Skip to content

CategoryFilm Reviews

Posted Female Filmmakers

Together Together

What happens when you’re more than ready for your next journey but life hasn’t caught up with you yet? Matt (Ed Helms) wants to have a  baby.  He’s 45 years old, a successful app developer, financially stable and emotionally ready for parenthood. The trouble is he doesn’t have a partner. Matt takes the next step and hires surrogate. Anna (Patti Harrison) is a 20-something barista who agrees to the arrangement so she can afford to go back to college. Parent and surrogate are supposed to remain emotionally distant but Matt wants to be involved in every step of the process. The two form a bond that crosses the boundaries they were supposed to set for each other. What will happen when the baby finally arrives?

Written and directed by Nikole Beckwith, Together Together is a sweet, quirky movie about the curveballs life throws at you and how relationships don’t always fit easily into societal molds. Beckwith was inspired by “the idea of strangers coming together in such an intimate and complicated circumstance.” The movie takes its time exploring all the nuances of Matt and Anna’s situation with all the ups and downs that come with it. Helms is fantastic as the neurotic soon-to-be-dad and Harrison is a delight as the emotionally conflicted Anna. The film suffers from an abrupt ending that will leave some viewers frustrated. Despite that, I recommend you watch this charming and heartfelt movie.

Together Together is in theaters now and releases on digital May 11th.

Posted Documentaries

The Place That Makes Us

Youngstown, Ohio is a steel mill city on the Rust Belt that has seen a major decline over the past few decades. The mills closed and the subsequent loss of jobs sent its residents fleeing. For those left behind, they were faced with a crumbling infrastructure, an uptick in violence and crime and hundreds of vacant homes. 

Directed by Karla Murthy, The Place That Makes Us spotlights a group of Youngstown residents seeking to transform their hometown. Filmed over the course of three years, the documentary follows members of the city council and organizers of YNDC (Youngstown Neighborhood Development Committee) as they work to rebuild Youngstown’s abandoned homes and make plans to boost their community. While the documentary is specifically about Youngstown, it could really be about any shrinking city or town in America. What the film does really well is drive home the message that any community can be transformed but it takes its residents, not outsiders, to really enact that change.

The Place That Makes Us premieres today on the WORLD channel series America Reframed. Visit the official website for more information.

Posted Film Reviews

Echoes of Violence

What starts as an ordinary day for real estate agent Alex (Heston Horwin) quickly spirals out of control. While waiting for prospective clients, he hears gunshots in the distance. By chance he’s able to scare away a hit man, Kellin (Chase Cargill), from killing his target, Marakya (Michaella Russell). Alex ushers Marakya to safety only to discover that now he’s in grave danger. Marakya is a South African woman living in L.A. who unwillingly became part of a dangerous sex trafficking ring that targets young immigrant women. She’s on the run from her immigration lawyer/trafficker Anthony (Taylor Flowers) and his goons and now Alex is too.

Written and directed by Nicholas Woods, Echoes of Violence is an engrossing thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. It’s got great performances by the three principal leads (Russell, Cargill and Horwin), interesting characters and the pacing is just right. As the mystery unfolds, we learn more about these characters and their backgrounds. I would have liked to have seen Kellin’s meeting with his father pan out a bit differently. And I was curious as to why Marakya refers to South Africa as just Africa. With that said, the movie gives us just the right amount of background information so we can become emotionally invested in these characters without ruining their allure.

I usually steer clear of human trafficking films because some cross over into the realm of conservative propaganda. Echoes of Violence is not that kind of film and the trafficking mostly serves an impetus for the action. However, some viewers might see it as a thriller with an agenda. I encourage you to put any qualms you might have aside and give this one a try.

Echoes of Violence recently premiered at Cinequest.

Posted Documentaries

Francesco

You don’t have to be Catholic or to even be religious to be struck by Pope Francis’ brand of  benevolence. He brings spiritual comfort to the masses, speaks out about ecological and economic abuses and travels to the far reaches of the planet to attend to global humanitarian crises. His handling of the church’s sex abuse scandals as well as his positions on gender in the church have brought him much criticism. But he’s not above humbling himself, apologizing for his wrongs and putting his words into actions. I grew up Protestant and no longer consider myself religious by any means. However, I have grown to admire Pope Francis as a humanitarian who continues to use his massive platform to do good around the world.

Directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, Francesco explores Pope Francis’ work as a religious icon and thought leader. It’s a sympathetic documentary that does much to present the Pope in the best light. However, Afineevsky does explore, albeit delicately, the Pope’s handling of the sex abuse scandal. Activist Juan Carlos Cruz is interviewed at length about his battle with the church on behalf of himself and other victims and his eventual meeting with the Pope. The documentary adds a 3-D effect on 2-D photos which I felt was unnecessary. It serves as a great primer to Pope Francis’ life and work. I wish it would dug deeper into the Pope’s personal connection to the teachings of Saint Francis of Assissi as well as his insistence on presenting himself as and being a humble Pope.

“Francesco is not a biographical film about Pope Francis in the traditional sense. Rather it is a film that shows us the world as it is today and a path to understanding what a better future of tomorrow can be, as seen through the remarkable work of the Pope.”

Director Evgeny Afineevsky

Francesco releases in theaters nationwide today and streams on Discovery+ on March 28th.

Posted BIPOC

SXSW: The Fallout

For Vada (Jenna Ortega), it was just an ordinary day at her high school. After a false alarm from her younger sister Amelia (Lumi Pollack), Vada hangs out in the bathroom with fellow student Mia (Maddie Ziegler), a beautiful Instagram dancer. They catch each other’s eye but that moment of flirtation is ripped away from them when they hear gunshots. A shooter causes chaos in the school, killing some and injuring others. Vada and Mia’s lives will never be the same again. After the shooting, Vada spends her days avoiding school, drinking with Mia, getting high and going to therapy. Her parents Patricia (Julie Bowen) and Carlos (John Ortiz) try their best to give Vada space to recover. But how do you life your life after such a traumatic event?

Directed by Megan Park, The Fallout is a coming-of-age story that will ring true for many young people who unfortunately have suffered through this kind of trauma. Mass shootings are a reality of American life and despite what your thoughts are on gun control, it’s important for us to see how these events affect its victims. The Fallout is a poignant story about one young person’s response to trauma and in the same way it’s a universal tale about growing up, finding yourself and surviving something horrific. Audiences will appreciate the LGBTQ and BIPOC inclusivity.

The Fallout had its world premiere at the virtual 2021 SXSW Film Festival.

JustWatch.com