Category: Festivals

By Jan Hamilton As the film begins, Sadie (Olivia Wilde) furiously punches a heavy bag.  Focus and determination are evident.  It’s almost as if the punching bag is a person she’d like to obliterate.   The film zips through scenes from her life: from the first time she arrived at a battered women’s group, her slow… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: A VIGILANTE

By Jan Hamilton Summer (Zoe Renee) is not a typical African-American high school senior from Southern California.  Her mother Jade (Simone Missick) is a TV weather forecaster and local celebrity.  Summer wants to dance and has applied to an art school for college.  She also is trying to define herself–exploring her sexuality, establishing beliefs, and… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: JINN

By Jan Hamilton Sean (Theodore Pellerin), a tall, thin teen, is doing his best to take care of his skateboarding brother and his almost comatose grandmother.  One rare night, he sees Alex (Stefanie Scott), a girl from his childhood at an outdoor party.  Though they haven’t spoken in years, they briefly argue and she goes… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: FIRST LIGHT

By Jan Hamilton Damsel, written and directed by the Zellner Brothers, the filmmaking duo known for the wonderful film Kimiko the Treasure Hunter, is a western comedy, though not quite in the vein of Blazing Saddles.  Robert Pattinson (of the Twilight series) is Samuel, an earnest young man who enlists the aid of a preacher… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: DAMSEL

By Jan Hamilton This is a sci-fi thriller with a dad named Damon (Jay Duplass) and Cee (Sophie Thatcher), his young teen daughter, working on a distant planet, looking for a strange sort of gem.  It seems to be found in a living plant/animal and must be carefully harvested or else it gets ruined by… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: PROSPECT

By Jan Hamilton Four college kids, from upper middle class families in Lexington, Kentucky, decide to steal some of the world’s most valuable books from Transylvania University.  The books include an Audubon’s first edition of Birds of America, Darwin’s On The Origin of Species, and the Bible.  Warren (Evan Peters), the defacto leader of the… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: AMERICAN ANIMALS

By Jan Hamilton Kate (Taylor Schilling) is a seemingly successful VP of finance at a large firm.  However, no one seems to like her and she doesn’t understand why.   She is unable to see how truly awfully she treats her underlings at work.  She never fails to insult people in completely thoughtless ways, as… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: FAMILY

By Jan Hamilton It’s difficult to have patience with a loved one who keeps going back to hard drugs, but that is the position in which Kate (Abbi Jacobson) is.  Although he has a two year-old daughter, her brother Seth (Dave Franco)  can’t stay off of heroin for long.  Separated from his wife, Seth often… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: 6 BALLOONS

By Jan Hamilton A nice looking teen (Garrett Wareing) awakens to find that he has apparently killed his girlfriend in an alcohol or drug-induced haze.  His rich beautiful mother (Abbie Cornish) takes him to the same rehab clinic where she was sent as a youth.  It does not seem to be a typical clinic, as… Continue reading SXSW 2018 Review: PERFECT