Upon first hearing the title of this release, I got a little bit too excited- 1977's ABBA: The Movie is the only other time I've known of when a band put out a film with its name and "The Movie", and ABBA's release was a great semi-fictional time-capsule of their heyday. Alas, this one featuring Norway's A-Ha, known mostly for the inescapable 1985 hit "Take on Me" but putting out several more brilliant records that didn't get the attention they deserved, is a rather straightforward documentary which traces their origins and gives us a look at what they've been up to lately. Despite disbanding a few times and even having a formal "break-up" in 2010, they have managed to re-form and continue touring. One of the first things we learn here is that the three members have conflicting views on recording any new songs. As a music fan with no talent of my own, I've often felt sorry for those who have ...Read the entire review

Goldstone was out in theatres in Australia two years before it reached the US and, although I didn't know it at the time, two years is far too long to wait on something so wonderful. This film is a followup to director Ivan Sen's other Detective Jay Swan story, Mystery Road, which was both a movie and then a six-episode mini-series. The character lives on here, but if you can't get your hands on the original material, this plot is independently strong, it doesn't require any foreknowledge to enjoy its quality. Goldstone has more than enough quality to spare, in all areas, and if you, like me, didn't see this ...Read the entire review

The Film:

On one level, a formula comedy with a good hook sounds like a pretty safe bet. See Dick Run has got one with some R-rated, raunchy potential: a serial womanizer named Richard Jones (get it?) wakes up one day and discovers his manhood is MIA. Not MIA as in it doesn't work, but MIA as in his family jewels have simply up and vanished. Unfortunately, first-time director Dwayne Alexander Smith makes all the wrong moves in trying to drag the film's premise across the finish line, and the result is a film that falls far short of any limited expectations.

Smith's first mistake is failing to allow his characters or the premise to do anything funny. Jones (played by one-time Nickelodeon star Kel Mitchell) never reacts like a rational human being to his scenario, adjusting to it immediately (because the plot apparently demands it). Obviously, I'm not looking for writing that plunges the emotional depths ...Read the entire review

The Product:
It's about time to put a moratorium on the mock documentary. You know, the Christopher Guest guided genre that sees "real" events and individuals satirized for the sake of an easy, ironic laugh. Since it first reared its insightful head circa This is Spinal Tap, the notion of taking a well traveled type and tweaking it via improvised recreation has garnered hits (Best in Show, Lollilove, Special Needs), and many, many misses. And like reality programming, it's one of the cheaper forms of filmmaking, especially when you consider the various production shortcuts used. Still, after two decades being deluged with numerous examples of same, the cinematic category appears spent - case in point: Confessions of an Action Star. While genial and quite clever at times, this talking head like look at the rise and fall of a dancer turned steely man of machi...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

The anthology film is a difficult genre, both to make and to sell. Even when the short films being collected run along a common theme the way the 1987 film Aria does, the results are going to be a pot luck dinner where some dishes delight and some fizzle. In the case of Aria, almost all of them are at least visually interesting, but most of the pieces are merely that. Good music, interesting ideas, and some pretty pictures.

The idea behind Aria is that ten directors from around the world would choose an individual aria and make a film inspired by it. In opera terms, an aria is a piece of music originally performed solo, one voice backed by the orchestra, with a defining melody that produces an intended emotional effect. In its w...Read the entire review

The Movie:
It's probably a testament to Diane Keaton's skill as an actress that I tend to think of her as the scattered and stuttering Annie Hall, even in "real life." This despite having seen her many different characterizations in films as diverse as The Godfather II and First Wives' Club, not to mention her many live appearances on talk shows, where she always comes across as a very articulate and witty woman. And yet I was still pleasantly surprised by the depth and care exhibited in this feature documentary (if you can call it that) that she conceived and directed, Heaven, which intercuts scores of vintage film clips with sometimes touching, often bizarre, and always quirky interview segments with a cross-section of people both young and old coming from different traditions and with different beliefs about the universe, an afterlife, and the meaning of it all.

Th...Read the entire review

The Film:
The film industry has had a special place in its heart for superhero movies, especially in recent years with films like Spider-Man, Iron Man and Batman Begins raking in billions of dollars at the box office. And while there have been some truly great and entertaining films about superheroes, only a small handful have approached the genre with any sort of true originality or vision. Flawed though it may have been, M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable is one of the best portraits of a superhero ever committed to film. Likewise, co-directors Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore's still-unreleased Special is a wonderful deconstruction of the superhero mythology, which like Unbreakable is set in the "real" world. Not quite as good as Unbreakable or Special, but no less interesting in what it attempts, director Blake Van de Graaf's Sidekick<...Read the entire review

The Film:
You have to give credit to Jeff Glickman, his feature film directorial debut is an ambitious movie that never takes an easy approach. This makes Glickman's Killing Zelda Sparks an interesting film if for no other reason than it has a strong visual sense and a certain audacity that can't be denied. At the same time, the film is far from perfect, and the innovative and creative choices that set Killing Zelda Sparks apart from other films also serve as stumbling blocks that trip the movie up from time to time.

