Tag: 3 out of 4

Appofeniacs was watched as part of Fantastic Fest 2025! It had its showing on Saturday, September 20th as part of the festival, and it was the North American Premiere of this film!

AI! Is it the future? Is it the not-future? Did it write this review?

No, no it did not. The fears about AI are real though. For example, taking peoples jobs, and destroying the arts. But an even bigger thing that people should fear is “Deepfakes”, technology that makes videos of non-real footage. You know, the footage could be used for crime, to trick people, porn, or any number of things. You could now have a video that isn’t real of you saying slurs, beating someone up, or naked. That can get you fired, get you in trouble with the police, and ruin your real life relationships because hey, its on video, it must be real.

But surely, most people don’t worry about this because most people aren’t important so why would they be targeted like politicians and celebrities? Well, the ease of this technology means more and more people holding a grudge, because you cut them off in a restaurant, or didn’t hold open a door, and your life gets ruined.

That is the story of Appofeniacs, and it is truly frightening!

Starring a whole slew of people you mostly will not recognize, but let me sprinkle in a couple you might! his includes Aaron Holliday, Harley Bronwyn, Jermaine Fowler, Paige Searcy, Scarlett DeMeo, Sean Gunn, Simran Jehani, and Will Brandt.

Honestly, the only photos for this movie is the hot tub, I was forced to do it.

This is a strange movie, because I had to vaguely describe it, because I truly think this is one of those films where you should just go along the ride, and see where the characters and experiences take you. A lot of scary places, I assure you, and a lot of places where I also would not know how to react in real life should it happen.

This is a film full of dramatic irony and unfortunate circumstances. When the bad guys make good points, and the good guys are kind of dumb, it’s a rollercoaster of emotion.

I do think this is a fun movie, and a bit scary, given how easy it is to imagine this sort of stuff can actually happen.

3 out of 4.

Coyotes was watched as part of Fantastic Fest 2025! It had its showing on Saturday, September 20th as part of the festival, and it was the World Premiere of this film!

Live is swell for people who live in the Hollywood hills! It must be, because you live in the Hollywood Hills. Big houses, big yards, fancy cars, rich people.

Now of course this has some negatives. A man (Justin Long) rarely sees his wife (Kate Bosworth) and daughter (Mila Harris) because he is working all the time. Dreams are being deferred, hours spent climbing the corporate ladder, and for what? A nice house? A dog? Shitty neighbors?

None of that backstory matters too much right, because a big storm hits the area knocking out the power, and they are going to be without it for awhile. On top of that, there are reports of coyote attacks in the area? That is really weird, because coyotes really don’t attack people. Not even if they are hungry and afraid. And yet, these ones do. And when they are stuck in their mansions and hills, with their transportation out failing, surviving a gang of coyotes who seem very pissed off might just be an impossibility.

Also starring Keir O’Donnell, Katherine McNamara, Brittany Allen, Norbert Leo Butz, Norma Nivia, and Kevin Glynn as the exterminator.

Everything I know is allergic to stabbing, so I am sure this work.

There is not much that I can do to describe this movie, its coyotes attacking rich people! Unfortunately, not the CEOs of major tech companies, no, just regular rich people. Well, one of them is kind of suspect, but he is also funny so I forgive him.

The crux of this movie is that these coyotes are out to kill, an animal that any person who knows about coyotes and hears about this plot, will be quick to tell you they don’t do this. And that is okay, it is a fake movie, could have been wolves, foxes, whatever. It is just things that are dog like and wild. Anyways, Coyotes is actually a lot of fun. Justin Long has an inherent goofiness to himself no matter his role, especially in horror films, and in here he has to play a father who definitely cares about his wife and kid, but isn’t a strong hero at the same time.

And you know, then we get comedy. We get some actual scary moments, we get off the wall moments, and we just get some pure comedy. Fun deaths, silly situations, and a little bit of fear. That is what I want in my horror comedies.

This movie doesn’t have underlying commentary, outside of hey, be good to your loved ones. Instead I’d think of it as a what if story. What if coyotes were dicks and attacked people? And what if people are silly?

