Martha Marcy May Marlene – Review
Martha Marcy May Marlene (MMMM) is a peculiar movie title for an uniquely complicated thriller; and is writer/director Sean Durkin‘s debut film. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 where it received the Best Director award; has won numerous awards and garnered many nominations, including Best First Feature, Best Female Lead (Elizabeth Olsen), and Best Supporting Male (John Hawkes) at [...]
‘Briefcase’ by Nate Golon – Review
Producing short-films are rather complicated. Not many can narrow a film down to its most essential element: story. No matter how one might try to thrill audiences with catchy musical scores, or use enough explosions to divert attention away from one of the most crucial aspects of a film–the story. Note that producing a short-film is [...]
Adaptation – Review
Adaptation is one of the movies on my list of films that I never expected to watch, let alone review. But here I am, writing a review of a film I thought I never watch. A dear friend and I have this ongoing conversation about Nicolas Cage, and his mediocre acting skills. He believes that Cage is under-appreciated; [...]
A Beautiful Life – Review
Happenstance Love is a word I believe that cannot be truly understood. Just as life–love is, well…complicated. Not all in’s and out’s of love can be described and not all ends of it can be maintained. But what is indefinite of love, is the feeling of being in love–something the mind and soul refuses to forget [...]
OUTRAGE: Way Of The Yakuza – Review
A NEW Yakuza story? Mr. Chairman Kan’nai (Sôichirô Kitamura), or just “Mr. Chairman,” finds out that one of his under-bosses made a pact with an outsider of the Yakuza family. While Murase (Renji Ishibashi) doesn’t deny the brotherly agreement with an outsider, Ikemoto (Jun Kunimura), he is still issued an order to break the agreement. Murase has [...]
I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok – Review
She isn’t crazy…really. When Young-goon’s mother, (Yong-nyeo Lee), was a little girl, she came home sick one day to find her mother feeding small mice picked radishes, she told her daughter that the mice were her long lost children. As her mother aged, she began to believe that she was a ‘Grandmother mouse,’ and voraciously began [...]
The Whistleblower – Review
Promise of a better life. Meet Raya (Roxana Condurache) and Luba (Paula Schramm). These two young women are offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to work in a fancy hotel just across the border in Bosnia. Raya was reluctant at first. When she returned home past curfew after an evening of partying to her [...]
Happy, Happy – Review
Happy…any reason not to be? In rural, snow-covered Norway, Kaja (Agnes Kittelsen), is excited to meet the new neighbors. She wonders if the woman would be beautiful and thin; while her husband Eirik (Joachim Rafaelsen) and her son Theodor (Oskar Hernæ Brandsø) would look on disinterested. When the new neighbors finally arrive Kaja in an [...]
Beginners – Review
is a romantic comedy written and directed by Mike Mills and stars Ewan McGregor (Star Wars: Ep. I – III), Christopher Plummer (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim voice “Arngeir”), Mélanie Laurent (Inglorious Bastards (2009), Goran Visnjic (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), and Mary Page Keller (NICS: Los Angeles TV Series). In Beginners, Hal (Plummer), at 75, “comes out” [...]
There Be Dragons – Review
is a war biography written and directed by Roland Joffé. The film stars Charlie Cox (Stardust), Wes Bentley (Jonah Hex), and Dougray Scott (My Week with Marilyn). In Joffe’s ‘There Be Dragons,’ a journalist discovers his father had a deep, dark, and devastating secret. “When fascism and communism were spreading across Europe. The people of Spain supported a new Republic [...]
Secret Sunshine – Review
(Milyang) (2007) is a Korean drama written and directed by Chang-dong Lee, based on the novel by Chong-jun Yi. The film stars Do-yeon Jeon (The Housemaid), Kang-ho Song (Thirst), and Jung-yeop Seon. A mother moves with her son to the town where her deceased husband was born, when she experiences another tragic event. I admire watching films that are successful [...]
Blu-ray Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
“The road to hell is paved with the best intentions”- H.G. Bohn I am about to stick my foot in my mouth because I am always ranting on how all of Hollywood has a serious problem with creating or producing a film worthy of my slightest interest. Since I have just received my review copy of Rise of the [...]
Point Blank – Review
Point Blank is an extremely intense action film by director Fred Cavayé (and co-scripted with Guillaume Lemans) that hooks you the moment the film begins. An injured, unidentified man is being chased by two tough looking men armed with pistols. This extraordinary chase takes you down stairwells, in dark alleyways and underpasses. He pauses in the middle [...]
