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| EFC STATS |
| Movies Listed: |
31544 |
| Total Ratings: |
246053 |
| Total Reviews: |
28740 |
![[202787812 Hits]](/cgi-bin/gd.cgi?202787812)
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| WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR |
"An okay proof-of-concept for the movie that eventually does it right."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED VIA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2021: There's a great movie to be made about the ground that this one covers, but I'm pretty sure that "We're All Going to the World's Fair" isn't it. It may be closer than I thought - for as much as I've dabbled in the sort of social-media storytelling that filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun is playing with, I've never been that engrossed. It's a younger person's game, after all. Still, I found myself remembering the feeling of watching "The Collingswood Story" back in 2005 - a prototype for the later "screen life" movies that hadn't quite figured out how to make it work yet - and wondering what the next movie that plays with this hook would do." (more)
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| HOLLER |
"We could do with a few more movies set in these parts of the country."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED VIA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2021: I wouldn't necessarily have guessed that "Holler" is filmmaker Nicole Riegel's second go at the material, but it makes sense in retrospect - the story at the center is straightforward, but with a lot more room to explore the world around it, even if she doesn't make things that much more intricate and complicated than you might find in a ten-minute short. It kind of lives right on the line where one might want her to explore certain things further but are also glad they aren't forced, winding up a familiar tale but still fairly satisfying." (more)
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| DOG WHO WOULDN'T BE QUIET, THE |
"There are some things you really, really can't predict."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED VIA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2021: "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet" has maybe the strangest mid-film detour I can recall, surprising me as I watched it although I'll bet that two-weeks-ago me put this film on the schedule because the description hinted at it. Even before that, it's a movie that's as amiably eccentric as its title, well worth a look before it finds the most peculiar way it can to tell what could be a fairly conventional story." (more)
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| HERE ALONE |
"Sometimes Alone Is Better"
Erik Childress says... "When Rod Blackhurst’s Here Alone premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016, it was probably deemed as just another apocalyptic survival tale. Films of the type are prime fodder for independent filmmakers who only need a few actors and an unpopulated location. Given the events of 2020 to the publishing of this review and beyond, there is a whole new appreciation for survival instincts after a viral pandemic, or at least one for wearing masks. COVID-19 spawned a feverish lockdown revisit of Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion and maybe that was as far as people wanted to take it despite some really harrowing films awaiting their own re-appreciation. Here Alone starts with promise and ended by winning the fest’s Audience Award. However, as the film actually ends with a near-silent scream, I finished with an even louder one which reverberated over its many flaws." (more)
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| SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) |
"An experience worth remembering."
Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED VIA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON 2021: "Summer of Soul" isn't quite a concert film, but it's hard to blame director Ahmir-Khalib "Questlove" Thompson for never wanting to stop the music: The raw material is a treasure trove of great performances not seen in fifty years, and more often than not, they say just as much on their own as anybody talking about them later might. The trick, which Questlove, editor Joshua L. Pearson, and the rest of the crew pull off nicely, is to insert just enough present-day reminiscences to give a little bit of context without slowing the party down." (more)
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| CLIFF WALKERS |
"Tough to tell whether this is a disappointing or extra-clever spy movie."
Jay Seaver says... ""Cliff Walkers" at times feels less like a movie and more like a TV series that has gone on a year too long, to the point where it has needed to switch in new cast members for departing stars, given audience favorites in small roles more to do, and kind of lost the main plot, all in just over two hours. That it's not actually stretched over two years keeps it from truly being a drag, at least, especially since filmmaker Zhang Yimou seldom puts in less than a full effort, even when you suspect he's doing a movie to get back in the good graces of the powers that be after doing something a little too controversial, to the point where it's easy to second-guess any disappointment." (more)
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| WRATH OF MAN |
"Vengeance is Mine"
alejandroariera says... "Guy Ritchie is one those directors that I am hot and cold about. Like many, I was blown away by his hyper clever, hyper violent feature debut “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” (1998), even though I couldn’t make sense of at least 40% of the dialogue (it’s those damn cockney accents, you know). And then came “Snatch” (2000), which tried to be twice as clever and incomprehensible as his first feature (mumbling Brad Pitt in full Irish brogue included) and “Swept Away” (2002), his failed (and I am being nice here) remake of the Lina Wertmuller classic starring his then-companion Madonna. With just three films, Ritchie managed to jump the shark in an epic way. I pretty much skipped the work that followed until the release of the first of the two Sherlock Holmes movies he directed for Robert Downey, Jr. The less said about its take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s character the better, although I did like the second one: it was much closer to the spirit of the classic novels and stories, and it had in Jared Harris one of the best Moriarty’s to ever grace the bog and small screens. But then Ritchie decided to trample all over my childhood memories of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” by turning his remake into a damn origin story with no sense of what made the pairing of agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin so unique and charming and cool and fun. That was my last Guy Ritchie movie until today." (more)
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| HOME SWEET HOME |
"Mean, then messy."
Jay Seaver says... "The sheer amount of "wait, what?" at the back end of [I]Home Sweet Home[/I] isn't quite enough to fritter away all the nasty vibes and tension it starts with, but there's a short stretch where it seems to be trying its best. It winds up a case of twist overload, a movie whose makers don't seem to recognize that what's going on up front is far more exciting and resonant than what's hiding behind it as they pull the rug out from under the audience." (more)
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FILMS I NEGLECTED TO REVIEW: HILLBILLY EULOGY
by Peter Sobczynski |
| "Please enjoy short reviews of "About Endlessness," "Above Suspicion," "Benny Loves You," Here Today," "Initiation," "The Paper Tigers," "The Water Man" and "Wrath of Man."" (more) |
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'"SMELLVIN"? DON'T CALL ME SMELLVIN, MY NAME IS MELVIN!'
- Toxic Avenger, Toxic Avenger II
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