MY PURE JOY
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 104 minutes |
The trick with the film, that it doesn’t always pull off, is the balance between the violence and the story building. For one, the opening brutality is so harsh that the film seems to think that to balance that we need to see tons of uninteresting conversation between Adam and his friends. Then again, because the violence is so incredibly disturbing and gross, the audience definitely needs a break from it…
Posted on May 3, 2013 by Mark Bell
SOFIA’S LAST AMBULANCE
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 75 minutes |
2013 SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SELECTION! It’s hard to recommend a film like this, because it’s not exactly a good time watching people who deal exclusively in life and death…
Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jessica Baxter
AFTER LUCIA
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 103 minutes |
2013 SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SELECTION! It’s an interesting way to tell a story, but not a very pleasant one to hear…
Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jessica Baxter
JULIE’S SMILE
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  Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 80 minutes |
Eric Mattson’s feature film, “Julie’s Smile,” dabbles in being a study in psychological horror and trauma, but really is about one person finally accepting who they are. The issues stem from the attempt in hiding the universal life journey in psychological horror tropes, and not giving enough depth to the characters…
Posted on May 2, 2013 by Mark Bell
BOX
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 16 minutes |
If I have a criticism of the film, it’s not in how the film looks, sounds or in any of the performances, but it’s in my disbelief that anyone would stay together after the contents of the box are shared…
Posted on May 1, 2013 by Mark Bell
OUT OF THE WHITE
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Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 6 minutes |
It doesn’t happen often, but every once and a while I see a short film where I feel like I missed something integral to figuring out what’s going on. In this case, the film is less than six minutes long so I had the opportunity to watch it a few times and… I don’t think I missed something; I don’t think it’s there at all…
Posted on May 1, 2013 by Mark Bell
BONZO
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Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 74 minutes |
Not that it’s a bad film by any stretch, but the filmmakers obviously wanted to create something minimal that allowed for a significant amount of narrative breath, and they achieved that. It’s not accurate to say that “nothing happens,” but it’s hard to describe it in a way that gives any other impression…
Posted on April 30, 2013 by Mark Bell
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 13 minutes |
The filmmakers show they know how to make a film, the actors handle their roles and the film leaves you feeling content with what you just saw. It doesn’t really challenge you, or make a terribly memorable statement, but it competently delivers…
Posted on April 30, 2013 by Mark Bell
CODA NERA
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 26 minutes |
In the end, those who are dead return to life, and all seems right with the world…except for one nagging little trick that leaves all questions unresolved, and all characters and Film Threat movie-viewers right back where they started…
Posted on April 29, 2013 by Amy R. Handler
FLAMINGOS
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 90 minutes |
The film’s three main characters may not be likable, but the lurid glare of their intensity is riveting…
Posted on April 28, 2013 by David Finkelstein
THE JANITOR
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Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 16 minutes |
Shot in black and white, the film maintains the power of the contrast without succumbing to the grit and grime that sometimes accompanies black and white films (usually by design). Visually, the imagery only complements the moral complexities of the narrative; the cleanliness to the image works with the themes in the film, and the black and white nature of the moral considerations is appropriately challenged by the intrusion of the gray…
Posted on April 27, 2013 by Mark Bell
ON THE HORIZON
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Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 5 minutes |
While the women easily fall into the characters of the damaged and the damaging, their locations also give another piece of the puzzle; the power of water, and the abundance on one side while the other remains parched…
Posted on April 27, 2013 by Mark Bell
RIDESHARE
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Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 80 minutes |
One thing’s for sure at this particularly erratic time in history, films like “Rideshare” are definitely the ideal escape from our fears and hostilities…
Posted on April 26, 2013 by Amy R. Handler
KING GEORGE VI – THE MAN BEHIND THE KING’S SPEECH (DVD)
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Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 80 minutes |
This fine documentary offers a handsome tribute to an unlikely yet beloved head of state…
Posted on April 24, 2013 by Phil Hall
OBLIVION
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Year Released: 2013 MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 124 minutes |
You know a picture’s derivative when a list of titles in the same genre technically constitutes a spoiler…
Posted on April 24, 2013 by Rick Kisonak
