Kshay (2011) NR - 4 Stars

One of the best things about writing my movie review blog is sometimes I am asked to preview new movies before the general public. That's the case with this great find from India. The film just played last Saturday the 14th of April at 930 PM at the Arclight Hollywood for the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (www.indianfilmfestival.org). I wish I would have been able to have this review on line before the showing to encourage more movie goers to attend while it was here in Hollywood.

Kshay, aka Corrode, is beautifully shot in rich tones of black and white and directed by first-time filmmaker Karan Gour. Featuring Chhaya (Rasika Dugal), as a young wife who's obsession with a statue of the Hindu Goddess, Lakshmi, is taking control of her life. A young sculptor (Adityavardhan Gupta), carved a larger than life unfinished stone Lakshmi which Chhaya instantly forms a deep bond with as if fulfilling some need lacking from her simple life. While she awaits her husband Arvind (Alekh Sangal), to finish his business next door, she fantasizes of having this expensive icon before more eyes can gaze upon it. Now, she must convince Arvind to spend money this young couple can not afford. Rough times have taken their toll in Arvind's career and his boss Bapu (Sudhir Pednekar), holds back pay for work already completed. The couple is barely surviving paying rent and meager meals so Arvind looks into another line of work. But this statue has left such a mark on Chhaya, she's willing to sacrifice everything to have this Lakshmi for her own.

I thought Dugal's character was starting out a little weak but as the movie progresses, I'm convinced she's obsessed. I really loved her realistic performance as a young woman on the edge. Produced on a micro budget, the strong imagery moves you in and out of scenes as the musical score lures you into insanity. Also starring (Nitika Anand) as Shruti, (Asit Redij) as Asif, (Ashwin Baluja) as Jamil and (Siddharth Bhatia) as Amay. If you foreign film lovers get the chance to view,you won't be disappointed. The movie leaves that very unsettling feeling that stays with you for awhile. In Hindu with English subtitles. The film has played in Chicago, Dubai, SAIFF and New York and you can read more at Kshay - the film.

Conjur Arts Media, Empatheia Films
Director: Karan Gour
Producer: Shaan Vyas, Karan Gour
Writer: Karan Gour

I viewed 4/12

White Lightnin (2009) NR - 3 Stars

Perfect movie to watch after the documentary of "The Wild and Wonderful Whites." In black and white, this film focuses on Jesco White. After you listen to the family members in the above mentioned documentary, you get a good perspective into Jesco White's background.  I love the accompanying musical score for the movie. Hearing the voices that takes over Jesco's mind give a good impression of what one might be thinking having voices take over their mind. I thinking filming it in black and white adds to the gloom.

Living in Boon county West Virginia, the Whites have the notorious reputation for bringing out their worst in front of people. Growing up in the back woods of the West Virginia, papa D R White lays claim to a family of trouble. It wasn't his intention but growing up uneducated, he had feet did most of his talking. Famous for his back country shuffling tapping shoes, D R just wanted to make people happy by entertaining them. His young son Jesco found every opportunity for trouble, sniffing gas and paint for grins. Jesco was in and out of institution at his young age but the damage was already starting to take hold of his brain. When his father was killed by two local drunks for fun, Jesco pledges to avenge his father's death. But not before taking his father's tap dance routine on the road.

Film and Music Entertainment, Mainframe Productions, Filmfreak Distributie, Vice Films
Director: Dominic Murphy
Writers: Eddy Moretti, Shane Smith

I viewed 4/12

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009) NR - 2½ Stars

This documentary is about one of the worst dysfunctional families I've ever seen. Even though it's not the most exciting documentary, you somehow can't stop watching it. The story allows a peek inside the lives of the "White family" of West Virginia. Trying not to judge will be real hard for the viewer as this entire family is one gigantic wreck. No one seems to have their act together,except maybe the father of the whole clan, D R White. D R was famous for his tapping shuffle style of dance and all he wanted to do was to make people smile with his clapping feet. D R forced this dance style upon his young son Jesco. For punishment after Jesco was caught sniffing paint, gas and lighter fluid his father would force him to learn how to mimic his fathers dance moves. Jesco grew up with brain damage but it didn't stop him from preforming like his father did. Unfortunately he also had the devil bred into him who could snap at slightest sign of trouble.

