Tag: Film

Movie Review

You Don’t Want to Let These ‘Sleeping Dogs’ Lie — It’s an Unforgettable Noir Thriller

Sleeping Dogs Rating: 8/10 Director: Adam Cooper Writers: Adam Cooper and Bill Collage Based on: “The Book of Mirrors” by E.O. Chirovici Style: Action Crime Thriller Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes Rating: R Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2S9unF0f-s Review by Mike Szymanski A noir thriller these days generally consists of stark, dark indy gritty movies with simple, but clever plots, and a big-name star who normally wouldn’t do … Continue reading You Don’t Want to Let These ‘Sleeping Dogs’ Lie — It’s an Unforgettable Noir Thriller

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Arts, Movie Review

The Secrets in this ‘Detained’ Mystery Don’t Hold Back

· Detained Rating: 8/10 Director: Felipe Mucci Writers: Jeremy Palmer and Felipe Mucci Style: Thriller Time: 1 hour and 35 minutes: Review by Mike Szymanski Buckle-up for a dark and mysterious ride that takes you on a rollercoaster ride of deception and intrigue. Noirish and simple, this thriller is continuously enjoyable and unpredictable. Abbie Cornish (from “Jack Ryan”) plays a seemingly befuddle woman named Rebecca … Continue reading The Secrets in this ‘Detained’ Mystery Don’t Hold Back

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

A Miraculously Impressive Movie About the First American Saint Mother ‘Cabrini’ Is a Masterpiece

Cabrini Rating: 10/10 Director: Alejandro Monteverde Writers: Rod Barr and Alejandro Monteverde a Style: Bio-pic Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPwnYlJ2L_c DreamweaverArts is quote in the official movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-aA70YJmcQ&t=9s Review by Mike Szymanski Perhaps a story about a nun who becomes a saint is not a movie you’d sit down and care to watch, but this is not that. Maybe you think that … Continue reading A Miraculously Impressive Movie About the First American Saint Mother ‘Cabrini’ Is a Masterpiece

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

A Clean Sweep of Good, Gritty Story in ‘The Dirty South’

The Dirty South Rating: 8/10 Director & Writer: Matthew Yerby Writer: Matthew Yerby Style: Action/Crime/Drama Time: 1 hour and 47 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hin7Q8ZBT7A Review by Mike Szymanski How far will you go to save the “family farm”? It’s an age-old question where families are constantly struggling to save the house they grew up in, or the farm they tilled for generations, or the business that the … Continue reading A Clean Sweep of Good, Gritty Story in ‘The Dirty South’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

This ‘Mid-Century’ House is Filled with Ghosts Alive and Dead

Mid-Century Rating: 8/10 Director: Sonja O’Hara Writer: Mike Stern Style: Fantasy/Horror/Mystery Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes Trailer: https://vimeo.com/672495577 Review by Mike Szymanski You know something is wrong when a woman takes a shovel and dispatches a bird that has flown into a glass wall of a window. She does it without passion or shame. It was the window who killed the bird, not her, she … Continue reading This ‘Mid-Century’ House is Filled with Ghosts Alive and Dead

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

‘The Shift’ Goes Into High Gear with Sci-Fi Intrigue

The Shift Rating: 7/10 Director: Brock Heasley Writer: Brock Heasley Style: Sci-Fi Time: 1 hour and 55 minutes Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1880606489/?ref_=tt_vi_i_1 Review by Mike Szymanski “This is not my world,” the main character of “The Shift” says over and over again. He seems like he belongs in that world, as he falls out of the sky and then walks out of a lake with full clothes on, … Continue reading ‘The Shift’ Goes Into High Gear with Sci-Fi Intrigue

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

This Devastating Documentary Shows There’s No ‘Escape from Extinction’

Escape from Extinction Rating: 9/10 Director: Matthew R. Brady Writers: Alex Vincent Blumberg and Peter Meadows Style: Documentary Time: 1 hour and 29 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-TOSKUZwhU Review by Mike Szymanski Some of my earliest animal activism memories include saving money to send to save Keiko the Killer Whale who was the subject of the movie “Free Willy.” The plan was to release the confined creature into … Continue reading This Devastating Documentary Shows There’s No ‘Escape from Extinction’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

