By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) 2014 has been quite the year for biting satires (Birdman) and films portraying sociopathic behavior (Gone Girl). Dan Gilroy’s Nighcrawler does an exceptional job of combining these two elements in an intense and disturbing crime drama setting. This closing night feature of this year’s Fantastic Fest… Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2014 Review: NIGHTCRAWLER
Category: Reviews
AFF 2014 Review: DAWN PATROL
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Directed by Dan Petrie, Jr. (Toy Soldiers) and written by Rachel Long and Brian Pittman is an Austin Film Festival success story. Long and Pittman caught the attention of Dan Petrie, Jr. at the Driskill Hotel bar with their screenplay about a surfer-turned-Marine coping with the… Continue reading AFF 2014 Review: DAWN PATROL
AFF 2014 Interview: DAWN PATROL
By Mark Saldana At the 2008 Austin Film Festival and Conference, Rachel Long and Brian Pittman caught the attention of director Dan Petrie, Jr.(Toy Soldiers) with a screenplay for a film titled Stranded. It is now six years later and Stranded is now titled Dawn Patrol and is a marquee screening at this year’s Austin… Continue reading AFF 2014 Interview: DAWN PATROL
AFF 2014 Review: THE HUMBLING
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Based on the novel by Philip Roth, Barry Levinson directs this often hilarious adapted screenplay by Hollywood legend Buck Henry. The film served as the opening night film of the 2014 Austin Film Festival and kick off the event with an entertaining and poignant movie that… Continue reading AFF 2014 Review: THE HUMBLING
AFF 2014 Interview: THE SUICIDE THEORY
By Mark Saldana It gave me great pleasure to speak with Dru Brown, director of The Suicide Theory, a film which will most definitely be one of my top favorite films of this year’s Austin Film Festival. The Australian native spoke with me briefly about his sophomore feature and how he discovered the incredible and… Continue reading AFF 2014 Interview: THE SUICIDE THEORY
AFF 2014 Review: THE SUICIDE THEORY
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) I kicked off my 2014 Austin Film Festival not with a screening, but with an online screener link. Occasionally, I have the opportunity to review festival films outside of the actual festival and I chose to watch this screener a few days prior to the festival… Continue reading AFF 2014 Review: THE SUICIDE THEORY
Review: 23 BLAST
By Liz Lopez Rating: B- Many times when film fans read about a new movie with an inspirational, family friendly story, there is a tendency to turn and select other options at the theater. I was a tad skeptical about how the true story of a young athlete would unfold, and if it would hold… Continue reading Review: 23 BLAST
Review: BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) Like one of Tony Stark’s Jericho missiles, the new film by writer/director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu (Babel, Amores Perros) launches a razor-sharp satire that splits up and decimates all of its intended targets. That is not to say that there is no love involved in this film. Iñárritu dishes… Continue reading Review: BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
Review: OUIJA
By Mark Saldana Rating: 1.5 (Out of 4 Stars) For adults, watching Ouija the movie is as much a waste of time as is playing with the “mystifying oracle”. I can honestly see (and actually did see at the screening) young teens eating this up, cringing in fright, and screaming at the mostly lame jump… Continue reading Review: OUIJA
Review: BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
By Renee’ Collins Rating: 4 (Out of 5 Reels) A washed-up actor named Riggan (Michael Keaton), who once played an iconic superhero, must overcome his ego and family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory (IMDB). To say this movie is different is an understatement. At its… Continue reading Review: BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)