Becoming a product of their environment, the Whites are uneducated, living in the back hills, and no real enthusiasm of working their way out. Even the smallest of family members curse, hold up their middle finger and have already learned to hate and rebel against most everything as the mock their environment. Their lifestyle, attitudes, struggle with drugs make them the most reviled family in West Virginia. When you hear the words, "white trailer trash," you just might find them on page one.

Dickhouse Productions, MTV Studios, Tribeca Film
Director: Julien Nitzberg
Producer: Storm Taylor

I viewed 4/12

Growing Op (2008) NR - 3 Stars

If you can be patient with this movie and not rush to judge, it does get better at the end. Hippy parents home school their kids to keep them away from the evils of the world. With a twist at the end, it's an interesting story about a young boy's struggle, trying to be normal when his parents grow pot for a living out of their home. Never having let an outsider in, the parents also struggle with letting their grown son leave the nest to discover love. Decent acting and story line once it gets going.

Quinn (Steven Yaffee), feels trapped in his own home. Both he and his sister Hope (Katie Boland), are home schooled. Parents Diana (Rosanna Arquette), and Bryce (Wallace Langham), grow marijuana in every room of their house, making it impossible for the children to lead a normal life. Hope has found a way to make it work while Quinn takes his knowledge of growing tips to the neighborhood doing odd gardening job as he yearns for something more. When Crystal (Rachel Blanchard), the pretty girl he's always dreamed of, moves in across the street he immediately ditches his gardening duties and gets himself enrolled in school to be close to her.

Quinn doesn't fit into molds of normal teen life and he soon finds himself on the wrong end of the high school jock that has his eyes on Crystal. He'll stop at nothing to make sure this "geek" Quinn doesn't rob him of his trophy. Quinn wishes he had learned that not to trust, as his lack of hormonal interchange brings his entire family down.

Cineast Screen Developments, Cinimage, Emotion Pictures, Middlefish Films
Director: Michael Melski
Writer: Michael Melski
Producers: Michael Melski, Monique LeBlanc, Rick Warden

I viewed 3/11

Splice (2010) R - 3 Stars

I was in need of a good Sci-Fi so I rented Splice hoping to be a little horrified and/or amazed over the concept of this movie about playing God. This was not the movie to do it. The sad part is the movie leaves itself open for a sequel. Not sure we need to see it all over again. First off, I would have liked to had a little more information on how Ginger and Fred, the blob like organisms, were created. I felt we are rushed in too quickly before building a story line to get us there. But then as I was thinking about that, the writers probably didn't want to tell us too much or it would have been even more unrealistic. I did however like the splice "D's" very intriguing face.

Genetic engineers, Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley), have created a hybrid creature that could revolutionize modern medical science. Fame and glory are bestoyed upon them until they add human DNA into the mixture. Dren (Delphine Chanéac), is born and as she evolves they soon learn trying to play God can be a mistake.

Gaumont, Copperheart Entertainment, Dark Castle Entertainment
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writers: Doug Taylor, Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant
Producer: Steven Hoban

I viewed 10/10

Dazed and Confused (1993) R - 2½ Stars

The movies sort of brings back a few crazy memories from high school days and the troublesome behavior of growing up. Reckless joy riding, not so hip these days, were things we did in our mavericks filled full of current 8-track tapes. Along with hormones running rampant, parties and drugs, it's a wonder any of us survived. Though I don't remember the rituals of going into high school being this bad; young boys hunted down and paddled by male seniors and girls drenched in ketchup, mustard and whip creme squirts, we were called just "scrubs.". A simple coming of age story that us class of 74'ers can relate a bit too, gosh we really did dress like that. It's no American Graffiti but it does get a few laughs. What is up with that hair Matthew McConaughey.

School has just ended for the summer, class of 76', and new sophomores must bare harassment from the high school seniors. In the last day of junior high, some of the new graduates are lucky enough to be sought out by the high school seniors for their official initiations into high school. Mitch Kramer (Wiley Wiggins), Slater (Rory Cochrane), Randy "Pink" Floyd (Jason London), Michelle (Milla Jovovich), Simone (Joey Lauren Adams),  Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), and a bunch of others are seeing how much fun they can have while surviving their first night of summer vacation.

