Before We Go: Movie Review

A simple conversation becomes fun, funny and romantic with two great characters.

Before We Go is simple, romantic, talkative, conventional and it's great. It's exactly what you want in a character-based, dialogue-driven romantic drama where nothing happens other than two characters meet and get to know each other over one night in New York City. The characters are engagingly real, compassionate and yet cynical, and they beautifully evolve after knowing each other for just a few hours. The dialogue is witty and insightful and elevated to dynamic levels by the talented leads.		2014 Directed by: Chris Evans Screenplay by: Ron Bass, Jen Smolka, Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair Starring: Chris Evans and Alice Eve

Digging for Fire: Movie Review

Lack of murder mystery still reveals a funny and insightful film.

Digging for Fire is both Joe Swanberg's funniest film and most mature film to date. It's another one of his indie films with mainstream accessibility, but it should be noted that it's not a murder mystery, or murder mystery comedy, as it easily could be with the excellent premise with such great potential.		2015 Directed by: Joe Swanberg Screenplay by: Joe Swanberg, Jake Johnson Starring: Jake Johnson, Rosemarie DeWitt

She's Funny That Way: Movie Review

A farce that pays tribute to a bygone age of movies.

She's Funny That Way is the story of a prostitute named Izzy who becomes an actress named Isabella and the theatre director who changed her life. The movie's a throwback to the screwball comedies of the 1940s where movies were seen as magical and and an escape from one's life. While this doesn't reach the same heights as a must-see comedy, it is clever and funny in its own way.		2014 Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich Screenplay by: Peter Bogdanovich Based on play by Louise Stratten Starring: Imogen Poots, Owen Wilson

The Breakup Girl: Movie Review

Leads three different sisters through life with a perfect mix of comedy and drama.

The Breakup Girl is Claire (Shannon Woodward). She's 29, a writer, and happily in a serious relationship. Well, maybe not happily. She's described as the type of girl who always finds something to stress about. Whether it's the meddling of her older sister or the free-spirited nature of her younger sister. She doesn't have a great relationship with her sisters. And then her boyfriend dumps her. Claire just wants to be upset but her family finds ways to impose further.		2015 Directed by: Stacy Sherman Screenplay by: Stacy Sherman Starring: Shannon Woodward, Wendi McLendon-Covey and India Menuez

Accidental Love: Movie Review (AKA Nailed)

A trip of nonsense and comedy.

Nailed is the film that spent 7 years in production hell, directed by David O. Russell. Accidental Love is the title it finally gets released with, with David O. Russell no longer involved and his name being replaced with a pseudonym. That type of turmoil is sure to spell doom, especially for a film that would be a hard sell in the first place. It's a satirical commentary on the American health care system (before ObamaCare came into existence) disguised as a surreal-ish, un-idealistic romantic comedy.		2015 Directed by: Stephen Greene Screenplay by: Kristin Gore, Matthew Silverstein, and Dave Jesser Starring: Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal

#Stuck: Movie Review

Stuck with characters, dialogue and comedy that all work.

#Stuck starts the morning after a one night stand for Guy (Joel David Moore) and Holly (Madeline Zima), and as one of the lines in the film points out, it’s called the morning after for a reason. Holly is stuck without a car, Guy graciously agrees to drive her back to the bar where they met, and on the way there they get stuck in traffic. The film is about their non-relationship as they are forced to spend approximately one hour in Guy’s car in LA traffic.		2014 Directed by: Stuart Acher Screenplay by: Stuart Acher Starring: Madeline Zima, Joel David Moore

Life After Beth: Movie Review

Life, death, Beth and funny zombies.

Some films blur the lines between good and evil, right and wrong, or friends and lovers. Life After Beth blurs the line between life and death. Even Beth herself explains that there’s alive and then there’s dead, and you can’t be both. If you could be both, things would get pretty bad, and weird. Especially weird.		2014 Directed by: Jeff Baena Screenplay by: Jeff Baena Starring: Dane DeHaan, Aubrey Plaza

The One I Love: Movie Review

One part reality, one part mystery, one part love.

The One I Love stars Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss as a married couple desperately trying to recapture the spark, magic and love of their marriage. Their therapist suggests a weekend away is all they need. A house, a gardened backyard, a pool and a guest house is theirs to make use of as they will. While both are willing to try, I would venture that both are looking too far outside themselves.		2014 Directed by: Charlie McDowell Screenplay by: Justin Lader Starring: Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss

Camp Takota: Movie Review

Going back to camp with three funny and entertaining women.

Camp Takota starts in the city where Elise (Grace Helbig) has a handsome fiancée and is dutifully working in the publishing industry before she finds success as a writer. Then that all comes crashing down and through a series of drunken phone calls, finds herself returning to work at the all-girls camp she used to attend as a kid. The opening is surprisingly very funny and Elise’s flaws are front-and-center, making her likable and entertaining.		2014 Directed by: Chris Riedell, Nick Riedell Screenplay by: Lydia Genner, Mamrie Hart and Michael Goldfine Starring: Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart

About Alex: Movie Review

About an ensemble that gives a new generation a film to call their own.

About Alex is advertised as The Big Chill (1984) for Millennials or Gen Yers, but in an effort to not sell this film short, it’s for anybody who was too young to be able to call The Big Chill their own. The main actors are all over 30 and the social media references weren’t over-done. It also boasts an indie cast to die for. I’m a big fan of pretty much all of them and they are cast perfectly for their skills.		2014 Directed by: Jesse Zwick Screenplay by: Jesse Zwick Starring: Jason Ritter, Nate Parker, Aubrey Plaza, Max Greenfield and Maggie Grace

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn: Movie Review

The angry routine is dropped along with the comedy in favour of a heartfelt character drama.

