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Slim (Feature Critique)
Slim Cover
Director: Michael Arell
Expected Rating: PG
Distribution: No known distribution
Budget: $0 (Due to Preowned Equipment and donations)
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: August 2017
Official Website: sleepydogfilmsusa.com
Trailer: Click Here
Online Version: Not currently available
Running Time: 82 minutes
Critique Issue: #133 (4/17)
Critiqued By: Manuel Crosby
Final Score: 3.1 (out of 10)
Slim (Michael Arell) is an overweight archaeologist who doesn’t seem to be going anywhere in his life… That is, until his boss sends him on a mission to find the mythical Golden Dustpan.
While Slim gets himself into far more trouble than he expected on his quest, he ends up learning about himself and who he wants to be in the world.
The Barren Pine (Straight Shooter Review)
Director: John Boggi
Production Company/Distributor: None
Genre: Horror/Drama
Running Time: 69 minutes 39 Seconds
Expected/Actual Rating: PG-13 due to language & adult situations
Website: Facebook
Trailer: Click Here
Online Rent: TBA
Online Purchase: TBA
Reviewer: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 5.0 (out of 10) – A first feature film which may appeal to folks who like Lynchian experimentalism.
When Jake (Ken Sandberg), Byron (Owen McCuen), and Jack (Glenn Mercer) come to a forest reserve for a weekend retreat at a cabin, they’re surprised to meet an over enthusiastic forest ranger (Brian Holcomb) who warns them about the dangers of a mysterious area known as “Apple Island.”
Upon arriving at their cabin and getting settled, they are further surprised to meet Angela (Jacqueline Holloway) and her sister, Nora (Heather Cole), two young women who need a place to stay for the night—and who are mysteriously linked to a dark part of Apple Island’s sordid past.
Smile Again, Jenny Lee (Straight Shooter Review)
Smile Again, Jenny Lee Cover
Director: Carlo Caldana
Production Company: Marguery Films Production
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Release Date: December 2015
Expected Rating: PG-13, due to language
Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Rent/Purchase: TBD
Novel: Click Here
Reviewer: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 8.0 – Worth seeing with an audience at a Regional Film Festival!
In 2013, Carlo Caldana released an independent novel called, Smile Again, Jenny Lee, about a world renowned tennis player with a personality like Tonya Harding, who got her leg messed up like Nancy Kerrigan. (Only in this tale, she actually was knocked out of her sport for good.)
Two years later, in a feat of moxy that’s truly impressive, Carlo Caldana translated his novel into a script, directed the film, and cast himself as the colead alongside Monique Hafen who played the titular Jenny Lee.
The tale of the film revolves around Jenny’s attempt to find her place in the world after losing her spot in tennis. Low on funds and about to be cut off by her wealthy mother (Linda DeMetrick), she agrees to help a lawyer named Charles Landale (Carlo Caldana) track down her absentee father, hoping that he will float her some cash. However, when the mystery of her father’s disappearance grows more ominous, she and Landale will have to keep their wits about them to unravel the mystery.
Rigoberta Menchu: Daughter of the Maya (Straight Shooter Review)
Director: Dawn Engle
Production Company: Gravitas
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 61 minutes
Release Date: June 2016
Expected Rating: PG-13, due to adult imagery and testimony
Website: PeaceJam.org
Trailer: Click Here
Online Rent: Click Here
Online Purchase: Click Here
Review Issue: #125 (07/16)
Reviewer: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 9.5 – Definitely worth watching at a festival or with a community!
I grew up believing the Mayan Indians were a long lost civilization, like the lost tribe of the Maori. I knew about their amazing science and their calendar, but, at some time in my childhood, had come to believe that they’d been slaughtered by the Aztecs and no longer existed.
As often happens with Dawn Engle’s films through PeaceJam, I learned a lot about both people groups and people that changed my perception through this film—not the least of which being that the Mayan Indians still exist as the indigenous people of Guatemala (as well as a number of other Latin American countries), despite genocidal attempts of a 36 year civil war.