Gramercy Pictures (I), Alphaville Films, Detour Filmproduction
Director: Richard Linklater
Writer: Richard Linklater
Producers: James Jacks, Richard Linklater, Sean Daniel

I viewed 3/11

Hempsters: Plant the Seed (2009) R - 3 Stars

When most people hear the word "hemp," their immediate thoughts turn to it's cousin, marijuana. While hemp is a product of the marijuana family, it's not for smoking and getting high. It contains less than 1% THC - Tetra Hydro Cannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana that gives the "buzz." Instead, the industrial crop of hemp, that once fueled our nation, is banned from growing in the United States.

Since 1985, hundreds of thousands of farmers have lost their farms with approximately 500 farmers a week go out of business. The film follows small town farmers who have grown hemp for generations but now current and future generations are banned. 

I learned a lot about this plant from the documentary about it's usage and benefits on our growing society. So many products can be made from hemp, it 's really sort of paranoid of the government and public opinion to not bring it's production back to life. If hemp is grown anywhere that marijuana is grown, hemp will take over the drug plant weakening the strength of the marijuana plant. It looks totally different than the marijuana plant and these differences can be seen by flying over.

30 countries across the world regularly grow hemp to meet their agricultural needs. However, the mention of the product here is untouched because if it's close relationship with the drug.  In 1942, the US Military destroyed all seeds in Kentucky as part of the marijuana prohibition causing American farmers to be forced to grow other products like corn, soy and tobacco. We've seen how these huge corporations gobble up the small farmer , forcing them to only plant their patented seeds. Hemp, once  grown  for military rope and canvas, now effecting Indian tribes and the soil on their land, where exercising their sovereign rights has only brought in the DEA to destroy their only means of income.

The documentary starts in 1996 where actor Woody Harrelson is planting four feral hemp seeds in the lawn in front of Kentucky government building, Knowing he could be arrested and face jail time, this documentary follows his crusade in the hopes of drawing public attention to his environmental activist approach to reliance on foreign oil, and discovering efficient forms of energy. Harrelson joins other activists Ralph Nader, Willie Nelson, Julia "Butterfly" Hill, Merle Haggard and many more top open up societies eyes to the benefits of producing such an important product. I'm unsure where hemp stands in this year 2012 but I do feel if more people watched this documentary to lessen their fears of the plant, hemp would be brought back to live helping solve production relationships with our own people in our own land.

Cinema Libre Studios
Director: Michael Henning
Producer: Diana Oliver

I viewed 2/12

Super High Me (2007) R - 3 Stars

If you've seen the movie Super Size Me, well this is the equivalent of taking something to the extreme.  Stoner of the Year, Doug Benson, a stand up comedian by night, decides to use himself to test the effects of marijuana on his system. He's a avid pot smoker under normal circumstances but in a effort to make a spoof of the famous food movie, he enlists doctors, psychiatrists and anyone else who wants to get into the movie, to test the limits of cannibal on his system. First he gives up marijuana completely to see the effects on his body and mind. He's tested in his academic skills as well as physically and psychically. Take a trip on the humorous side as you watch one man get as possibly stoned as he can and survive.

Screen Media Ventures
Director: Michael Blieden
Producer: Alex Campbell

I viewed 2/12

Sweet Land (2005) - 3 Stars

I enjoyed this film because it reminded me of what my grandmother must have felt when she first came here from Germany in 1916 not speaking a word of English. Though slow paced, it's the touching story of a forbidden love and cultural survival. Shorty after WWI, Inge travels to America, with her Victrola in tow, to start a new life on the plains of Minnesota. She's been sent for to marry Olaf but the community church and it's people will not accept them. With her lack of communication and paperwork, and non approval from the small town, they are unable to marry. Instead, she plays house at the farm while Olaf sleeps in the barn. The town is in an uproar of their sinful ways of living in their big white house until they prove their sincerity at harvest time.

