Tag: Independent 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
Movie Review

Hallelujah! ‘The Reverend’ Proves Without a Doubt He is the Minister of Music

The Reverend Rating: 7/10 Director and Writer: Nick Canfield Style: Music Biography Time: 1 hour and 26 minutes: Review by Mike Szymanski Very few documentaries are as inspiring and joyful as this one. Religious or not, spiritual or not, a believer or not, you will be inspired by “The Reverend,” just like his band mates who are not reverent at all! “The Reverend” features a … Continue reading Hallelujah! ‘The Reverend’ Proves Without a Doubt He is the Minister of Music

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

‘You, Me and Her’ Goes Shows a Funny and Ideal Bisexual Coming Out Experience

You, Me & Her Rating: 10/10 Director: Dan Levy Dagerman Writer: Selina Ringel Style: Comedy, Drama Time: 1 hour and 34 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn7S3J2MAbc Review by Mike Szymanski I have written decades of reviews about coming out experiences, and the most tragic circumstances, (and generally the most unhealthy) revolve around coming out as bisexual. Not here. “You, Me & Her” is a positive story and a … Continue reading ‘You, Me and Her’ Goes Shows a Funny and Ideal Bisexual Coming Out Experience

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
HORROR, Movie Review

The Sympathy in ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ Should Be for Nic Cage

Sympathy for the Devil Rating: 4/10 Director: Yuval Adler Writers: Luke Paradise Style: Horror Time: 1 hour 30 minutes Review by Mike Szymanski The sympathy should be for Nic Cage. My how the mighty has fallen.  A youth staple who starred as a heartthrob in “Valley Girl” in 1983 and then went on to win the Best Actor Oscar for “Leaving Las Vegas” has taken … Continue reading The Sympathy in ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ Should Be for Nic Cage

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

Indie Sci-Fi Gem ‘Project Dorothy’ Doesn’t Allow for Easy Surrender

Project Dorothy Rating: 7/10 Director: George Henry Horton Writers: George Henry Horton and Ryan Scaringe Style: Sci-fi thriller Time: 1 hour 20 minutes Review by Mike Szymanski Sometimes the best movies have a minimal cast, minimal special effects, and minimum amount of dialogue. These smaller indie movies are true gems, because it’s obvious that the filmmakers wanted to put out a good movie and used … Continue reading Indie Sci-Fi Gem ‘Project Dorothy’ Doesn’t Allow for Easy Surrender

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

Indy Filmmakers Will Relate to the Faustian Bargain in ‘The Devil’s Tongue’

The Devil’s Tongue Rating: 8/10 Written & Directed: Julian Gowdy Style: Thriller Time: 78 minutes Review by Mike Szymanski At what price will it take to get your movie made? Anyone who has ever made, or met someone involved in making, an independent movie will know and can relate to the problems of this director that he is facing in this movie. While making his … Continue reading Indy Filmmakers Will Relate to the Faustian Bargain in ‘The Devil’s Tongue’

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski
LGTQ, Movie Review

‘Summoning Sylvia’ Will Make You Squeal With Delight

Summoning Sylvia Rating: 8/10 Directors: Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse Style: Horror Comedy Time: 75 minutes Rated: R Trailer: https://www.summoningsylvia.com/trailer Review by Mike Szymanski Three friends kidnap their friend for a bachelor party and rent an infamous haunted house. The friends are gay — very gay, and flamboyantly so. The reason they are so over-the-top (and we all know those who are actually that way) is … Continue reading ‘Summoning Sylvia’ Will Make You Squeal With Delight

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
Arts, Movie Review

‘Boonie Bears: Back to Earth’ is Out of This World

Boonie Bears: Back to Earth Rating: 8/10 Director: Huida Lin Writers: Lin Jiang, Qin Wan and Rachel Xu Style: Animation/ Family/ Sci-Fi Time: 97 minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9HdOW8Og3c Review by Mike Szymanski How did I not know about the Boonie Bears? Of course, if you don’t have toddler-to-elementary school-aged children, you may not keep up with children’s shows, but the Boonie Bears are going to be an … Continue reading ‘Boonie Bears: Back to Earth’ is Out of This World

Unknown's avatarMike Szymanski