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Tom_Seim
Reviews
AJ Goes to France (2006)
Hollywood wishes it could make a movie like this.
AJ Goes to France is a local and independent film made by three teenagers in Fargo, ND. The film truly shows the grit of how to do it without any financial help or studio backing. Regardless, the no-budget film is laugh-out-loud funny. Borrowing humor from Seth MacFarlane, Michael Ouweleen, Erik Richter, etc. AJ Goes to France renders the usefulness of timing and weirdness in adding to the comedy. Another comedic aspect is the fact that a few of the main actors play multiple characters. This shouldn't throw any people off, because from the first scene on, a viewer will get the feeling of wackiness. All jokes follow suit and can easily be apprehended. Interestingly enough, as much as the creators of this movie have borrowed comedy from other sources, it maintains a lot of originality in its own element. As a movie itself, it does not fall short in maintaining a steady pace, quality editing, and believable acting. The power of self-promotion is profound as the film premiered with 199 people in attendance at the historic Fargo Theatre. For a small town in the Midwest, this is quite an achievement. All in all, Hollywood wishes it could make a movie like this.
964 Pinocchio (1991)
Visually enticing and meaningful.
Firstly, we must address that this film is an art film. It thrives on visuals to tell the story. The explicitness of the visual effects are well executed for the sake of uncomfortableness and serves as a catalyst to keep the viewer interested, although it does not necessarily rely completely on visuals. The story itself holds a certain theme which comments on humans being just commodities. Sexual slavery does exist, however, in this particular film, the idea of sexual slavery has been taken to the extreme. Secondly, some underlying philosophy that this film holds, is that in order to experience peace with oneself, one must go through unbearable physical change. In a way, Kafka had his hand in this, think Metamorphosis, except incredibly painful and agonizing. Being a Japanese, underground, cult film, it is not appreciated everywhere, and is not expected to be. Director Shojin Fukui should proud of himself to have done such a controversial yet appealing film.
The Sports Fan (2005)
Big fan of The Sports Fan
Tucker Lucas (writer and director) has raised the bar on (really) short films. Given the two minutes that was allotted for the Fargo Film Festival's side venue: The Two Minute Film Festival, Lucas made the perfect flick. When asked about his hobbies in a job interview, Matt Burkholder (played by himself) can only fib about what it is. Burkholder delivers as we are flashed back to a scene that shows us what Mr. Burkholder really does for a hobby. Matt Burkholder and Brad Delzer star in this short comedy. Clever and even a little unsettling, The Sports Fan is worth your two minutes. We hope to see much more from the talented director and writer, Tucker Lucas.