Robin Williams is The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and for a dark comedy that casting does seem to be perfection, but Williams’ comedic rant routine is not the highlight of the film. What starts as a dark comedy becomes a drama and most viewers who are expecting to laugh won’t be ready for the dramatic shift in tone. The premise is Dr. Sharon Gill is living the worst day of her life and accidentally tells Henry Altmann that he’s living the last 90 minutes of his life.		2014 Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson Screenplay by: Daniel Taplitz Based on film by Assi Dayan Starring: Robin Williams, Mila Kunis

A Long Way Down: Movie Review

A new direction can seem uneven, but the original wit, whimsy, humour and insight is intact.

“A Long Way Down” is a dark comedy because, you know, suicide isn’t supposed to be funny. It’s like a light-hearted drama told straight and seriously. It is told with seriousness but includes characters and dialogue ripe for laughter. The movie makes the story more dramatic, but at the same time, not as dark as the book version it is based on. I’m a huge fan of author Nick Hornby and the same-titled novel.		2014 Directed by: Pascal Chaumeil Screenplay by: Jack Thorne Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, Aaron Paul

Lullaby: Movie Review

Thoughtful questions and ideas give way to a simple family drama.

Patriarch Robert Lowenstein (Richard Jenkins) is dying. However, as his son Jonathan (Garrett Hedlund) informs us, he always says he’s dying and who knows if it’s going to stick this time. Suggesting that he could be dying or he could be lying, or his son is lying, and somebody is being insensitive, and somebody is going to have to figure out their place in life sooner rather than later. And thus begins a rather interesting angle for a grieving family drama.		2014 Directed by: Andrew Levitas Screenplay by: Andrew Levitas Starring: Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, Amy Adams and Jessica Brown Findlay

The Pretty One: Movie Review

An uneven beginning gives way to a cute and sweet story of love and finding yourself.

“The Pretty One” is the story of identical twins Laurel and Audrey (Zoe Kazan), except Laurel is told she should look more like Audrey. Following the death of their mother, Audrey moved to the city and Laurel retreated farther into herself. This leaves one twin more rejuvenated looking hot and modern while the other is just a mess. Audrey wants Laurel to change, Laurel doesn’t know what she wants.		2013 Directed by: Jenée LaMarque Screenplay by: Jenée LaMarque Starring: Zoe Kazan, Jake M. Johnson

Claire: Movie Review

Themes of popularity and friendship are beautifully played up as Jack evolves and Claire remains dead.

Jack (Aidan Bristow) is the popular guy at school; the football quarterback. Claire (Jennifer Baute) is a nice, pretty, shy girl. A football injury leaves Jack in a cast and on crutches; soon thereafter, following a drunk-driving accident, Claire is dead. The problem as Jack sees it is that he didn’t know her, but everybody else seemed to. And he starts looking into Claire’s past and her death.		2013 Directed by: Dan Ast Screenplay by: Dan Ast Starring: Aidan Bristow, Cory Driscoll

Filth: Movie Review

A brilliant character study underneath the layers of filthy superficiality.

In “Filth”, Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) is a Scottish cop who’s determined to solve a murder case. But more important than that, he’s also determined to get promoted to Inspector. And more important than that, there’s lots of women to bed, drugs to imbibe, alcohol to drink and general debauchery to embark on. He has zero concern for the people around him and the laws that govern society.		2013 Directed by: Jon S. Baird Screenplay by: Jon S. Baird Based on the novel "Filth" by Irvine Welsh Starring: James McAvoy

Favor: Movie Review

Well-written characters debating success, friendship and murder.

Friends help friends get rid of dead bodies, right? Or, so asks the film “Favor”. Kip (Blayne Weaver) is a successful, happily married man (or at least a married man) who has been seeing a waitress and after a disagreement, he accidentally kills her. Kip calls on his old friend Marvin (Patrick Day) to help him out. Things don’t go very well, but that’s mostly based on the characteristics of these two men.		2013 Directed by: Paul Osborne Screenplay by: Paul Osborne Starring: Blayne Weaver, Patrick Day

Better Living Through Chemistry: Movie Review

An amusing full-circle story that detours through many different genres.



Advertised as a comedy, “Better Living Through Chemistry” might seem like the next “The Wolf of Wall Street” with Sam Rockwell having an affair and a joyride involving sex and drugs, lots of drugs. But curiously, the idyllic small-town opening and Rockwell’s depressed, every-man Doug Varney suggests that the movie is actually about a mid-life crisis taking place in a superficial suburban community.		2014 Directed by: Geoff Moore, David Posamentier Screenplay by: Geoff Moore, David Posamentier Starring: Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan and Ken Howard

Date and Switch: Movie Review

A "bro" and "dude" take on a familiar story making it sweet and funny with a simple originality.

“Date and Switch” stars Nicholas Braun and Hunter Cope as best friends Michael and Matty who have made a pact that they’re going to lose their virginity before their high school prom. What sounds like the gazillionth film in a long line of “American Pie” rip-offs luckily has a refreshing twist when Matty comes out and tells his best friend that he’s gay.		2014 Directed by: Chris Nelson Screenplay by: Alan Yang Starring: Nicholas Braun and Hunter Cope

Barefoot: Movie Review (AKA The Wedding Guest)

Takes the road trip farther than it should, but stays together with charm, wit and great dialogue.

Barefoot, also released as The Wedding Guest, is about (fittingly enough) a barefooted wedding guest. Well, that’s a plot point. As with a lot of indie romantic comedies, it’s about two mis-matched people (or two people not well suited for life in general) who find each other and figure out what love is. Better than that premise, the film has clever lines, funny moments, and great production.		2014 Directed by: Andrew Fleming Screenplay by: Stephen Zotnowski Starring: Scott Speedman, Evan Rachel Wood