Have fun, and lock your doors.

3 out of 4.

Désolé, Pardon, Je m’excuse was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2025! It had its showing on Wednesday, July 30th as part of the festival, and it was the World Premiere of this film!

Who doesn’t love a good torture flick? Wait, not torture flick, but actually someone getting tortured. Yeah, apparently in this world people can just release videos of themselves torturing people and people just like, watch it and think its interesting. Go figure.

Ella (Eva Prévost) works in some job and has to do customer support, but when these new torture videos hit the net she is all over it. Who cares about jobs and responsibilities? And for some reason, her boss (Tobie Pelletier) is totally fine with it, because she is hot. Anyways, Ella has dreams of getting into the torture game. It sounds fun! So she begs to take her bosses AirBnB so she can torture someone to death. Again, normal thing to do.

He says she should start smaller, maybe a nice dog, but sure, she can have two days.

Well, long story short, she ends up capturing a guy to torture accidentally. And it doesn’t go well! More and more people get involved, and well, shenanigans!

Also starring Luc-Olivier Boutet, Julianne Boucher-Telmosse, Jo Cormier, and Guy Jodoin.

Getting tortured is best done with someone who can smile.

Well. First thing that takes getting used to is how really into torture the people in the world seem to be. Like, the beginning is so silly, it is almost confusing as a viewer. But once the plot gets established, and Ella gets going, we realize she is just a confused young woman who doesn’t know anything and just wants to help people. Even if she is bad at it.

Honestly, the movie was a blast though. The main character is just so…silly and yet earnest at the same time. She is hard to describe, but she is the main character and we are here to figure out how to get out of her weird scenario that she is totally responsible for. I didn’t expect a second person to get involved, nor did I expect 5 or more.

And yet, the movie goes in a way that makes sense, and ends in a way unexpected. Another fun slight contradiction, but this is the realty and we have to accept it.

3 out of 4.

Buffet Infinity was watched as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2025! It had its showing on Monday, July 28th as part of the festival, and it was the World Premiere of this film!

What if you went to a buffet that had…everything? Every food you can imagine, and every food you cannot imagine. Endless refills, for affordable prices? A fantasy for sure, and, that is still true in this movie. But let us set up the scene.

Somewhere in the US, there is a town, that is set in the 80s or 90s, a little vague on purpose I imagine. And in this town, we watch TV and are channel surfers through the local channels. And we apparently watch a lot of advertisements. Because that is what this movie is. Local ads, and news reports, and occasionally something else a little bit weird.

We will learn about insurance agents, lawyers, pawn shops, and the local restaurants, like a really good sandwich shop, and a new buffet. They want you to come out and visit them. But, somehow, people end up going missing. Large groups of missing adults, and kids. Where are they going? Why is the restaurant getting bigger? Is any store actually manned by real people, or is everything a lie? What is the BUDGET of these local eateries and businesses to make so many commercials?

A mystery and a strange one, for sure…

Missing Person? Probably not important!

Buffet Infinity is what we call one of them there experimental movies. You go in with an open mind, and you are going to get a very different movie experience than you are used to. And it is a movie that surprisingly, would benefit from multiple watches I imagine. To watch as things get more bizarre, to pick up more clues along the way.

As I saw it as a screener, I also had the benefit to watch it in breaks. I might have lost info, but I definitely saved myself a headache at one moment, which I believe was a personal sick issue, but the type of film that it was, constantly shifting its commercials/news/frantic nature, it didn’t help. I love it when movies try something, and this is the type of thing that would take a person a lot of planning to do. I guess local TV ads are relatively easy to make, that is how local businesses can get it done. But to plan on where your ads go, and how they evolve, and to make the thing longer than 30 minutes? That requires a lot of creativity.

This film was less scary, and more bizarre and amusing. It has the vibe completely correct for this type of movie, and likely a budget to match. I can say with all certainty that I am still not fully sure what happened by the end, but the ride was worth it for me.

3 out of 4.

All God’s Children was watched as part of Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival 2025! It has its showing on Saturday, April 26th as part of the festival.