Vincent Kartheiser and Geoffrey Arend star as Craig Blackshear and Terry Seville, two old friends with a lot of history between them. As the film starts out, it seems as if Craig and Terry have done something terribly wrong. Exactly what they've done is not explained right away, instead, the film jumps backwards ten years, to when the two are still in high school...Read the entire review

The Movie

In today's world, everyone has to do something to make money, even serial killers. Over the years, we've seen slashers with different jobs. There was the fisherman in I Know What You Did Last Summer and the miner in My Bloody Valentine. Now, we have Monty the pizza delivery guy in Delivery. When he gets to your door, you had better have that coupon that you claimed to have when you called in your order.

Matt Nelson stars in Delivery as Monty, an obese, shy man. His father had been a pizza delivery guy as well, and he committed suicide when he caught his wife cheating. Monty has attempted to make a life for himself, but he's tormented by everyone that he meets. His boss, Mr. Hand (Kevin J. O'Neill), calls him "fatass" and orders him around. His co-worker won't assist him when he needs help. The customers to whom he delivers pizzas eithe...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Little is going right for the Wongs

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Good indie films
Likes: Screwed-up families, dramedies, Asian-American films
Dislikes: Films built on cultural cliches
Hates: The cool kids, lesbian chic

The Show
There's something about films about Asian-American families that appealsto me. It might be the importance placed on tradition, the mostlypositive view of family or the exotic beauty of Asian women, but I'vehad little trouble getting into movies like The Joy Luck Club. Red Doorsis another entry into this genre, and a quality one at that.

The story of the Wongs starts near the end, as Ed, the family'spatriarch, retires from his job. As he spends his newly-found free timec...Read the entire review

The Movie

In today's multi-media world, it's not unusual for stories or concepts to move between mediums. Books become movies. Movies become TV shows. Movies become video games. It's a never-ending cycle. But have you ever seen something that you felt was in the wrong medium? The movie Jailbait is essentially a one-set, two-actor play, and in the long run, this story would probably work much better on stage then it does on screen.

As Jailbait opens, Randy (Michael Pitt) is brought into a prison and escorted to his cell, where he meets his cellmate, Jake (Stephen Adly Guirgis). As it's his first day in prison, Randy is understandably nervous and shy. Fortunately, Jake seems like an OK guy. Jake is friendly, talkative, and seemingly intelligent, as he likes to read. When asked why he's in prison, Jake confesses that he murdered his wife when he caught her with...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE

"Bill's Gun Shop" is a truly bad movie that has, somewhere deep beneath its odd subplots and sidetracks, a reasonably good idea.

Made by gun lovers in Minnesota, the film seeks to show both sides of the gun issue. There are right-wing fanatics in the film who are meant to seem scary, and left-wing crybabies who are meant to be laughable. There's a protagonist whose conceal-and-carry permit ultimately empowers him, even while other experiences with guns nearly destroy his life. The film is neither a hooray-for-guns manifesto nor a liberal screed against them.

It is also, however, not a good movie by any common definition of that word. The acting is amateurish, the directing sloppy and the story all over the place. I literally laughed aloud at the film's two "fight" scenes, which are staged, filmed and edited as if the actors were mannequins that had to be repositioned ...Read the entire review

The Movie:

On the Outs is a welcome rarity in indie film, a work of social consciousness that manages to be as engrossing as it is well-intentioned.

The movie evolved after filmmakers Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik spent weeks talking with girls in a juvenile detention facility, eventually crafting a screenplay based on three of the women they had met. The result is a powerful, unsparing film about three women impacted by drugs, poverty and bad decisions.

On the Outs follows three narrative threads in the mean streets of Jersey City, New Jersey. Suzette (Anny Mariano) is a 15-year-old girl who defies her strict mother by going out with, and later getting impregnated by, a smooth-talking drug dealer named Tyrell (Don Parma). Marisol (Paola Mendoza) is a teenaged single mom mired in a crack addiction; when she lands in jail, her three-year-old daughter, Autu...Read the entire review

The Movie:

One of the more interesting stories in the history of rock is that of Pete Best, who was the drummer for the Beatles in the early days of the group, before the beatles became The Beatles and Best was replaced by Ringo Starr. Although not a story that hasn't been told before (despite mixed reviews, see "Backbeat"), "Best of the Beatles" is an interesting and enjoyable documentary feature that expands upon Best's story and the story of the early days of the band over the span of two hours.

As the filmmakers have been able to get Best to participate, he is the focus of the feature and spends much of the running time offering stories about the early days of the band - playing shows, experiences in different cities, the Liverpool music scene and eventually, the moment he was let go from the band - without a sufficent explanation. Given how long ago these events actuall...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE

Beware the man who writes, executive-produces and stars in a movie where the main character gets to have a lot of sex with a pretty girl. I'm not saying that's why "5 Card Stud" was made, but I am saying I can't think of any other reason why it would have been.