A Most Disturbing and Funny Found-Footage Film Yields ‘Young Sexy & Dead’

YOUNG SEXY & DEAD Rating: 7/10 Director and Writer: Philip Alderton Style: Dark Comedy/ Mockumentary Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes Reviewed by Mike Szymanski What a perfect time for a film about the excesses of skinny beauty and being thin — almost as if you were dead. Director and writer Philip Alderton takes a mockumentary look at the world of modeling, photography and image-making, especially when it … Continue reading A Most Disturbing and Funny Found-Footage Film Yields ‘Young Sexy & Dead’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

When Your Mental Health Treatment Goes Crazy, it’s ‘Trauma Therapy: Psychosis’

Trauma Therapy: Psychosis Rating: 7/10 Director: Gary Barth Writers: Tom Malloy and David Josh Lawrence Style: Horror-Thriller Time: 1-hour, 22-minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq4yJRvKDyg Review by Mike Szymanski This “Trauma Therapy: Psychosis” may scare you away from traditional head-shrinking because these methods start off making sense, but then get a bit extreme. The first movie “Trauma Therapy” (which came out a few years ago) introduced actor Tom Malloy … Continue reading When Your Mental Health Treatment Goes Crazy, it’s ‘Trauma Therapy: Psychosis’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Activism, Cultural issues, Movie Review, Philosophy, Social Issues, Spirituality, The Environment

Planting ‘The Seeds of Vandana Shiva’ Will Make You See the World Differently

The Seeds of Vandana Shiva Rating: 8/10 Directors: Camilla Denton Becket and James Becket Writers: Camilla Denton Becket, James Becket and Anthony Ellison Style: Documentary Time: 1 hour 12 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/@theseedsofvandanashiva4082 Review by Mike Szymanski Few people in the world can speak pearls of wisdom all the time, and be quoted all the time, and are still saying something meaningful and important to the world. … Continue reading Planting ‘The Seeds of Vandana Shiva’ Will Make You See the World Differently

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

Tom Cruise Needs More Recognition for ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part 1’ 

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part 1 Rating: 9/10 Director: Christopher McQuarrie Writers: Bruce Geller, Erik Jendresen, Christopher McQuarrie Style: Action, Adventure, Thriller Rating: PG-13 Time: 2 hours, 43 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avz06PDqDbM Reviewed by Mike Szymanski It’s never really explained in the film, but “Dead Reckoning” means how you navigate a moving object by using a previously determined position, incorporating speed, heading and elapsed time. Writer … Continue reading Tom Cruise Needs More Recognition for ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part 1’ 

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Artist on the Rise, Movie Review, Science Fiction, Suspense/Thriller

A Frightening and Stimulating ‘Simulant’ Resonates as AI Invades Our Lives

Simulant Rating: 8/10 Director: April Mullen Style: Sci-Fi, Mystery, Thriller Time: 95 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVU4oThGtVs Review by Mike Szymanski In today’s world where Artificial Intelligence is becoming more and more part of the news and our culture, this movie “Simulant” can’t possibly be more relevant. More like a documentary of what is happening in the technological world today, this movie is a chilling look at what … Continue reading A Frightening and Stimulating ‘Simulant’ Resonates as AI Invades Our Lives

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

Groundbreaking G4TV Created a Home for Geeks and Gets a Spotlight in ‘Attack of the Doc!’

Attack of the Doc! Rating: 9/10 Director and Writer: Chris Gore Style: Documentary Time: 87 minutes Review by Mike Szymanski There’s a show in television history that was groundbreaking, hysterical edgy and pushed major boundaries. It’s a show you’ve never hear of, and it’s a show you wish were on today. But it can never be. G4TV and “Attack of the Show!” were at a … Continue reading Groundbreaking G4TV Created a Home for Geeks and Gets a Spotlight in ‘Attack of the Doc!’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

