It Lives in the Attic? “It Lives in the Back of the Amazon Watchlist,” more like. Here is the latest from questionable auteur Steve Hudgins, the founder of Big Biting Pig Productions, a company specializing in ultra-low budget films made by him and his partner in crime, P.J. Woodside. The plot of It Lives in…
One night, on a quiet neighborhood street, a black man walks along, minding his business, trying to remember directions he was given. He mumbles to himself about street names and how “confusing and scary-ass” the suburbs are (true story). A white Porsche creeps up behind him, eventually pulling ahead of him to idle near the…
In Havenhurst, a recovering alcoholic takes up residence in a Gothic apartment building in an effort to locate her missing friend, herself an addict, and finds a rabbit hole worthy of Lewis Carroll himself. The movie is truly effective at bringing the scares, with an atmosphere of unease and a typically amazing performance by Fionnula…
Frank & Lola is a pleasant surprise at the end of the year as Oscar season looms ominously in the distance. If adverse to the dreck that usually goes up for the awards, Matthew Ross’s debut is an enjoyable and dark alternative.
From its opening shot of a house both sleek and warm to its transcendent finale, Arrival arrests attention with a grasp that is firm yet ephemeral. It is a sublime and profound experience, touching its audience on an emotional, intellectual and spiritual level, a film that declares both its originality and its ancestry. And what…
A confusing, convoluted plot, Ron Howard’s uninspired direction and less than stellar acting mar Inferno, the third installment of the popular (at least as far as book sales go) “Da Vinci Code” franchise, but then again, we all know about some of the third-film duds in cinematic history (“Superman 3,” “Rocky 3,” “The Hangover Part…
Part family drama, part mystery, part slapstick comedy, and part mad-scientist movie, Men & Chicken is one of the most bizarre and original films I’ve seen. Writer and director Anders Thomas Jensen combines all those elements like a mad-scientist himself, conjuring up an absurd story full of grotesque characters, and translates it on-screen in an…