Traceroute (Straight Shooter Film Review)
Director: Johannes Grenzfurthner
Production Company: monochrom Propulsion Systems
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 120 min
Expected Rating: R due to language and some sexual imagery
Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Online Rent: TBA
Online Purchase: TBA
Reviewer: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 7.5 (out of 10)
Austrian filmmaker Johannes Grenzfurthner is on a mission to find all the nerdiest spots and people in America—at least, all the spots associated with the nerdy people he connected with online ahead of time.
With a roadmap that takes him 7,000 miles (from California to New York) and an agenda of communist apologetics to share, he sets out to explore everything from creature effects companies to sex-geeks to massive caves to cyberpunks to alien researchers—all from an outsider’s perspective.
LessLOST (Straight Shooter Film Review)
Director: Chase Conner
Production Company: Out Of The Barrel Productions
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 77 minutes
Budget: $20,000
Expected Rating: R for language and situations
Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Online Rent: TBD
Online Purchase: TBD
Reviewer: Manuel Crosby
Final Score: 8.0 (out of 10)
For soldiers who have survived the horrors of war, coping with the psychological trauma back home can be its own battle. LessLOST, directed by Chase Conner, follows Luke (Shane Fike), a medically-retired U.S. Army soldier who must now readjust to civilian life. However, his mental stress continually worsens, so much that he becomes a threat to his wife, Jen (Heather Dodson), and young daughter (Leisa DeGeorge). Will Luke spiral downward under the burden of what he went through in combat, losing his family in the process? Or can a fellow veteran, Darien (Brandon Alexander), help him come to terms with his pain and begin to heal?
5M: A Silent Film That Screams (Straight Shooter Film Review)
Director: Raman Amaravadi
Production Company: Idreammedia
Genre: Silent/Crime
Running Time: 19 minutes 15 seconds
Expected/Actual Rating: PG for adult concepts
Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Online Version: Click Here
Reviewer: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 5.0 (out of 10)
When he’s in danger of losing his business in the recession, Dave (Deepak Ravella) comes up with a dangerous criminal scheme with his partner Sonny (Sonny Chatrath) and his wife Amy (Ami Sheth) to gain $5 million through cheating the insurance company. But when things go off the rails, they plunge toward the depths of murder and betrayal.
Big Gold Dream (Straight Shooter Film Review)
Director: Grant McPhee
Genre: Documentary/Music
Running Time: 91 minutes
Expected/Actual Rating: R for Language
Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Online Rent: N/A
Online Purchase: N/A
Reviewer: Manuel Crosby
Final Score: 7.2 (out of 10)
In 1970s Scotland, a musical wave swelled with energy. The genre of punk music attracted a tenacious following, thriving on the raw energy of its performers and fan base. So fast-moving that it almost instantly transitioned into post-punk, this movement suddenly gave many young people a voice–and a tenacious audience for their music.
5M – A Silent Film That Screams (Short Critique)
Director: Raman Amaravadi
Expected Rating: PG for adult concepts
Distribution: IDream Media, Teluguone, YouTube
Budget: $14,000
Genre: Silent Film/Crime/Noir
Release Date: April 20, 2014
Official Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Online Version: Click Here
Running Time: 19 minutes 15 seconds
Critique Issue: #120 (2/16)
Critiqued By: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 6 (out of 10)
Dave Shaw (Deepak Ravella) and his wife, Amy (Ami Sheth), live the high life, despite Dave’s addiction to gambling and narcotics. Dave is recovering from a drunken gambling spree the night before when his business partner Sonny (Sonny Chatrath) comes to their house. He explains to Amy that the business is going under and that their building is being foreclosed on.
While they try to figure out how to salvage things, Dave comes up with a plan to stay afloat by blowing up the company warehouse and fleecing the insurance company for $5 million. Everything seems to be going according to plan, until things go off the rails for Dave and all those around him.
