A Mexican family puts up a wall in The Wall of Mexico so as to stop their white neighbors from stealing their very special well water. Henry (Esai Morales) and Monica Aristas (Alex Meneses) hires Winfield resident Don (Jackson Rathbone) to serve as a handyman for their family. They are a very rich Mexican-American family and their two daughters are quite the degenerates. Don doesn’t know exactly why they are rich but only that they…
"SXSW 2019: The Wall of Mexico"Category: Film Festival
Tito is a film that focuses on a man who is being tormented by sexual predators but is told in a way that gives the film a feminist twist. Tito (Grace Glowicki) is the reclusive type but mostly because of the trauma he has faced in his lifetime. He wears a whistle in case of emergencies. The fear he lives with has led to walking with a hunch in his back. Moreover, he currently lives…
"SXSW 2019: Tito"
Romantic Comedy breaks down this particular comedy genre beat by beat while showing clips of many rom-com films in the process. Elizabeth Sankey narrates and directs this well-made documentary. Through her narration and interviews, Sankey breaks down everything we know about the genre. This isn’t only limited to present-day rom-coms but Sankey goes back to the classics. She grew up as any teenage girl does: learning about romance through the romantic comedy genre. The 1930s…
"SXSW 2019: Romantic Comedy"
Carl Laemmle is a very informative and fascinating documentary that profiles the pioneering founder of Universal Studios. James L. Freedman goes deep into the archives in a documentary that certainly targets both film nerds and the Jewish community. Carl Laemmle was a guy who left his hometown for a better life in America and he never forgot his roots. It didn’t matter that Germans didn’t like him in the 1930s. He saw what was happening to…
"Carl Laemmle: Universal Founder profiled"
The Last is one of those films in which the audience is going to be left with questions but mainly we’re left to ask ourselves–what would we have done? It’s a normal Rosh HaShanah afternoon for the Dorman family as everyone gathers around for the Tashlikh service. Little do they know that the normalcy they experience will soon be changing. Much of the conversation relates to special-needs teacher Josh (AJ Cedeño) and his engagement to…
"The Last: Audience Will Ask Questions"
Led by a riveting performance from Alfre Woodard, Clemency took home the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Life for prison warden Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) isn’t getting easy. She appears to be married to her job more so than to husband Jonathan Williams (Wendell Pierce). It isn’t just any ordinary job. She’s the one who is in the room when prisoners get executed by way of lethal injection. We first meet…
"Sundance 2019: Clemency"
If Three Identical Strangers didn’t leave you with feelings of anger, One Child Nation should certainly leave viewers feeling angry about Chinese policy. China’s One Child Policy came to an end following a period of 35 years in 2015. This doesn’t stop a pair of documentary filmmakers from examining the devastating effects. If families had a daughter rather than a son, they would be increasingly likely to give them up for adoption. Or worse: leave…
"Sundance 2019: One Child Nation"
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile manages to glorify subject Ted Bundy in a manner that does not even show his violent ways at all. Theodore Robert “Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) killed over 30 women in under five years. Even though law enforcement officials had a number on his back, he continually denied these actions through the Florida trial. It’s this particular trial that plays the biggest part of the film. Yes, there’s the home…
"Sundance 2019: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile"
Luce is one of those films that comes along at just the right point in time in which the country needs it in order to spark an important conversation. From the outside looking in, Luce (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) is the smartest person in the school. He has it going for him in every which direction. When he’s not in class, he’ll be doing his duties as either the debate-team captain or participating in track. In other words,…
"Sundance 2019: Luce"
A young Georgia girl aims for the stars in the funny and poignant Troop Zero despite the odds being set against her every single step along the way. Christmas Flint (Mckenna Grace)–daughter of attorney Ramsey Flint (Jim Gaffigan)–has big dreams that lead to outer space. We see this in the way that she looks up to the stars at night in 1977. For now, she has to settle for just being a small town girl…
"Sundance 2019: Troop Zero"