All God’s Children is an interesting phrase with a lot of weight behind it. From a single religion’s point of view, the religion that feels that they are the most correct religion, then they can say sure, everyone is really the children of their one god, the right god! And it becomes extremely dismissive of other religions in that sense, especially when they would disagree with that point.

Some people use the phrase to refer to the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Because hey sure, it is known that they worship the same godlike being, and they can then use the phrase to refer to anyone in these religions, whom just worship differently. Screw the people who are Hindu or any other other plenty of religions in that regard, but at least they have an umbrella.

Now, in the United States, when you hear that phrase, for the most part, it likely is used by a Christian, in regards to Christianity and everyone in the world needing to be Christian. But this documentary wants to examine a bigger scope in that regard. But not as big as I noted.

In this documentary, we are going to have two large religious groups come together, to work out how to coexist peacefully and prop each other up, against outside influences trying to tear them down. No, unfortunately, none of these groups are Muslim. Instead these New York groups are a mostly white based Jewish congregation, and a mostly black based Christian group.

Who gets to be the bigger person? Now, this documentary (probably) wasn’t set up to try a cure racism. But it does come up quite often given the subjects. When it first started, I thought back to that old viral Rhett and Link commercial about a furniture store for people of all races to enjoy. A silly video, but the ideas behind it have nobility. You see, because both Black churches and Jewish groups have been targeted by acts of violence over the last many several years, around the United States. Shootings, bomb threats, weird protests, you name it. [Note, so have Muslim mosques, but again, unfortunately they weren’t included in this. That isn’t a fault of the documentary filmmakers, because they didn’t make this coalition themselves, they are just filming what real groups were attempting].

And that is why these two groups wanted to come together. Not just because of the outside threats against them, but because these same outside threats seem to be wanting them to fight against each other instead. There are certainly elements to Christianity and Judaism that seem incompatible, but what if they can ignore those differences, and focus on the lessons of love and community and help prop each other up?

Would be great if it can happen!

And honestly, the best parts of this documentary show that it can be incredibly hard to get this going. It takes actual effort, but different sides, and consistent effort at that. And even then, nothing is perfect, and there are points where it seems like the whole project is a waste. But again, I reiterate, this is not a perfect process, and this is just a real situation of two large religious organizations trying to do SOMETHING to maybe make the world a better place. And for that, this documentary is a real good examination of real life and worth spreading the message.

3 out of 4.

Fist Bump was watched early while it was being shown at the Slamdance Film Festival.

At some point, fist bumping became all of the rage. It was cooler than hand shakes or waves. It gave a physical bit of touch, and some people did fun extra stuff after the fact, like explosions. It was already big before Big Hero 6 came out, but I do think that movie knocked it up another level.

In this aptly named documentary, we get to meet Marcus Knight, who was born early after just 22 weeks. This lead to a hard start for Marcus, who also was diagnosed with both cerebral palsy, and autism. Now, despite any setbacks from this, Marcus has lived his life to the fullest. In high school, he had friends, went to prom, played sports, and was well liked. The model, happy student. He even received a full scholarship to Saddleback Community College, which was close to his home. Going and getting a college degree was certainly one of his dreams.

And you know what? It started out okay.

But within a week of going to classes, the college let him know of complaints reported about him. About making an unsafe or creepy environment. Some people were uncomfortable with him. The complaint seemed to come about him asking someone for a fist bump.

You see, Marcus loves giving fist bumps, but he is never harasses people about it. He offers them to lots of people, and if they say no, he doesn’t push it. That is annoying of course for this to happen to him, because they then require him to bring an aide with him at the school, which he has not needed.

Unfortunately, later, again he gets a complaint, about harassing, even sexually harassing, a fellow classmate. Because another thing he enjoys doing is taking selfies. And when he took one with another classmate, someone else in the room had a problem with it and submitted a complaint. This lead to bigger issues than before.

Honestly, I prefer their other name, Respect Knuckles.Now see, at the time of the next incident, there were other witnesses, including his aide, who would all say nothing went wrong. But the college took it seriously, and was issuing a real complaint against Marcus, and threatening to kick him out of the school. The woman in the picture originally signed on, due to some convincing to of the complaint, but had dropped it by the time the hearing came up over the incident. And due to no witnesses to testify against Marcus, they decided to drop the complaint.

