Interview: Michael Walker, Writer and Director of Paint w/ Josh Caras, Olivia Luccardi, Amy Hargreaves

Michael Walker, writer and director of the dark comedy / drama Paint discusses the film, how he turned a TV pilot into a movie, and where he found this great cast. We also discuss the art scene, creating a gallery for the film, and where he found the great art featured in the movie! So give it a watch and make sure to check out Paint, available digitally and on demand! Starring: Josh Caras, Olivia Luccardi, Paul Cooper Written and Directed By: Michael Walker Synopsis: Three friends from art school struggle to start their careers in the bizarre NYC art world, while trying to get by in life and figure themselves out. Dan (Caras) is trying to find deeper and darker places to inspire his work, Kelsey (Luccardi) is trying to be true to herself while hoping to pay rent, and Quinn (Cooper) is above it all. But they all want to succeed and make it in this crazy scene, but they all go about it in very different ways. 

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32 Weeks Review: A Charming Drama, With A Twist

Release date: November 24, 2020
Running time: 82 minutes
Starring:  Nicole Souza, Scott Bender, Ayanna S. Flemings, Patricia Galvez
Written and Directed By: Brian Cavallaro

After a car accident leaves a young woman with amnesia, she is torn between the new man in her life that she can't remember and her ex who she can't forget.

32 Weeks feels like a charming indie romance drama, and in many ways it is.  It has a cute cast and has an interesting story about one girl trying to rebuild her life after a car accident.  The film introduces the main characters early, and then begins to piece things together for her.  The main star is Nicole Souza, who plays Cole.  She has the unenviable position of carrying the film when she often doesn't know who the people she is interacting with are.  She has a nice, guarded demeaner during this whole ordeal because she rightly doesn't remember who some of these people she is interacting with.  And Scott Bender is also really good as Simon, her boyfriend.  He has to convince her that they were happy when she doesn't remember anything about their relationship.  And he balances that line very well, with a slightly awkward charm that is fun to see.  And all of this is accompanied by some very good music to help tell the story.  

And speaking of the story, the it is told out of order, which lets you experience the past and present at various times.  It does a good job of slowly revealing bits about Cole's past while not revealing too much.  It is frustrating at first but I appreciated what it was doing to keep the audience invested. But what this film really has going for it is that it starts off as a cute indie film, but part way through the story starts to take a turn.  It isn't fully revealed until the very end, but it does change many aspects of the film.  It threw me off at first but I did appreciate this extra depth and the message it was trying to send.  But unfortunately, for me the twist finally revealed itself and resolved itself a little too quickly.  Granted it had a decent amount of foreshadowing, but the final reveal does come fast.  I also didn't love how it resolved itself.  But that being said, the build up to everything and the extra depth do make 32 Weeks something more interesting than it initially portrays itself as. 

32 Weeks starts off as a cute relationship indie film with charming performances by the leads, but reveals it has more depth and mystery as you learn more about Cole and her past.  

Rent it.

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32 Weeks is available digitally and on demand. 

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What to Watch This Weekend: Tenet, Lupin III, Boxing, 1994, Louis van Beethoven, Greenland, Hunter Hunter, Paint, KFC

For A Mindbending Blockbuster Film - Tenet (Redbox and Digital)

Christopher Nolan's time bending tale is finally available on Redbox and digital.  If you didn't want to head to the theaters this summer, now is great time to check out one of the few movies that came out in theaters this summer!

For The Anime Fan - Lupin III: The First (Digital

Lupin III: The First has beautiful animation, an upbeat soundtrack, and an exciting heist adventure that takes the gentleman thief all over the world.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Documentary About Rolling With The Punches - Suffer For Good (Digital)

Suffer For Good highlights the importance of hard work and determination, and shows that in life you are never too old to pursue your dreams.  For more information, check out our review!

For A Little Bit of Political History - 1994 (Topic)

1994 highlights an explosive and dramatic year in Italian politics, with interesting characters, an engaging story, and an impressive commitment to the time period.  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Musical History - Louis van Beethoven (Virtual Cinema and Digital)

Louis van Beethoven composes a wonderful portrayal of the Beethoven's life with its great cast, excellent use of music, and humanizing story of the larger than life figure.  For more information, check out our review!