Blu-ray Review: Another Earth
Rhoda (Marling) is a high-school senior with a bright future ahead of her at MIT. She was driving home from a night of celebrating when she had just heard on the radio that scientists discovered a planet just like Earth,–an “Earth 2″–and is visible in the night sky. Distracted, Rhoda anxiously looks up at the barely visible [...]
Blu-ray Review: The Art of Getting By
Misanthrope’s miscellany. George (Highmore) is a high school senior who seems to “get by” without doing any of his class assignments. He believes that he can find better use of his time because his mortality excuses him from doing his school work. As a gifted artist and a true thinker, George “doodles” on pages of [...]
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil – Review
Eli Craig’s Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, is a hilarious response and welcomed change to the hillbilly horror film genre. Many have grown weary of seeing horror films that feature hillbillies as backwoods, chainsaw wielding, lunatics, (as in Rod Lurie’s remake of 1971′s Straw Dogs), who attack any and all unsuspecting college kids on vacation. [...]
Main Street – Review
, is directed by John Doyle, and written by the late Horton Foote, (To Kill a Mocking Bird, Of Mice and Men). It stars Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Three Musketeers (2011)), Colin Firth (Bridget Jones Diary, The Kings Speech), Amber Tamblyn (127 Hours), Patricia Clarkson (Friends with Benefits), Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, Requiem for [...]
Blu-ray Review: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
is a film directed by Wayne Wang, with screenplay by Angela Workman, Ronald Bass, and Michael Ray. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Lisa See. The film stars Bingbing Li (The Forbidden Kingdom), Gianna Jun (My Sassy Girl, Blood: The Last Vampire), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Russell Wong (The Mummy: Tomb of the [...]
A Clockwork Orange – Review
A Clockwork Orange (1971) is a film written & directed by Stanley Kubrick, which is adapted from the novel of the same name written by Anthony Burgess. The film stars Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke, James Marcus, Michael Tarn, and Michael Bates. This controversial film by Kubrick is set in ‘futuristic’ Britain where a quad of misfits, or ‘droogs,’ led by Alex DeLarge (McDowell), [...]
Thirst – Review
Thirst (Bakjwi ) is a film written and directed by Park Chan-wook. The film was inspired by the book Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. Thirst stars Kang-ho Song (The Host; The Good, The Bad, The Weird), Ok-bin Kim (Arang), Hae-sook Kim (A Long Visit), and Ha-kyun Shin (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) and is about a priest whom was turned [...]
Dracula 2000 – Review
Dracula 2000 is a film directed by Patrick Lussier and jointly written by Lussier and Joel Soisson. The film stars Gerard Butler (300), Justine Waddell (Chaos), Omar Epps (House M.D. TV series), Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting), and Christopher Plummer (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)), and is about a group of thieves breaking into a chamber–winding up releasing an [...]
Skateland – Review
Skateland is a film directed by Anthony Burns, and co-written by Anthony Burns, Heath Freeman, and Brandon Freeman. Skateland stars Shiloh Fernandez (Red Riding Hood), Ashley Greene (Twilight Saga as Alice Cullen), Heath Freeman (The Closer and other TV Series), Brett Cullen, Melinda McGraw, Taylor Handley (Battle Los Angeles), and Haley Ramm (Rubber) and is set [...]
The Last Circus – Review
The Last Circus (Balada triste de trompeta) is a peculiar comedy/drama/war film written and directed by Álex de la Iglesia and stars Carlos Areces, Antonio de la Torre, and Carolina Bang. The film follows a second-generation clown, Javier, who has seen just about enough tragedy and suffering in his life. It is 1937 and Spain is [...]
Page One: Inside the New York Times – Review
Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011) is a documentary jointly written by Kate Novac and Andrew Rossi, and directed by Andrew Rossi. The film features prominent editors and journalist from The New York Times; David Carr, Brian Stelter, Tim Arango, Bill Keller, and Bruce Headlam. Page One gives viewers a poignant view inside one of the country’s [...]
I am Aidy, and this is my movie, TV, and animated film review blog. I am a lover of all things indie: film, animation, etc., and I do whatever it is I can in order to support indie artists and their passions. You will find reviews on a variety of topics in film, animation, and television. For more visit: