Posted in: Review

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon

Aside from being the best movie title of the year, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead is also a damned accurate one. The tale of The National Lampoon, the 1970s humor magazine that became a multimedia brand, is filled with abundant drug use, genius battering-ram comedy, and an unfortunate casualty or two. What Douglas Tirola’s film recognizes, […]

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Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

You probably don’t need to see another movie about Steve Jobs to understand the guy was, in all likelihood, a tremendous prick. His ability to influence, even bully, regardless of the emotional outcome, is now part of the well-known Jobs mystique, the ugly yin to Jobs’ creative yang. We’ve already seen eyewitness testimony of the Apple […]

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Cartel Land

Cartel Land’s telling of the Mexican drug war is enough to set Donald Trump’s floppy hair on fire. Matthew Heineman‘s courageous documentary examines three factions within this unthinkably brutal setting: The vicious, drug-dealing power gangs ruining Mexican towns, the makeshift American militia who man the border, and – oh, here’s where Trump scratches his empty […]

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Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

In an Israeli courtroom, we’re introduced to a married couple appearing before a trio of rabbinical judges. She wants a divorce. He does not. It’s a conflict of wills that gradually evolves into a gripping political and cultural statement, in this drama that captivated the Israeli film community and earned a Golden Globe nomination for […]

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Starred Up

In one corner of the prison drama genre, there’s popcorn fare like Escape Plan and Lock Up, slick productions with big roundhouse Hollywood punches and, yeah, okay, Sylvester Stallone. In the other corner is a comparable hell: raw, jittery, claustrophobic filmmaking, the kind that Starred Up does incredibly well. David Mackenzie’s docudrama-influenced nail-biter has a […]

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The Circle

To recount the experiences of a group of gay men in 1950s Europe, director Stefan Haupt has melded narrative and documentary, resulting in more dramatic potential than on-screen power. Sure, a couple decades ago, that mix was standard for cheapo “re-creation” crime shows – exceptional films like The Imposter have not only legitimized the practice, […]

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Ida

When done well, the sparest of films can be almost mesmerizing. Moments of stasis and solitude command attention, pulling in the audience like some meditative medium. When done exceptionally well, a tonally quiet film offers substance that’s every bit equal to its style – Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida does just that, standing as a nearly flawless […]

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Proxy

Any great thriller earns that definition by keeping its audience off-balance. We crave control in the real world, but not when it comes to the movies – if we have a grasp of what’s to come, we chide a film or filmmaker for being too predictable. Zack Parker has a firm understanding of this basic […]

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The Square

As Egypt’s internal political struggle continues yielding violent acts and revolutionary actions, a film that chronicles its historic evolution is playing everywhere and receiving awards. Nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, The Square is an important record that starts in the streets with its subjects, steadfast individuals who wonder if the decades-long reign of Hosni […]

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Wish You Were Here

Four Australian travelers vacation to Cambodia. Three come back, one goes missing. Sounds like the plot of another unfortunate Turistas-style horror shocker but Wish You Were Here is, thankfully, far from it. The directorial debut from Aussie character actor Kieran Darcy-Smith is a stinging relationship drama framed as a sharp thriller, edited like a superb […]

Posted in: Review

2013 Independent Film Festival Boston Recap and Reviews

As the 11th year of Independent Film Festival Boston kicked off on the night of April 24, the city of Boston was still reflecting on a quiet act of renewal from earlier in the day. That morning, the city’s famed Boylston Street officially reopened, nine days after terrorist bombs tore through the avenue, killing and […]

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