Some horror films operate on a more subtle level, drawing on subconscious fears that all of us share without relying on obvious violence and gore. Films such as Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” Mike Flanagan’s “Doctor Sleep,” and Alain Resnais’ “Last Year at Marienbad” fall into this category of arthouse horror films, as they slowly build [...]
As I reflect on Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow,” which opens in select theaters this weekend, I can’t help but smile on my “first Reichardt” experience, “Certain Women” and the audience reaction to that film. It is important to set the stage for this experience in that I was not a member of the press, so [...]
Melodi - Michael Kam (Singapore) In a tiny downtown apartment, a young man listens intently to his old, wheelchair-bound neighbor angrily berate the young servant girl that sadly cares for him. He peeks inside her apartment before being chased away by the old man and follows her to the bird store after she accidently releases [...]
The ASU Fall 2017 Senior Film Showcase took place on December 2, 2017 and featured twelve examples of student work from the ASU School of Film, Dance and Theater that included a music video and two demo reels. After enduring the Spring 2017 Senior Capstone films way back in May, I had considered skipping the [...]
The 5th annual Jerome Indie Film and Music Festival wrapped up another successful weekend of independent film, indie music, art and trains. Returning to the hills of Jerome Arizona, the festival recaptured the magic of its very first incarnation from years ago. Returning for my fifth straight year at the festival, I took a different [...]
The May Arizona Filmmaker Showcase presented three films that had previously screened at the Phoenix Film Festival in April, along with two other films that were screened only the night before at the Short Shorts with Short Leash outdoor film festival. The Amazing Mortimer – Directed by Phil Wilson Old ventriloquist Mortimer (Greg Joseph) entertains an audience [...]
Disciple - Directed by: Bob Reynolds A boy gets his soccer ball stolen by bullies, and his abusive dad is having none of it. He takes the tyke out back and using a baseball bat on a tree, demonstrates how to effectively beat the crap out of a bully to get his stuff back. With [...]
Local filmmaker Ryan Thomas Andersen has completed his long anticipated feature ‘IMperfect’ and premiered his film to a sold out audience at the 2017 Phoenix Film Festival. If you’re not familiar with Andersen’s story, he is the filmmaker who won the 2014 ‘Crash The Super Bowl’ commercial competition with his ‘Time Machine’ entry. After writing [...]
The Phoenix Film Festival is still underway, but before too much time passes, here are some of the films I've seen over the past weekend. My schedule was jam-packed with short films from all over the world as well as two programs of Arizona made indies. The short films presented this year look very promising, [...]
Indie horror director Michael S. Rodriguez isn't looking for controversy, it just seems to find him on it's own. He isn't looking for easy ways to shock an audience, he's working really hard at it; presenting the scary stories and legends that adults shared as children, reminding everyone that the most basic things that scare [...]