No, not completely, they dropped it to a Title IX complaint against him on his record, that would stay with him wherever he went, despite no one on record to file a complaint at the point. He got to stay in the school, but it seemed like a school who did not want him.

This documentary is telling his story, and how the school system tried to punish a kid with disabilities, because he didn’t fit in with the standard way other students fit in at the university. And it includes the legal fights after the fact, in the courts, to remove this mark from his record.

Now I will admit, I was a bit worried going into the documentary, because I saw it was about someone defending themself from sexual harassment, and it would be from his point of view only. Very suspicious, especially post Me Too. I was worried about this thing being biased and one sided. Like of course his mom and friends would say he would never do something like this. But thankfully, it also comes with facts, and knowledge, with there being no one to officially even have a complaint about the incident. Unless she was coerced after the fact and threatened to drop it (which, wouldn’t really happen in real life with these people I imagine). That sort of evidence is enough to believe his story, and well, puts the school in a really bad light.

These stories are very important. It is not the first time a college would try to wipe its hands of a student/incident, and act like nothing could be done. And these organizations can be real shit heads. The more people hear about this, the better we can get about stopping these incidents. And the fact that it appears this college was trying to bully a student with disabilities, while also patting itself on the back for inviting him to their campus is really deplorable.

3 out of 4.

Flow was watched early from a screener. It is being released in Seattle on December 6th, 2024.

Who doesn’t love a good animal adventure? This one is about a cat (none of these animals have an actual name in the movie, but, my own kid referred to the cat as Felix, so now you have to know that as well). This cat likes to chill by itself, and eat fish that some dogs have fished up, quite rudely. The area has no humans at all, but there is a house of a woodcarver, who really loved cats. Maybe it was this one? So there are several cat statues around, some quite large.

And…then a flood happens! A large flood, with the water keep growing, and growing, and growing.

Well, the cat doesn’t like water, and is a bad swimmer, but thankfully…a small sailboat appears nearby and saves it! And it has a Capybara in it? What the hell is a capybara doing steering a boat? Will it eat the cat? Better to be in the boat, than in the water. Soon, other animals join the boat, a whole misfit crew situation, as they try to navigate this flooded world, with food scarcity, not much land, and shiny baubles.

There is not enough pro-Capybara media out there. There is not enough anti-Capybara media out there, either. Where is all of the Capybara media??

Flow feels like a cutscene of a PlayStation 2 video game, and a short turned feature length film, all in the best ways. It is Cel-shaded, but also, something else? It reminded me about the short Paper-man, sort of. A highly stylized art style that was unique, and maybe still a little old and retro, while clearly being better than the technology 25 years ago.

What the animation did was allow the film to be looked at with curiosity and pleasure. The other aspect that should be highly touted (And again, reminiscent of an animated short), was that it had no dialogue. These weren’t talking cartoon animals, they are just regular cartoon animals, trying to live their animal lives in a world that seemingly was abandoned by humans. I love me a no dialogue film, if it works for the plot and story, which this one absolutely does. The story we can tell through their interactions. The story of what happened to the humans can only be guessed and theorized, which is itself fun. And the story of how these animals learn to co-exist and try to survive in their new environment is one worth seeing.

I think Flow is an animated film that takes risks, and in a year where there are some big budget releases that realize they can put out lesser products, and still make bags full of money, it is great when these smaller films show that the genre (animated) is one still worthy of your time.

3 out of 4.

Art of a Hit was sent to me early as a screener. You can see an interview I had with two of the stars, here!

What happens to yourself if you get a little bit famous, but can never surpass that level? And you both plateau, and then fade away into obscurity? You were so close to greatness, and yet it is all gone.

That is what happened to our band. They had a few hits in the 90s, things were okay. But then their bass player (Rob Raco), who had all of their personality and star potential (weird for a bass player…), got offered a solo gig and took it to grow his career, and the rest of the band had…nothing!

