the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.
Reviews
Sundance Review || "99 Homes"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 29 January 2015 01:03
- Written by Matt Oakes
Success and honesty have become diametrically opposed forces in 99 Homes, a one-percenter housing thriller that pits a wolf of real estate in the form of an e-cigarette munching Michael Shannon against a hardworking everyman day laborer (Andrew Garfield). Money though is a powerful drug. Opulence, an even purer form of intoxicant. And as Dennis Nash's (Garfield) desperate catches the sweet whiff of greenback wafting from the depths of Rick Carver's (Shannon) pockets, he becomes willing to trade in his common man status for the spade suit of an iniquitous property mogul.
Sundance Review || "Advantageous"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 29 January 2015 01:02
- Written by Matt Oakes
Metaphysical bodysnatching from the POV of the snatcher, Advantageous is a soft sci-fi-drama centered around a cool idea but repeatedly undone by shoddy execution, unconvincing performances and dreadful FX. Commendable though Jennifer Phang's mother-daughter relationship study might be in the context of Sundance's overabundance of father-son sagas, Phang is able to capitalize on the maternal bonds between ejector and ejected but has no idea which direction to take it in after it's been established. Instead, it's bagged up, zip-tied and casually thrown into an ebb of "does it really matter?"
Sundance Review || "Slow West"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 29 January 2015 01:00
- Written by Matt Oakes
Michael Fassbender is a welcome addition to any film marque - independent or otherwise. From the jaguar-like way he carries himself to the silky, chop salad baritone of his voice, his dangerous presence is inimitable and essential (even through a paper-machie helmet.) Like the great Western heroes of lore, he saunters on spurs, a meaty cigar never far from his tobacco-stained mouth. He's a gunslinger even when he's not armed. In Slow West though, he is. He's very armed, and deadly cool.
Sundance Review || "Digging for Fire"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Thursday, 29 January 2015 01:00
- Written by Matt Oakes
Displaying the kind of laid back candor that sums up the mumblecore founding member, Joe Swanberg revealed that once you have kids, "life is a clusterfuck." And so is Digging For Fire. Kinda. A lesser effort in the aftermath of two eruptively sweet victories (Drinking Buddies and Happy Christmas), Digging for Fire takes on the humps and bumps of marriage and the battle of young parenthood with an enviable cast for any director.
