Category: Festivals

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) My first Midnighter of the festival comes from Snowfort Pictures and writer/director Trent Haaga, the brilliant and wicked writer behind 2013’s Cheap Thrills.  With those wonderfully creative insane folks behind this film, there was no way I could miss it.  68 Kill offers a dark, twisted… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: 68 KILL

By Mark Saldana  Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) One of my first films of this year’s festival was a rather amusing comedy that reminds me of “slacker” comedies from the 90s (Clerks, Reality Bites, Kicking and Screaming).  As a man who went through his late teens and twenties during that era, I rather enjoyed… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: A BAD IDEA GONE WRONG

By Liz Lopez Source: Strand Releasing “The Transfiguration” is written and directed by Michael O’Shea and stars Eric Ruffin and Chloe Levine. It was an Official Selection at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and in March at the SXSW Film Festival 2017 in Austin. Writer/director Michael O’Shea’s debut feature, “The Transfiguration,” follows troubled teen Milo (Ruffin)… Continue reading SXSW 2017 News: THE TRANSFIGURATION Has A Theatrical Release

By Liz Lopez Rating: A During the SXSW Film Festival last month, I viewed the documentary, “As I Walk Through the Valley” from the directors, Ronnie Garza and Charlie Vela. The film had the World Premiere in the 24 Beats Per Second category and I throughly loved the film. It is one of the memorable… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: AS I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY

By Jan Hamilton Small Crimes, not to be confused with Small Town Crime, which also played at this year’s SXSW, is an enjoyable film with some great performances. We follow Joe Denton (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) a crooked cop just out of jail who viciously attacked and disfigured a district attorney while he (Joe) was in a drug soaked… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: SMALL CRIMES

By Jan Hamilton Beck (Renée Felice Smith, from the CBS show NCIS: Los Angeles) directed, wrote and stars in this frothy flick.  She and Liam (Matt Bush) meet and decide to take a trip to the desert.  They are going as friends and assure each other they don’t want a relationship. The two charming leads… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: THE RELATIONTRIP

By Jan Hamiton This film is a blood soaked thriller with a lot of comic moments.  Cast against type, Chip (Mathew Gray Gubler, the young egg-head doctor on TV’s Criminal Minds) is a slightly naïve young man who empties septic tanks during the day, and tries to keep up with his super-hot girlfriend Liza (Annalynne… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: 68 KILL

By Jan Hamilton This film and Small Crimes, also shown at this year’s festival, are both about disgraced former cops, but that’s where the similarity ends.  Our lead, Mike Kendall (John Hawkes) is a black-out drunk, nevertheless, he still tries to re-build his life, alternating visits to AA with nights at the bars with his buddy (Anthony… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: SMALL TOWN CRIME