It’s One Stuck-up ‘Country Club’ You Won’t Mind Visiting

The Country Club Rating: 7/10 Director: Fiona Robert Writers: Fiona and Sophie Robert Style: Comedy Time: 89 minutes Trailer: https://vimeo.com/773459022/82f7860869?share=copy Review by Mike Szymanski You’ve driven past those snooty country clubs with those grand estates, high bushes, elite dress codes, impenetrable cliques and membership fees that mere mortals cannot afford. Maybe you’ve even eaten at the overpriced, over-rated restaurants at the club (there’s even a joke … Continue reading It’s One Stuck-up ‘Country Club’ You Won’t Mind Visiting

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

Seething, Erotic and Funny: This ‘Wild Fire’ is Something You Cannot Put Out

Wild Fire Rating: 7/10 Director: Jennifer Cooney Writer: Jennifer Cooney Style: Drama Time: 145 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyfR9O-qaz0 Review by Mike Szymanski This unconventional film is intriguing from the beginning. It starts off with classical-sounding music playing and no one is talking for nearly the first eight minutes as we watch a buxomy woman in a negligee seducing s a cute blonde woman who is in bed … Continue reading Seething, Erotic and Funny: This ‘Wild Fire’ is Something You Cannot Put Out

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

‘The Green Oak Guardian’ is A Romance You Can Really Love

The Green Oak Guardian Rating: 9/10 Director: Lana Read Writer: Duane Abel Style: Romantic Comedy Time: 92 minutes Trailer: https://vimeo.com/unitedffilms/the-green-oak-guardian-tease Review by Mike Szymanski Every great romance story involves two unlikely lovers who somehow end up falling for each other against all odds. Since Romeo and Juliet, it’s the same plot, whether you’re talking bout “You’ve Got Mail,” “Casablanca,” or my favorite (and widely underrated) romantic … Continue reading ‘The Green Oak Guardian’ is A Romance You Can Really Love

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Classic, Movie Review

A Fitting Tribute to a Legend in the documentary “Burt Reynolds: The Last Interview”

Burt Reynolds: The Last Interview Rating: 9/10 Director and Writer: Rick Pamplin Style: Documentary Time: 103 minutes Trailer: www.imdb.com/video/vi4087333913 Review by Mike Szymanski The first time I was lucky enough to meet Burt Reynolds and interview him as an entertainment journalist, he sized me up and guessed my age and said, “You probably made out during ‘Smokey and the Bandit.’ “ I blushed and recalled my … Continue reading A Fitting Tribute to a Legend in the documentary “Burt Reynolds: The Last Interview”

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

If You Love B Horror Flicks You’ll Get Sucked Into ‘Mind Leech’

Mind Leech Rating: 8/10 Directors: Chris Cheeseman and Paul Krysinski Style: Horror/Comedy Time: 61 minutes Website: https://www.mindleech.com Review by Mike Szymanski If you love kitschy B-horror movies that are almost as funny as they are scary, you will easily get sucked into “Mind Leech.” I am one of those critics who loves to watch the B-horror Roger Corman-ish films over and over again, and I love … Continue reading If You Love B Horror Flicks You’ll Get Sucked Into ‘Mind Leech’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

Some Powerful Film Finds at Slamdance 2023

By Mike Szymanski Don’t think of Slam Dance as an also-ran to Sundance! It is established by a wild bunch of filmmakers who wanted to showcase the unfiltered voice of independent artists, Slamdance is an ongoing experiment that has proven, year after year, when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, the independent and grassroots film communities can do it themselves. This year, Slamdance happened from … Continue reading Some Powerful Film Finds at Slamdance 2023

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
Movie Review

Sweet Romantic Connections Weave through ‘The Seasons — Four Love Stories’

The Seasons — Four Love Stories Rating: 8/10 Director and Writer: Paul Schwartz Style: Romance Time: 82 minutes Trailer: https://www.vimeo.com/745909945 Website: https://www.paulschwartz.com/new-page-1 Romantic films are tough sells these days, because they tend to sway toward the schmaltzy, ridiculous and painfully obvious. Not so here. This series of beautiful and simple love stories not only give us hope for the future, but hope for romantic movies. And it’s … Continue reading Sweet Romantic Connections Weave through ‘The Seasons — Four Love Stories’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski