REVIEW: American Pie 2 [2001]

“That’s a lot of flutes” Right when you thought Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) learned his lesson about manipulating the lives of his friends to compensate for his own insecurities, he does it again. Scared to go to college before becoming a man, American Pie followed his misguided pact to ensure his best friends would lose their virginity before graduation. One year later, American Pie 2 brings the whole gang back for a summer break meant to show their success in taking ‘the next step’ having since gotten sex out of…

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REVIEW: American Pie [1999]

“Suck me, beautiful” I’ll admit now that my love for American Pie is rooted heavily in nostalgia. Having first seen it in theatres as I was entering my own senior year of high school, the comradery of its band of brothers cautiously walking together towards graduation and manhood doesn’t quite resonate as much today at age thirty. My seventeen-year old self remembers the performances being a bit more honed and the scripting a tad crisper, but the one thing that didn’t change with an older and maybe wiser perspective is…

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Posterized Propaganda April 2012: Where Art and Commerce Meet

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column focuses on the film industry’s willingness to capitalize on this truth, releasing one-sheets to serve as not representations of what audiences are to expect, but as propaganda to fill seats. Oftentimes they fail miserably. There’s a good mix of work coming out in April and the posters do well to mirror such. I’m not quite sure how Chris Sparling could have his script for…

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REVIEW: Wrath of the Titans [2012]

“I will never leave my son” There’s nothing like a little patricide to bring two estranged brothers like Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes together again. It’s what teamed them up to imprison their father Cronus long ago in the underworld prison Tartarus and it’s what will ultimately make them choose sides again while humanity looks on helplessly for a victor. And while Perseus (Sam Worthington) wouldn’t have minded killing his own God of a father in Clash of the Titans, it is his half-brother Ares (Édgar Ramírez) who…

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BNFF12 REVIEW: Living River: The Ganges [2012]

“She is worshiped by Demons and Gods alike” Having just been to India last summer, the pollution of the Ganges in Vinit Parmar‘s documentary Living River: The Ganges is something I witnessed first-hand. Taking a gondola ride down the ghat-filled bank of Varanasi’s portion of the holy river, I saw hundreds of men, women, and children bathing, drinking, and performing rituals to the Goddess Ganga. Having heard the facts about the water before visiting, I tried my hardest to cover every square inch of flesh from even a splash courtesy…

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BNFF12 REVIEW: Caught [2011]

“I don’t cheat” Using baseball as the metaphor to an underdog life of disrespect, the short film Caught utilizes a recreation league’s championship game as the release of starting catcher Hannah’s (Lori Martini) naïve reliance on her family for a love they’ll never share. Trash-talking her brother Robbie (Daniel Braver)—stuck in a leg brace and batting for the opposing team—we see the strained bond of the present mixed with flashbacks full of disappointing letdowns from the past. Words spoken and characters’ actions witnessed at the game are explained by these…

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BNFF12 REVIEW: Fractured Minds [2011]

“Sometimes I want to smash your face into a window” The horror genre has been used to speak on political matters, mask psychological traumas, signify an internal struggle through manifested pain, and to just plain scare audiences with a healthy portion of blood and guts. Frank Battiston‘s Fractured Minds wants to feed into the more than meets the eye mentality, but I’m not sure if the multi-narrative finds the sure-footing to do more than portray the usual backwoods cretins and a quartet of city folk unknowingly walking into their lair.…

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REVIEW: Clash of the Titans [2010]

“They declared war. War on the Gods.” Going from Luc Besson‘s go-to director to becoming a Hollywood action regular, you can’t blame Louis Leterrier for wanting to tackle the big budget remake of Clash of the Titans. With a predecessor remembered more for its Ray Harryhausen creatures than any lasting artistic quality—I still can’t believe its shoddy effects came after Empire Strikes Back—its subject matter actually seemed ripe for a revisioning. So many genre ‘classics’ have garnered a want for new boatloads of cash, why not a film badly in…

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BNFF12 REVIEW: Beware Pickpocket [2010]

“How did you get it?” We all strive to be pure, to be worthy of those we love. Oftentimes, however, such illusions of grandeur are nothing more than a façade to hide who we really are. Even in dream the titular petty thief (David Amito) of Beware Pickpocket sees himself as the bloodied punching bag of the victims he isn’t quite good enough to escape. You can dress a criminal to look upstanding, but he can change himself. So, despite putting on the clothes and practicing the smile of success…

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REVIEW: The Hunger Games [2012]

“Thank you for your consideration” Underdogs thrive on the ability to retain hope in a world forever shoving them into a corner without the reality of upward mobility or a true chance at overall social change. When they start to believe their numbers can actually overcome that adversity, however, the ruling class must take notice and ready for a fight they may not win. Rebellion will forever be a threat whether one has been squashed in the past or not since you can only kick the underprivileged masses down so…

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BNFF12 REVIEW: Kaziah the Goat Woman [2010]

“Maybe because I picked up the brush I can leave a little love behind” Up in Manti, Utah lives a woman for which the word eccentric doesn’t quite do justice. Emotional, spiritual, joyful, and without regret, Kaziah Hancock has overcome a hard life to become an American treasure cherished by those unfortunate families dealt the devastating blow of losing a member during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A goat herder by day to sustain herself monetarily, it’s her work with Project Compassion and the vow to never stop painting…

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