The Ventures: Stars on Guitars is a fascinating, fun rock doc filled with great interviews and anecdotes. It's bound to please not only Surf Music fans, but wide audiences at large. It includes explanations and demonstrations of how the Ventures produced their brilliantly innovative sounds, and takes the viewer on a great journey through the 60s music scene. This is an exciting, energetic film without a dull moment. Highly recommended!
Reviews
9 Reviews
Esperanza's Turn
(2020)
beautiful, stylized, and full of heart
14 May 2021
I discovered this little gem at the Portland film festival and thought about it often since. A beautiful piece , weaving together fantasy and realism. Its a great accomplishment to create a film (let a lone a short) that is both so stylized and so sincere, moving, compelling, and full of heart. Great visual storytelling and beautiful music to complement it. Highly recommended!
Painless
(II) (2017)
smart and original
13 May 2021
I stumbled across the trailer of this movie and was curious to check it out. What a treat. This is a smart, human, original piece of indie cinema that works really well as a drama as well as a thriller. The main character who cannot feel pain is riddled with so much mental anguish that his face exudes it in a way that evokes so much empathy. The movie defies genre expectations and manages to deliver a very compelling human character-drama along with what feels like a carefully researched sci-fi-thriller (in the true sense of "science" rather than fantasy). One is reminded of Aronofsky's Pi in the best of ways - but this film has so much more to offer. I highly recommend it.
Rot
(II) (2019)
original and intense
12 May 2021
I never heard about the movie before but the poster and trailer made me curious to check it out... And wow. What a treat. An original and really intense piece of filmmaking that is visually inspired, thrilling and unpredictable. Unnerving sequences that are exceptionally visceral, and a great finale that will stay in memory for a long time. Feels like the type of a movie that would turn into a cult classic if only it had a studio behind it or a bigger budget. Highly recommended. Check it out!
The Catch
(2020)
terrific indie film
12 May 2021
I saw this movie at the Austin film festival without knowing anything about it and loved it! What a great piece of indie cinema, authentic, original, intense, and the lead actress is outstanding. By far the best movie I saw in Austin and one of the very best films I saw all year. Highly recommended. A real gem.
Drought
(I) (2020)
heartfelt, beautiful film
7 April 2021
I saw this wonderful movie at the Dances With Films festival in 2020 and have thought about it so often since. Drought is a touching and sincere film that tugs at the heartstrings, and even more so if you know or love someone on the Autism spectrum. It is a real indie gem, both funny and heartfelt, featuring perfect performances from Megan Peterson and Hannah Black (who both also wrote and directed with great aesthetic and emotional sensibility) and Owen Scheid, a young actor on the spectrum who brings truth and heart to the role. A great piece of indie cinema, highly recommended!
Angel of Nanjing
(2015)
Incredibly powerful
28 March 2021
"Angel of Nanjing" is an incredibly powerful human portrait of a real life angel who made it his mission in life to save the lives of those standing on the ledge of suicide and despair. A moving, gripping, tour de force documentary filmmaking. Highly recommended!
Before/During/After
(2020)
Finnerty Steeves shines
17 March 2021
Before/During/After is a beautiful, touching and sincere slice of life drama. Finnerty Steeves is absolutely wonderful in it. I saw it when it won best film at the Dances with Films festival (well deserved!) and it stayed with me since. Funny, heartbreaking, and original. Highly recommended.
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