Inge Ottenberg (Elizabeth Reaser), travels from Germany to the United States in hope of finding happiness with a prearranged  new husband Olaf (Tim Guinee), an American farmer with Norwegian roots. Instead, she arrives in a community full of people judging her background roots. Frandsen (Alan Cumming), and his wife Brownie (Alex Kingston), live in a farm near by with their many children. They offer Inge a place to live as she awaits paperwork to become Olaf's wife. But the over crammed conditions cause he to flee back to the farm of Olaf and even under the town's disapproval, she sets of house while rumors spread. Olaf, a shy man, sleeps in the barn to keep the rumors at bay. But Rev. Sorrensen (John Heard),rallies the town against them.

Inge and Olaf spend every waking hour bringing their harvest to yield, completely alone but proving themselves to the community. When Frandsen's farm is behind in their mortgage, Olaf steps up to be high bidder at the auction as he couldn't bare the thought of separating Frandsen's large family. When Rev. Sorrensen and the rest of the community see they have nothing to fear from Inge and Olaf, they pitch in to bring unity back to the town.

Awards include:

2006 - Independent Spirit Awards - Best First Feature
2006 - Women Film Critics Circle - Best Female Images in a Movie
2006 - Women Film Critics Circle - Karen Morley Award

Forward Entertainment
Director: Ali Selim
Writer: Ali Selim
Producers: Ali Selim, Jim Bigham, Alan Cumming

I viewed 3/12

New Jersey Drive (1995) R - 3½ Stars

This movie grew on me as it's very realistic. Even though the lifestyle of the main character would be what I consider a "little shit", the movie does a good job of involving you in the peer pressure of running with the wrong crowd, and you really feel for him. Set in the New Jersey low income projects, young teen boys hang together to form a brotherhood of crime. Stealing car, they keep getting away with it till the corrupt police take matters into their own hands. Growing up quite a bit differently, I found myself on the same ride as the boys as they steal cars and get into trouble, mostly just for kicks.

Jason (Sharron Corley), is a young troubled teen growing up in Newark,  New Jersey projects. Though his mother Rene (Gwen McGee), aches for him to stay in school and become something better than where he's from, Jason lies and hangs on the streets with his boys. Along with Midget (Gabriel Casseus), Roscoe (Saul Stein), Tiny Dime (Donald Faison), P-Nut (Conrad Meertins Jr.), Ritchie (Andre Moore) and the other boys, spend their days and nights drinking and stealing cars. They keep getting away with it so they step up their challenges on better cars, even once stealing a police car. But Officer Roscoe (Saul Stein), and some of his corrupt force, retaliate ending up with injury, jail and for some, death

40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Directors: Howard McMaster, Nick Gomez
Writers: Michel Marriott, Nick Gomez
Producers: Larry Meistrich, Bob Gosse

I viewed 2/12

Apollo 18 (2011) PG13 - 2½ Stars

I have mixed emotions about this film. On one hand, I love thrillers that involve monsters and for that fact alone, the movie intrigued me to pay close attention. On the other hand, even though some of the shots are re-created of the moon fairly well, you have to say WTF to the tease on the box that the movie was made from actual footage. Though the movie did give me the heebee jeebees a few times, I was disappointed when the "evil" appeared as I had envisioned it a whole lot differently. This film could have been so much more as the story line is an interesting topic but I feel the creators blew it by trying to promote it as actual footage rather than focus on special effects. The effort should have been made jazzing it to more of a "War of the Worlds" epic. It's a decent attempt at capturing the era, just not executed very well. Anymore said would be a spoiler to those who want to see it. I guess I have to put it in my based on a true story category as that's what the box says.

Found old footage from NASA's 1974 top secret Apollo 18 mission, is exposed to show why the United States has never made another trip to the moon. Astronauts Ben Anderson (Warren Christie), John Grey (Ryan Robbins) and Nate (Lloyd Owen) set out for what they are told is a top secret mission back to the moon. Instead, they find out just why we have never been back.

Dimension Films, Bekmambetov Projects Ltd. (BPL), Apollo 18 Productions
Director: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego
Writer: Brian Miller
Producers: Michele Wolkoff, Timur Bekmambetov, Cody Zwieg

I viewed 1/12