He is Lawrence H. Toffler, and his movie (directed by Hank Saroyan) popped up in a few C-list film festivals starting in 2002 and is now appearing on DVD without a theatrical release. Straight-to-video seems about right for it. It has the desperate, sad aura of a movie that was made by people who loved it but that is destined to find no love anywhere else.

It's about a boring guy named Greg (Toffler), a part-time bartender and would-be screenwriter whose poker buddy Paul (Kevin McClatchy) -- a horny married man and first-class bastard -- sets him up with Aly (Khrystyne Haje), who lives next door to Paul and his wife. Aly h...Read the entire review

The Movie

Yes, the title is far and away the cleverest thing about Jacqueline Hyde. But let's be fair; we're not exactly watching Jacqueline Hyde expecting much in the clever department. But those expecting an entertaining spin on the classic old Stevenson tale, or some seriously hardcore horror happenings, will most likely walk away disappointed by this low-budget grime-fest.

Writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky, creator of C-grade schlock both entirely worthless and surprisingly fun, returns to the well once more with Jacqueline Hyde ... and the results aren't all that hot. Instead of the entirely familiar tale of alter (super) egoism being twisted into something new or unique, Mr. Kanefsky opts to use the story ... as a springboard for soft-core porn material.

Jackie Hyde (Gabriella Hall) is a sad-sack telemarketer who has just inherited a massive old estate. Of course th...Read the entire review

The first feature to come out of first time director Jacob Gentry, Last Goodbye is a twisting tale of a rock star, an underage runaway, an alcoholic and an actress who hunts vampires in her hit TV show. How the lives of these people intersect on a hot summer day in sweaty Atlanta drives the story behind Last Goodbye. Agnes (Clementine Ford) loves rock star Peter (Liam O'Neill) who isn't sure about his feelings for Agnes and chooses to spend his time with underage runaway Jen (Sara Stanton). Aside from this connection, Jen is linked in another way to Agnes through a man who works for her father, the self destructing alcoholic Roland played by Chris Rydell.

Last Goodbye tells it's story in non-linear fashion, not unlike how other movies have tried and failed but manages to weave a tale that seems so out of order that it takes the attention of the viewer to actually know what's going on, bu...Read the entire review

Like it or not, we tend to live in the past. We are constantly using what went before as an excuse, a form of aesthetic criteria, or a direct commentary on recent events. We love to reminisce and argue over the relevance of precedent in current everyday life. Old folks always complain that life was better "in their day" while youths usually can't wait to escape the shackles of family history to create their own identity. Somewhere in the center, about the time we discover mortality and middle age, we realize how important the past really is: how it shaped and molded our mentality, and how it left an intense and almost inescapable influence directly on who we are. For some, that is good news. It confirms their feelings and makes them feel secure about their place in the grand scheme of things.

For others, the past is a curse, filled with uneasy compromise and long enduring pain. It is segments of san...Read the entire review

The Film:
I don't want to be the sort of person who comes across as a hater. But when you watch a film like this, and attempt to express with a modicum of honesty how feel about what you've watched, you come across like a hater. And like I said, I don't want to be that. So, let me start by saying that somewhere deep within the 88 minutes that make up Treasure n tha Hood there is a partially decent movie begging to be set free. Unfortunately, those pleas go unheeded, and what you're left with is a movie that's just not good.

The premise of the film seems to borrow a bit from Friday and a bit from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World, yet somehow manages to miss what made both of those movies work. The result is a comedy that may make some people laugh – keep in mind sniffing glue can make you laugh as well – but didn't even get me to crack a smile.

Andrae "Deuce" Noel stars ...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Super Spy is an extremely independent comedy spoof on James Bond (although, it seems to give more nods to Pulp Fiction), the concept being, what if James Bond were black (and looked exactly like Samuel Jackson)? At the same time, it's a movie within a movie, within a dream, within a movie within a dream that's being made into a movie—or something like that. Sound confusing? Good. Then you get the picture about this picture.

The Story:
Screenwriter/director/star A.J. Jamal plays a struggling screenplay writer who is determined to make a movie with the help of some friends and a budget of practically zero dollars. Um…It comes across as if this movie was the true story of making this movie. Anyway, the basic plot is, while filming a no budget action flick, the team accidentally films a real crime being committed, and is soon being hunted down by the evil ...Read the entire review

Park Day

The Movie
"Park Day" is a sometimes compelling, often times not, drama set in New Haven, Missouri. The move chronicles the lives of three young people who find themselves at a critical crossroads. There's Steve Johnson – portrayed by Harper Hill, who can't decide what he wants out of life. He really wants to write – and indeed narrates the story, but faces pressure from his father to "make something of himself". Steve is smitten with Tamala (Monica Calhoun), the sister of his best friend and rough neck John Eric (played by Lande Scott). John Eric is a wild soul of sorts, not really going anywhere in life with no outward ambitions. Tamala desperately wants to escape it all, but neglects the courage to leave the town she's always known.

The movie takes place during one celebratory day – known as Park Day. Park Day is an annual late summer homecoming commem...Read the entire review