The Visit (Special Critique)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Expected Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing thematic material including terror, violence and some nudity, and for brief language)
Distribution: Universal/Blumhouse
Budget: $5,000,000 (estimated)
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Release Date: September 11, 2015
Official Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Purchase: Click Here
Running Time: 94 minutes
Critique Issue: #117 (12/15)
Critiqued By: Manuel Crosby
Overall Score: 9.2 (out of 10)
[Editor’s Note: Special Critiques are reserved for films that are technically made for a higher budget than the $50K cap that MFM critiques films at, but which preserve the spirit of Indie filmmaking. In this case, it’s with a film that’s a sort of redemption tale for an Indie minded filmmaker that lost touch with himself for awhile.-JH]
M. Night Shyamalan broke out in Hollywood with some original, well-received, and healthily-budgeted films like The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), and Signs (2002). However, many viewers have been far less satisfied with his more recent works.
Regardless of audience opinion, Shyamalan has remained a high-budget filmmaker- which is what makes his latest project so surprising. With The Visit, he instead tells a small-scale story on a tight budget, using only a handful of actors and locations. And the result: an extremely satisfying blend of suspense, scares, and comedy.
When two children, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), visit their grandparents (Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie) for the very first time, it seems like a great chance to connect and have fun with long-lost Nana and Pop Pop. But before long, the children discover that their grandparents act more than a little strange after 9:30pm. What happens when this cheerful visit turns terrifying?
The Last Buck Hunt (Straight Shooter Review)
Directors: Becky and Nick Sayers
Production Company/Distributor: Indiestructible Films
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Mockumentary
Running Time: 87 mins
Budget: $15,000
Expected/Actual Rating: PG-13 (language, adult situations)
Website: Click Here
Trailer: Click Here
Rent/Purchase: Stream | Download
Reviewer: Manuel Crosby
Final Score: 7.0 (out of 10)
Reality show host and hunting prodigy Kenny Wayne (Zack Gold) drags his camera crew on a hunt for the most legendary, terrifying buck in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. While Kenny tries to prove his hunting worth by capturing the quest on video, cameraman Steve (Cathan Bordyn) and sound recordist Alex (Briana Chicha) must figure out if the hunt is legitimate, or simply a hoax. What will they find out in the woods? The answer may make you laugh, scream, or both!
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel: Rivers of Hope (Straight Shooter Review)
Director: Dawn Engle
Distributor: Gravitas
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 77 minutes
Release Date: 2015
Expected Rating: PG-13, due to subject matter
Website: PeaceJam.org
Trailer: Click Here
Online Rent: Click Here
Online Purchase: Click Here
Review Issue: #116 (10/15)
Reviewer: Jeremy T. Hanke
Final Score: 9.0 – Definitely worth watching at a festival or with a community!
The worldwide stage was re-reminded of Argentina when Cardinal Bergoglio was chosen from that country in 2013 by the Catholic Church to become its new Pope. But before Pope Francis was awarded his own Nobel Peace prize, there was another notable countryman of his had earned it.
Argentina has a history that goes back hundreds of years. A rich culture and heritage had made it the bread basket of South America, but, for half of the 20th century, vicious dictators rose to power, enslaving the nation and “vanishing” people who didn’t agree with their methods.
Against this horrific backdrop, Rivers of Hope documents the story of Nobel Peace laureate, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. Esquivel was orphaned at three and raised in convents, later with his blind father (whom famed Evita Perone helped grant a pension), and finally with a grandmother in an indigenous tribe. His attempts to stand up for those without voices would get him brutally imprisoned and, later, nearly killed. His survival is nothing short of astonishing, as was his rise to help Argetina regain its memory of the past—so they might not be destined to repeat it—and his establishment of Peace Villages to help teach much needed skills to those who had no one to teach them.