For a Summer Blockbuster in Winter - Greenland (Digital)

Greenland is the summer blockbuster you need for the wintertime, with exciting special effects, a great cast, wonderful sound, and some interesting moral choices.    For more information, check out our review!

For a Raw and Realistic Survival Horror - Hunter Hunter (Digital)

Hunter Hunter's interesting, low tech lifestyle, commitment to realism, brutal scenes, and palatable tension will trap your interest right from the start!    For more information, check out our review!

For An Artistic Drama - Paint (Digital)

Paint's interesting characters, multiple story threads, and unapologetic look at the image-conscious art world paints a wonderful picture of dark humor and deep drama!  For more information, check out our review!

For Some Deep Fried Advertising Ridiculousness - A Recipe for Seduction (Lifetime)

A Recipe for Seduction's spicy scenes, bite-sized duration, and piping hot cast led by a salt and pepper Mario Lopez make it one campy movie you'll want to dig into.  For more information, check out our review!

Lupin III: The First Review: A Beautifully Animated Exciting Heist

Release date: December 16, 2020 (Digital)
Running time: 93 minutes
Japanese Cast: Kan'ichi Kurita, Suzu Hirose, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Miyuki Sawashiro
English Cast: Tony Oliver, Doug Erholtz, Michelle Ruff, Richard Epcar, Lex Lang, Laurie C. Hymes, J. David Brimmer, and Paul Guyet 
Director: Takashi Yamazaki

The iconic "gentleman thief" Lupin III returns in an action-packed, continent-spanning adventure, as Lupin III and his colorful underworld companions race to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Bresson Diary, before it falls into the hands of a dark cabal that will stop at nothing to resurrect the Third Reich. The gang undertakes trap-filled tombs, aerial escapades and daring prison escapes with the trademark wit and visual finesse that have made LUPIN THE 3RD one of the most storied animation franchises in the world, in a thrilling new caper that is sure to delight fans old and new.

Lupin III has a really striking animation style.  It is a 3D rendered anime that keeps some aspects of anime but also evolves the genre into a new dimension.  It doesn't look hand drawn, rather it looks like something out of a video game.  But thankfully, this change to a different style doesn't affect the overall fluidity of the animation.  Characters move rapidly and easily so you wouldn't even notice that it is CG versus some more traditional hand drawn.  And the more CG style does give the film some extra oomph, with some really beautiful lighting and effects during the movie.  Explosions are epic and exciting, the film can go into slow motion at times, and everything just feels exciting and crisp.  And the animation style is really interesting, as it evokes anime tropes but looks somewhere in between Japanese style animation and Western animation.  Characters look like anime characters, but with less pronounced eyes.  And the film has exaggerated expressions and some silly parts, another hallmark of Japanese anime.  But the setting and effects are realistic looking, feeling more on the Western front.

The movie also has a terrific soundtrack to accompany the beautiful animation.  It has an upbeat jazz-style soundtrack that evokes the general setting and high energy heist of the film.  And speaking of heists, it wouldn't be a Lupin movie without one.  The story follows a particularly difficult heist that goes in many phases.  But Lupin is not alone and several characters from his past movies reunite in this film, along with a couple new additions.  The characters are wonderfully voiced with series stalwarts returning to reprise their roles.  And the new additions are a lot of fun as well.  The film is overall light hearted and silly, with a few serious portions thrown in for drama.  The story of the film follows the heist with plenty of ups and downs.  Plans change and Lupin outsmarts some but is outsmarted by others.  Overall the story is very enjoyable until about the final act, when it goes off the rails  But the adventure is so much fun up until that point you will forgive the film for going a little crazy for the final sequence.  Up until that point you have an elaborate adventure that evokes aspects of Indiana Jones.  And even when the film goes extreme, it at least provides you with an epic sequence that is exciting to watch.

Lupin III: The First has beautiful animation, an upbeat soundtrack, and an exciting heist adventure that takes the gentleman thief all over the world.

Watch it.

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Lupin III: The First is out digitally on December 16, 2020, with a physical release early in 2021.

