Aided by the sounds of singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, Gurinder Chadha’s crowd-pleasing Blinded by the Light is rocking good time. Javed (Viveik Kalra) stands in for real-life journlist Sarfraz Manzoor in telling the story of a Pakistani Brit in Luton who became a Bruce Springsteen super fan in 1987. Springsteen’s music played a tremendous role in helping the writer to find his voice. He was someone who exercised his creativity by way of poetry without his…
"Sundance 2019: Blinded by the Light"Category: Film Festival
With some very strong acting performances, The Report follows a Senate staffer’s thorough investigation into the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. Even though the film starts with the beginning of the investigation in 2009, the flashbacks date back to 2001. Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) was tasked with researching the CIA while working as a staffer for U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. This followed a 14-1 vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee. As an…
"Sundance 2019: The Report"
With a career-best performance by Wendi McLendon-Covey, Debra Eisenstadt’s Imaginary Order is a classic indie in every sense of the word. Cathy’s (Wendi McLendon-Covey) home life is not what it used to be once upon a time. Her relationship with her daughter, Tara (Kate Alberts), is falling apart. This is in spite of quitting her job so as to become a full-time mother to Tara. All the while, Cathy’s husband, Matthew (Steve Little), may very…
"Sundance 2019: Imaginary Order"
The Mustang shines a light on the ways that the government controls the wild mustang populations by way of prisoner rehabilitation programs. Following a quick prologue about the history of the wild mustangs in America, we meet meet Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts) at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center. As a part of his prison duties, a prison psychologist (Connie Britton) assigns Roman to the Outside Maintenance program. Roman goes outside of his boundaries by investigating a loud…
"Sundance 2019: The Mustang"
Premiering at Sundance, Honey Boy is an extremely personal film for actor-screenwriter Shia LaBeouf in telling a fictionalized version of his life story. Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges portray Otis Lort a decade apart at 12 and 22 years old, respectively. This leads to back and forth storytelling that takes place in 1995 and 2005. When we first meet Otis, he’s doing stunt work on a film that is likely a stand-in for the first Transformers film. …
"Sundance 2019: Honey Boy"
Character actor John Lithgow gets a leading role for a change opposite actress Blythe Danner in Noble Jones’ romantic dramedy, The Tomorrow Man. Ed Hemsler (John Lithgow) and Ronnie Meisner (Blythe Danner) are meant for each other. They just don’t know it yet. Both of them are hoarders but for very different reasons. Ed believes a disaster is headed to Earth so he wants to be ready for it. Ronnie continually buys items that she…
"Sundance 2019: The Tomorrow Man"
From the outside looking in, the religious community that is depicted in Them That Follow could otherwise be understood to be a cult. Mara (Alice Englert) and Dilly (Kaitlyn Dever) are friends. They live in a snake-handling Pentecostal community run by Mara’s dad, the fiery Pastor Lemuel (Walter Goggins). Every now and then, they go to the local convenient store where Hope (Olivia Colman) works. Much against her dad’s dismay, Mara has an interest in…
"Sundance 2019: Them That Follow"
Big Time Adolescence falls into the coming-of-age genre as the film is about a high school teen under the unfortunate bad influence of his best friend. Monroe “Mo” Harris (Griffin Gluck) is a high school teenager. In a perfect world, his best friend would be someone in his age range. Instead, his best friend is his sister’s ex-boyfriend, Zeke Presanti (Pete Davidson). Despite his sister, Kate (Emily Arlook), and Zeke breaking up, Mo maintained contact…
"Sundance 2019: Big Time Adolescence"
Telling the story of WWE Superstar Paige, Fighting with My Family is a comedy that manages to delight viewers regardless of whether they like wrestling. Born Saraya-Jade Bevis (Florence Pugh), she would eventually adopt the professional name of Paige. Our story starts long before she joined the WWE. Paige was born into a wrestling family, including both her father, Ricky (Nick Frost), and mother, Julia (Lena Heady). Following a brief prologue, we see how she…
"Sundance 2019: Fighting with My Family"
The important thing to know going into Light From Light is that it is not a horror movie despite the fact that a character is a paranormal investigator. Sheila (Marin Ireland) has been having dreams since she was a child. These dreams aren’t just any ordinary dreams as she is sometimes able to see the future. Sheila works behind the counter at a car rental service by day while also working as a paranormal investigator. …
"Sundance 2019: Light from Light"