The on-the-road murder mystery, Road to the Well, is quite an imaginative and intriguing vehicle from the creative mind of writer-producer-director Jon Cvack. Although this titillating indie does not have the bombastic aura of the cookie-cutter goosebump whodunits so prevalent in mainstream Hollywood thrillers today, the intimate and small-scale production still resonates effectively with the…
Some beautiful aerial photography of Napa Valley is the strongest asset of Decanted, a leisurely paced, reverent look at a handful of winemakers in that famous region of California. If you’re interested in how, or why, a person would start a winery in this competitive industry, then you may find something more to like in…
Legendary French director Jean-Pierre Melville famously uttered “become immortal and then die” in Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic “Breathless” (À bout de souffle), and these words are echoed by the lead character in Redlands. “Ultimately, I want to push beyond reality and become immortal through art.” Lurking somewhere between the innocence of young Hollywood…
Some years ago I learned 1930s and ’40s era gangsters learned to talk “gangster” from the motion pictures. James Cagney probably had more to do with coining gangster lingo and slang than John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, and Al Capone combined. Gangster Squad gets the clothes right, does a decent job with 1949 era Los…
To be blunt and to the point, the best surfing film is “The Endless Summer,” maybe followed by “Big Wednesday.” The heart-tugging “Soul Surfer” may also be your cup of tea, as well. Unfortunately, Chasing Mavericks is not among the genre’s Top 10 (if there is even enough to even MAKE a Top 10). In…
From the demented mind of Sacha Baron Cohen comes some remarkable characters like Ali G. (a wannabe gangsta), Brüno (a flamboyant faggot) and, of course Borat — a sexist, anti-Semite from Kazakhstan. The genius of these characters is the ability to allow Cohen to poke fun at, while “seriously” interviewing, people of all responsibilities (politicians,…
