Test Subject (2020)<\/strong><br \/>\nWritten and director Sean Meehan\u2019s short is a good bit of meta experimental drama about the tedium that can be the process of film making. Sure directing movies and making art can be very rewarding, but it also has its moments when it\u2019s unglamorous and dull. Actor Timothy J. Cox is very good in the small film about a man discussing the cogs and gears of camera testing and how demanding it can be, even when it doesn\u2019t entirely seem like it. \u201cCamera Test Subject\u201d is a good meta-short and one worth checking out, especially if you\u2019re an actor or director.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LpYkQGJNNl8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>Pamela &amp; Ivy (2020)<\/strong><br \/>\nLeah McKendrick\u2019s \u201cPamela &amp; Ivy\u201d is an excellent fan film that attempts to lend new insight in to the psychology of Batman villain Poison Ivy. One of the most enigmatic and alluring villains of his rogues gallery, McKendrick does a bang up job re-framing her origin as someone who\u2019s been consistently victimized by men (Eric Roberts has a great supporting role) and even manages to gain her powers by what we can only think of as rape. McKendrick is great as the titular Pamela and Ivy, presenting her as two egos that ultimately join to become villains, and ultimately anti-heroes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Raiders of the Hidden Donald Trump Fetish Doll (2018)<\/strong><br \/>\nAn independent movie director in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign fends off a variety of malevolent individuals who seek to steal his ultimate crowdfunding perk: a Donald Trump fetish doll. Angel Connell, who pulls multiple duties for the short film, right down to acting, presents a bizarre albeit fun dark comedy. It\u2019s in bad taste, and I loved it, mainly because it takes digs at Donald Trump, and way he\u2019s suddenly a draw for many other power hungry dictators that are convinced his Fetish doll is a source of great control. Connell\u2019s film is obviously very low budget, but he makes the movie work with some zany humor, and a great looking Donald Trump Fetish Doll. It\u2019s just too bad we never saw it come to life. But then, maybe the real world Trump is horrific enough.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y0_2yWLE9co\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>Under the Bed (2020)<\/strong><br \/>\nA young girl drops her earring under her bed, and as she attempts to fish it out, she spots a pair of legs at her doorstep. Much to her horror, when she emerges the presence isn\u2019t there. Director K\u00e9vin Mendiboure, and Vincent Darkman\u2019s \u201cUnder the Bed\u201d is a very short but sweet demonstration in editing and suspense. It has no real narrative, and the set up is severely lacking, but if you\u2019re in the mood for the jolt, it\u2019s right up your alley. I wish we\u2019d had some set up, but otherwise I dug it.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P2mFFEcK88Q\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>Zero Messages Left (2020)<\/strong><br \/>\nPeople start to disappear all over the world after receiving an audio message from an unknown source, being broadcasted through video chats. Sasha Darko\u2019s post apocalyptic thriller has a good concept and idea on its hands, but it\u2019s kind of a slog to sit through. The fact that there isn\u2019t any dialogue works against \u201cZero Messages Left\u201d as there isn\u2019t a clear definition of what exactly is unfolding. While it does feel like a very depressing picture of our current state of affairs with isolation, quarantining, and lockdown from one another, the climax kind of undoes everything that happens before it, and there\u2019s not much explanation as to what the resolution signifies. I liked Darko\u2019s directing style, but I didn\u2019t quite get what it was trying to convey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve delivered the Shorts Round Up of the Week as I was previously incapacitated with the flu for most of December. Now that we\u2019re on a new year and a new chapter for the site, I thought it only fitting to unveil the first \u201cShorts Round Up of the Week\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,12],"tags":[125,219,240,292,345,349,367,477,501,703,898,906,938,943,1087],"class_list":["post-34461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-indie","category-list-junkies","category-movie-reviews","tag-batman","tag-comedy","tag-crime","tag-documentary","tag-fan-film","tag-fantasy","tag-foreign","tag-horror","tag-indie-film","tag-mystery","tag-satire","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-film","tag-silent","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34463,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34461\/revisions\/34463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}