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“TRIGGER MAN”

Inspired by true events, director Ti West (The Roost) throws out the typical elements and traps of the horror genre to create what he calls an “experimental horror.” Shot with one HD camera, West uses sparse dialogue, long takes and a haunting score to tell the story of three friends who travel from New York City to the woods of Delaware to hunt deer. Similar to films like Deliverance, The Decent or Open Water — ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances — the hunters become the hunted when a sniper begins to shoot them down one by one. But instead […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Mar 15, 2008 Load & Play
“NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN”

Few films have had an effect of making people think differently about the world, or at least confirming their worst instincts about it. No Country For Old Men is one of those films. Set against the arid backdrop and sparsely populated tableau of West Texas, Joel and Ethan Coen paint a bleak depiction of human nature in which there is no country for good men, who are helpless to stop the evil men. Josh Brolin plays Llewelyn Moss, an ex-Vietnam vet who, while hunting antelope, stumbles upon a drug-deal gone wrong (so wrong, that not only have all the pushers […]

By Rupert Chiarella on Mar 10, 2008 Load & Play
“FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO”

With more eye-catching docs coming out of Sundance in 2007 (Manda Bala (Send A Bullet), Crazy Love, My Kid Could Paint That, No End In Sight, War Dance, Zoo, ect.), Daniel Karslake‘s For The Bible Tells Me So was lost in the flurry, but this interesting look at how decades of religious anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon the misinterpretation of the Bible, the film should certainly be in the conversation as one of the best docs that came out of Sundance ’07. Hailed at festivals around the country and getting an impressive release through First Run Features, this […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Feb 18, 2008 Load & Play
“THE MONASTERY”

This heartfelt doc of one man’s attempt to give something back to the world before he leaves it has gone on to win the hearts of festival goers all over the world. Following the journey of Mr. Vig, an elderly Danish man who’s been a lifelong bachelor and recluse, he offers up his 50 year old castle to the Moscow Patriarchate so that they can turn it into a Russian Orthodox monastery. But seeing it hasn’t been inhabited in 20 years there’s much work that needs to be done before the church can accept his offer. When the strong willed […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Feb 11, 2008 Load & Play
“ROCKET SCIENCE”

There were a number of teen angst movies this past year — Eagle vs. Shark, Superbad — but the one I thought brought the most originality to a very watered down genre was Jeffrey Blitz‘s Rocket Science, and seeing it again just reaffirms my belief. Armed with great writing, a humorous yet sensitive performance by the talented Reece Daniel Thompson as the film’s unorthodox lead Hal Hefner, and an amazing score by Clem Snide frontman Eef Barzelay, the film is a smart and funny look at the awkward high school years. The film begins with ace debater Ben (Nicholas D’Agosto) […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 28, 2008 Load & Play
“3:10 TO YUMA”

In remaking the 1957 classic Western starring Van Heflin and Glenn Ford, director James Mangold (Walk The Line) thankfully doesn’t bastardize the solid story or the sanctity of the original. Instead he returns to the source material (an Elmore Leonard short story) and creates this battle of wills between a struggling rancher and the notorious leader of a band of outlaws with respect to the genre and a kick in the pants for a new generation of viewers. Though I would hardly call it the best Western since Unforgiven (as a Houston Chronicle blurb boasts on the DVD cover), teaming […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 5, 2008 Load & Play
“IN BETWEEN DAYS”

So Yong Kim‘s intimate debut feature about a young teenage Korean girl who tries to adapt to American life and the separation of her parents has been beloved by many since it premiered at Sundance in 2006 (the film caught our attention back then as well, as we named Kim one of our “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in ’06). Shot handheld on DV with no score, the film uses its guerilla mentality to put complete focus on its two main characters, Aimie (Jiseon Kim) and her friend Tran (Taegu Andy Kang), a Korean teen who’s a little more […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Nov 18, 2007 Load & Play
“WE ARE THE STRANGE”

Since showing his debut feature We Are The Strange at Sundance last January, M dot Strange has become the poster boy for DIY filmmaking as he’s warded off all main stream avenues for theatrical distribution, concentrating instead on festival screenings, grassroots programs like MobMov (mobile movie drive-ins) and now a comprehensive 2-disc DVD package that is a must have for low-budget animators and filmmakers alike. It’s hard to describe the film other than to say it’s really experimental. (surprised?) All I know is the two main characters really want ice cream. But what makes this film great is that it […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Oct 29, 2007 Load & Play
“A MIGHTY HEART”

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded in 2002. The heart-rending video of his execution played for the world to see. Five years later, the tragedy comes to a harrowing life in Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart. Pearl was a journalist with a promising career, a wife, a baby on the way, with family and friends who loved him until one day in the cluttered streets and back alleys ofKarachi,Pakistan, Al-Quaeda terrorists plucked and devoured him. Angelina Jolie melts into the role of Mariane Pearl, his journalist wife, who plays the part with equal amounts of courage […]

By Rupert Chiarella on Oct 15, 2007 Load & Play
“MAN PUSH CART”

Koch Lober releases Ramin Bahrani’s Man Push Cart today on DVD ($26.98). A festival darling this past year, Bahrani’s look at Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi), a Pakistani rock star who moves to America with his family only to work a push cart in Manhattan, is a stirring insight into the sacrifices many immigrants go through to make a living in this country. A simple story, Bahrani uses natural lighting, sparse dialogue and a haunting score to follow Ahmad’s depressing life as he wakes at three in the morning to push a tin box to his reserved midtown corner to serve donuts […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Oct 8, 2007 Load & Play

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