The crime thriller TWO STEP debuted at the 2014 South by Southwest Festival and made the festival rounds throughout 2014. James (Skyy Moore) is a college dropout who lives with his grandmother. When his grandmother passes away, James is on his own in a town where he doesn’t know anyone else. He meets his grandmother’s neighbor Dot (Beth Broderick), an attractive middle-aged dance instructor, and soon develops an attachment to her. Meanwhile, jailhouse lowlife Webb […]
by Christopher McKittrick
I’M SO EXCITED! (Los amantes pasajeros) opens with a brief sequence on an airport runaway featuring Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, both familiar faces in this film’s writer/director Pedro Almodóvar’s work. However, their brief cameos only set up the main plot of the film, which is about the plane on the runaway that’s about to take off. When the plane is in the air, it becomes clear to the pilot Alex (Antonio de la Torre), the co-pilot Benito (Hugo Silva), the head steward Joserra (Javier Cámara), and stewards Ulloa (Raúl Arévalo) and Fajas (Carlos Areces) – all of whom are either gay or bisexual and have a connecting sexual history – that there is something wrong with the landing gear. Even if they can find a runway to attempt the landing (which proves difficult), there’s no guarantee that they will survive the impact. When this news is revealed to the handful of passengers in first class (the passengers in coach have all been put to sleep via drugs), they began to cast away their inhibitions and reveal their deepest secrets.
by Chris McKittrick
Bartending is often seen as one of those “between” jobs – you know, the type of job you have as a stopover between one job and another. While for most bartending consists of pulling tap handles and mixing happy hour well drinks, for others it is an art. This is the premise of HEY BARTENDER, an engrossing documentary by director Douglas Tirola featuring some of the world’s best mixologists.
by Christopher McKittrick
Though there are hundreds of terrible diseases, perhaps there is none as cruel as Alzheimer’s disease, which not only slowly robs the sufferer of their mind, but tremendously impacts the sufferer’s loved ones terribly as the sufferer gradually no longer recognizes them as they slip further and further into dementia. German documentarian David Sieveking explores the impact that Alzheimer’s disease has not only on his mother, but his entire family in Vergiss mein nicht (Forget Me Not).
by Christopher McKittrick
During a routine, 47 year-old Silvia (Lina Wendel) is told by her husband that he is moving out. Silvia knew their passionless marriage was essentially over anyway, but it still comes as a shock. With little to call her own and never being with anyone besides her husband, Silvia begins her search for love, because, as she tells someone else, “Actually, everyone wants someone to hold…someone who loves and comforts you. If that’s not happening… something inside withers away. You become a lone warrior.”
by Christopher McKittrick
Father Erik (David Call) is a young priest on an island off the coast of Maine who is new to the island after the previous priest left under less-than-holy circumstances. Along with the problem of a dwindled congregation, he is confronted by a family torn apart by the disappearance of their son. Josh went missing when he was eleven years old and his father, Richard (Richard Berkins) is adamant that his son is still alive, but his long-suffering wife Ellen (Haviland Morris) enlists Erik’s help in convincing Richard to have a funeral for Josh. After Richard finally agrees to finally “bury” his son, Josh (Liam Aiken), now sixteen, reappears. When asked where he has been the only response he offers his parents and the police is, “I heard I was dead. I didn’t like that.” However, he reveals the truth to Erik before disappearing again, and Erik, bound by his vows, is unable to reveal Josh’s whereabouts. However, Erik will not let that prevent him from returning Josh home again.
by Chris McKittrick
The Lotus Eaters of Homer’s Odyssey spent their days indulging in food that made them ignore all of their wants and needs in order to pursue ultimate leisure. The aptly-titled film Lotus Eaters, directed and co-written by Alexandra McGuinness (Paris Noir), follows the modern equivalent of that mythological race, a group of young London models, actors, and rock stars whose society lives are filled with drug and booze fueled parties, yet all seem to suffer from the first-world problem of being profoundly bored with their lifestyle.
by Chris McKittrick
In the year 2019, the American economy has collapsed to the point that the most powerful government entity is the Federal Reserve, which maintains control of the rapidly inflating currency. This leads to crippling levels of inflation ($150+ for a gallon of gas, $50+ for a loaf of bread, and worst of all, $90 beer “specials” at bars!) An underground form of currency made of pure silver, called silver circles, are instead being used illegally by the public. One of the Reserve’s newest divisions is the Department of Housing Stability, which is responsible for maintaining the prices of homes – including forcing rightful homeowners out of them, if necessary. An agent with “HouseStab,” Jay Nelson (De’Leon Grant) is investigating a recent firebombing of homes, and finds himself reluctantly caught in a battle against the Federal Reserve alongside Zoe Taylor (Philana Mia), an alluring female resistance fighter.