So now here it is over a decade later, the band is sort of together, but not really. They never quit, but that doesn’t mean they play together as much. They have side projects, they still make music, but they aren’t together. But with their record label, they get an offer to head to France, to work with a mythical record producer (Charlie Saxton), to see if they can get their sound back. To see if they can make a hit song or a hit record with him. And maybe taste that sweet sweet glory.

While this happens, the band leader, Ryan (Ryan Donowho) has to manage all of the personalities, the producer, and the record label (who actually dropped them and isn’t paying for this, whoops!). While finding himself mentally, and literally, haunted at this daunting task in front of him at this spooky castle.

Also starring Allie MacDonald, David Valdes, James Earl, and Tim Jo.

“This is going to ruin the tour.”
“The what?”
“The world tour.” This film is labeled as a horror, but really it is not. First, it is far closest to a drama. There are scenes that suddenly get…gorey? I guess that is the right way to describe it. Accidents, self mutilation, being literally chased. But those scenes are few and far in between, and they are almost all in the band leaders head or dreams (not a spoiler). So if anything, maybe its more of a thriller, because of all of the uncertainty they are dealing with, and how most of it manifests in terms of fears of failures.

Honestly, the real scary stuff is happening at the end, and it is literally indescribable. Indescribable because of a spoiler, and I don’t want to get into that, but the ending is definitely horror in a non traditional sense of the genre.

Instead what I am mostly watching and interested in, is the band dynamics, the secrecy of their former bandmate who left, and how natural the group feels. And hell yeah, the band feels like a real band, with baggage and history. Exactly like one would hope. Only one member was awkward with them, and that was because he is new to them for the plot. I think Donowho carries a lot of weight in his face, with his fears of mediocrity, and it shows.

I believe I have been told all of the people did re-record the music that was made for this film. The band Jets to Brazil wrote the songs for the movie, but the actual actors (who all happen to be musicians), re-recorded it and we get to hear what they actually sound like together, and that is awesome. No weeks of intense strumming camp for these folks.

Either way, Art of a Hit I think would be better if they focused less on these few horror elements, and more on the very real dramatic and scary elements of being faced with fading into nothingness, with people barely remembering your name after you were so close to superstardom. That is a strong story. But I do understand these sorts of movies are harder to get funding for, than cheap horror. You never know when the cheap horror film will skyrocket and become popular, after all. A good story, just with some dumb horror moments.

3 out of 4.

The Ride Ahead was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Saturday, May 11th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film! You can see my interview with the codirectors, here! 

Documentaries that are slices of life feature can go so many ways. They can be dreadfully boring. They can be insightful. They can make you grow as a person. What happens with them really is more so up to the viewer. The documentary is saying here I am, this is me, take it or leave it. And then the viewer has to take it, or leave it.

Sometimes the slice of life has a greater message like. Hey. Be good to people. Or. Hey. Treat me like a person. Quite reasonable asks.

The Ride Ahead is about Samuel, who at the time of the documentary is 21, and adult, and he doesn’t feel like an adult. People treat him like a child, like someone who needs delicate gloves to handle. Sure, he is confined to a chair. He has cerebral palsy. He has epilepsy. A swallowing disorder. Talking is hard and he needs caretakers to function. But that is his life, and he is just trying to live his best life possible. Just because he has caretakers that are both paid by the state, and his parents, doesn’t mean he is less deserving of having a life, or deserves to be treated like a kid.

People suck, let an adult be an adult. That was my main take away from the documentary.

Reviewing a film about someone interviewing people? Okay, I guess there is a little bit more. One of the main reasons this documentary exists is that Sam, being patronized his entire life, feels like he isn’t sure what it means to really be an adult, especially as someone with his condition. He doesn’t feel like one, not just because of how he is treated. Adults are meant to have relationships, to find love, to have sex, to gain jobs, to live alone, and more.

And so Sam seeks out others who have been in his position before, who seem to have figured things out, and just straight up get their advice. He interviews a ton of people, including Maysoon Zayid, Ali Stroker, Keith Jones, and Judith Heumann, who did pass away last year. Sam doesn’t beat around the edge, he asks hard questions and gets some hard answers. And some awkward questions!