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A Creepshow Holiday Special Review: A Rare Combination of Horror, Holidays, and Humor

Release date: December 18, 2020
Running time: 45 minutes
Starring: Anna Camp and Adam Pally

A SHUDDER ORIGINAL.  In the holiday themed, hour-long episode, “Shapeshifters Anonymous,” written and directed by Creepshow showrunner Greg Nicotero (based on a short story by J.A. Konrath), fearing he is a murderer, an anxious man searches for answers for his "unique condition" from an unusual support group.

Creepshow Holiday Special definitely evokes an old style, penny tale horror movie feel.  It has a wonderful comic style at the start that sets the stage perfectly and lets you know what type of a film this will be.  This comic style comes back multiple times throughout the episode and is a nice anchor to keep coming back to.  Sure it's probably for budget too as it allows some of the stranger scenes to be drawn rather than fully depicted, but it still sets the perfect tone and looks very nice.  The film is set in the "Shapeshifters Anonymous" support group, and most of the interactions are with this group.  And thankfully the group is a lot of fun.  The holiday special is led by the big draws of Anna Camp and Adam Pally.  Both play shapeshifters and both are very funny.  Camp is surprisingly good as the de facto head of the group and Pally is entertaining as always.  They are joined by a few other shapeshifters and shapeshifter adjacent individuals who add some nice variety to the cast.  And the animals that they shift into are quirky and add a lot of humor especially later on.

The show is definitely meant to evoke low budget horror specials and it succeeds there.  Effects are good looking but definitely have a cheap flavor to them.  It perfectly captures some early horror and will make you smile when you see it.  However, the story of the film is pretty self contained and goes out of its way to draw a holiday connection for this show.  There is a connection to Christmas, but it is so out there as to be ridiculous.  It is still silly and leads to some climactic holiday scenes towards the end and an epic final showdown, but I wish there was more of a holiday connection throughout.  I think that all of this was intentional as the film definitely tries to evoke some B horror throughout, but the story did feel like a stretch.  And I also wish that the story left this room outside of the animated sequences, but again I think that was intentional.  That being said, this is still a fun holiday horror story.    

A Creepshow Holiday Special has the rare combination of horror, holidays, and humor that will get your Christmas cheer flowing like the blood in the epic final showdown.

Rent it.

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A Creepshow Holiday Special is available to stream on Shudder starting December 18, 2020. 

Interview: Jody Thompson (Director, Writer, Star) of Still Today w/ Teri Wyble, Hunter Burke, Mark Ashworth

Jody Thompson, writer, director, and star of the funny relationship comedy drama Still Today discusses the film, how he was able to shoot so much for one wild night, and his overall acting style. He also discusses some of the lucky occurences that happened to help get this charming indie film made! So give it a watch and make sure to check out Still Today, available digitally and on demand! Starring: Jody Thompson, Teri Wyble, Hunter Burke, Carlos Aviles Director: Tommy Walton Writer: Jody Thompson Synopsis: After being left at the altar, Pete's groomsmen give him a wedding gift he'll never forget. An escort. Maybe it's the Lunar Eclipse, maybe it's fate, but after a magical night in the city maybe this girl is what Pete needed all along.

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News: Croods New Age Watch Party To Celebrate PVOD Release

Universal Pictures is conducting a Twitter Watch Party for THE CROODS: A NEW AGE with Filmmakers, Cast, AND Special Guests this Friday, December 18th at 7pm ET to celebrate the PVOD release!  Get The Croods: A New Age on PVOD and watch along to find out more about this fun movie.  Review here.

About The Croods: A New Age

The Croods have survived their fair share of dangers and disasters, from fanged prehistoric beasts to surviving the end of the world, but now they will face their biggest challenge of all: another family

The Croods: A New Age features the voice talent of returning stars Nicolas Cage as Grug Crood, Catherine Keener as Ugga Crood, Emma Stone as their daughter, Eep; Ryan Reynolds as Eep’s boyfriend, Guy; Clark Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine) as Thunk and Cloris Leachman as Gran. They’re joined by new stars Peter Dinklage (HBO’s Game of Thrones) as Phil Betterman, Leslie Mann (Blockers) as Hope Betterman, and Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: Episode VIII-The Last Jedi) as their daughter, Dawn. 

 

Genre: Animated Comedy

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran

Directed by: Joel Crawford

Produced by: Mark Swift