REVIEW: Une Libération [2015]

“The Americans are coming” ***Possible Spoilers*** The sheer number of different stories that have been told out of the atrocities committed during World War II never ceases to amaze me. It shouldn’t—such a large-scale assault on humanity is nothing if not complex. When you think about breadth of the countries, cultures, and languages involved, the tally of uniquely personal tales brought home in its aftermath is infinite. While Hollywood focuses its attention on epics of artillery or repurposed accounts told through the eyes of comic book superheroes, though, such a…

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REVIEW: Lucid [2015]

“In my dreams you’re trying to kill me” As a proof of concept for what is currently in development as an episodic series, Kevin K. Shah‘s short film Lucid provides a psychological wallop of quick cuts and disorientation. It’s ending reveals itself as a beginning for something larger—an unexplained answer to the questions we’ve been asking from the start. What is going on inside Karen’s (Marion Kerr) mind? Where is the rage coming from that she projects onto her husband Sam (Ross Marquand) when his real life self is anything…

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REVIEW: Down and Dangerous [2014]

“Who says I’m not having fun?” If you’re familiar with writer/director Zak Forsman’s work you’ll know that it was only a matter of time before he branched out from subtle character pieces to the action genre. Whether the stoic performances, attractive compositions, or pulsing beats by composer Deklun, Forsman and his team at The Sabi Company have found the talent necessary to make Hollywood-caliber productions on a shoestring budget. And while the diptych of his Heart of Now and producer Kevin K. Shah’s White Knuckles aligns more with that independent…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: A Lonely Place for Dying [2012]

“Which do you fear more—to be exposed or to be killed?” It begins with a KGB turncoat radioing for assistance from his CIA handler, desperate to make his way to America so he can leave behind the Socialist nation now on his tail. Justin Eugene Evans’s A Lonely Place for Dying, hitting the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival on its two year plus tour, puts all its cards on the table early as Agent Greenglass (Michael Wincott) tells Nikolai (Ross Marquand) no just before the Russian picks up another receiver with…

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