I love how realistic this thing keeps things. Sure there are some celebrities and famous people here, and it is probably hard to book them for documentaries, no matter the project. But they felt welcoming, and helpful to the task.

As a documentary, like I noted at the start, this is a slice of life thing. If you don’t want to see about his life, you won’t like the movie. If you know people like Sam, it might not do anything for you. But for a lot of people, it is a great look at people in our country, whom have difficulties with basic things that there shouldn’t need to be difficulties with. The chair does a lot of work, but it doesn’t help if there is no drivable land around the town or sidewalks. A general search for equity is how many people should want our world to grow and be shaped. And this documentary does a good job of making some great points.

3 out of 4.

We Can Be Heroes was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Tuesday, May 14th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film!

See, I could go straight into making a reference to the David Bowie song. That is what the movie is referencing, right? Right? But we also had a film just a few years ago come out with the same title. You know, the strange sequel to The Adventures of Lavagirl and Shark Boy? A bout a bunch of kids of heroes, having to save the day because all of their parent heroes get trapped.

And that is sort of what this documentary is about too! But presumably these kids in questions are just the offspring of regular normal people. Maybe nerds! Maybe not. (Probably nerds). And these kids, these outcasts, if you will (I wouldn’t that is mean), meet up at a camp in the state of New York over the summer, where they get to create characters that they would rather be, with their own rich backstory, costumes and moves. And work together to tell an overall giant story, where they are able to live action role play together. That is right. LARPing. This is a documentary about a LARPing camp for kids.

There are quite a few kids in this documentary that get to have a small focus on them, but really our focus is on three kids in particular. We have Cloud, who loves to sword fight and is excited for her first time to go to this camp, even though she is on the younger end of the age range. She wants to fight, make a name for herself, try out the dark side, and make sure she leaves her impact on the camp.

We have Dexter, who is every stereotype notable for a kid who might go to this camp, including a slower droll and neurodivergence, but who has a strong fantasy mindset. He also is afraid of getting ticks on him, and is hoping on his return to camp his crush from the previous year returns, so he might even get to exchange numbers with her.

And finally we have Abby who is on her final year at camp. She is about to age out, and go to college, and is excited about doing something special. Another thing that has happened to her recently is she was diagnosed with a disease (I forgot which one), and she has a feeding tube that she has to carry around with her and a backpack, almost all the time. And she has the fear of real actual death, and almost couldn’t go to camp, but they found a way to make it work.

These three, along with many others who are going to discover they have bigger talents than they once knew, with oration, creativity, and finding harmony with other kids.

The kid with the horns is really holding this whole thing together.

I want to go to a LARPing camp. I imagine anyone reading this wants to go to a LARPing camp. That sounds great. Is there an adult one, or do I just need to help organize LARPing events in my community. I hate organizing…

Anyways, this documentary is of course a documentary, but they also go out of their way to tell the fictional story that is created by these kids. The camera changes aspect ratio, gets very crisp, when all of the kids are in character running around. And you get to live their experience with them. It makes what they are doing seem very badass. Probably significantly more badass than it was in reality. And it was a cool nifty feature they added to the story, to make it a more fun experience.

For our three kids, I was immediately annoyed with Cloud (although my kids liked her), and did feel justified in that way based on events of the documentary, although all of them would be defended. That is *fine*. Dexter was especially nerdy and awkward, and I am glad that the documentary didn’t show his crush at all or try to shame her in anyway for not being swept off her feet over his awkwardness.

The real stars of the documentary was of course, Abby, and also secondly another girl(I think it was Miranda, who wanted to just be a princess for once). What can we say. Uplifting people with strong personalities make documentaries good. In fact, what I think this documentary really needed the most was just a stronger focus on MORE of the people at the camp. For a few people, we returned to them a few times throughout to see where they grew and what happened for them, but it was just snippets. We could have easily fit 4-6 stars in this documentary, and lessened the main three a tad bit, to give us a bigger range of kids.

Overall, hooray for LARP camps, and a documentary that decided to showcase them in a totally on point and creative way.

3 out of 4.