jannycwriter

Mickey Hardaway is a film every mental health practitioner should see, heck the whole world should see as Mickey Hardaway shows exactly how our mental health system fails us.

Shot entirely in black and white the only color we get is when Mickey meets Grace as we see Grace is the only color, and brightness in his painful black-and-white life. Cox does a phenomenal job in his directorial debut. I applaud him so much and can relate deeply to this film. Much of it brought tears to my eye as I saw Mickey and Grace so much my husband and me. Cox presents a beautiful piece that is flawless in my opinion, and the cast is stellar. Every shot has a meaning and every cast member commands each scene they are in. David Chattam gives a vicious performance as Randall Hardaway aka Mickey's dad, and he delivers the cruelest line ever delivered in a film that I have ever heard.

Rashad Hunter as Mickey though is the breakout star. He portrays Mickey with a realistic vulnerability that you can not help but feel even maybe relate to. I like how Cox cuts Mickey slip into instability in an almost uneventful way till it's too late, which, is kind of true to life. When a person goes off the deep end no one ever sees it coming. It is usually after the fact the signs are seen.

Mickey Hardaway is currently out on the film festival circuit and should be winning tons of awards in my book.

A great indie art house piece my rating is 10/10.

Written and directed by David J. Espinosa, his overall tone and direction here remind me of reading a Stephen King book. I always found the beginnings of his books a bit slow, but he keeps you engrossed enough not to shut the book, and by the end, boy, are you glad you didn't. That is how I felt with Demon Fighter. Espinosa starts out a bit slow but keeps you enticed, rewarding you in the end. This is also thanks to the cast, who delivered impressive performances. Jeff Hatch (Nicolas Stark) and Jeanne Young (Vivian Stark) are powerful in their 180-degree performances. My breakout star, though, is Jeffery Battaion (Anthony Stark). When they are all praying in the end, and Battaion gets on his knees... oh boy! It wasn't the line that struck me but how he delivered it. I felt it. I connected with it. I've watched many horror exorcism films but never not emotional over one. That is due to Espinosa, Ahrens (producer), and the cast.

I didn't want to admit adored this movie. While I am not much for drama films,I was gripped with the elegant storytelling. Watching was easy, and I soon became invested in Ava and her journey. Performances-wise, the cast did a great job distracting from the minor in-synchronicities of the film's shaky camera work in spots. Skillen is a triple threat, though, as she also plays Ava (Skillen directed and wrote). Skillen gives Ava a sweet naivety and likeability that is solid and believable. A lovely sweet, touching film.

SUPERB!

Written and directed by Don Thacker, Thacker delivers Indie film at its finest. Motivational Growth is just pure enjoyment to watch. Sure Thacker leaves us with many questions, but The Mold smoothed it all over. Enjoy the showman, enjoy the show. Speaking of The Mold (voiced by the illustrious Jeffery Combs), he does not steal the film; Adrian DiGiovanni (Ian Folivor), our protagonist, our narrator does. Our narrator has to captivate, and Adrian's Ian does. He draws you in before he even speaks with his blank disheveled appearance. When he does speak you are wholly invested in Ian Folivor and his journey. This is all thanks to the amazing camera work the camera team does. Every shot, scene and twist ,that journeys us into Ian's mind-mucking fun that becomes Ian's horror mold-infested world.

A sucker for a good witch tale Pungo: A Witch's Tale delivers that satisfaction. Based on actual history, there is actually a true Pungo, Virginia, and the "Pungo Witch" did exist. Her name was Grace Sherwood, and she was the last person to be tried as a witch ever in Virginia. In 2006 she was pardoned by former Virginian Governor Tim Kaine, who was mayor at the time. Her story is quite remarkable and should be looked up and read. Written and directed by Phillip J. Cook, he takes this tasty morsel of history and weaves a part fantasy, part horror, with a dash of part sci-fi tale of an adventure to watch, and it kind of works.

Visually Pungo: A Witches Tale is impressive, especially for an indie film. Cook acts as the cinematographer as well, having won numerous awards for his visual special effects and film work, so it is no surprise Pungo looks beautiful and he did it all on an indie budget of $20,000. Is it Hollywood ILM magic standard? No, but for indie, it is stellar, in my opinion. I often got lost in the film's visuals instead of the story.

All hail Normandy Is My Name! An absolute charm your pants off teen comedy-drama Normandy Is My Name will warm your heart, adding a surprising case of "the feels." Taken totally by surprise I adored this film! A complete package with a hidden message of the classic old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." as each teen discovers each one is more than what they appear. Normandy Is My Name is way more than it appears as well. Hit that play button and watch; you just might be amazed. I know I was.

Meet Ava Moriarty (Lorrisa Julianus), a former genius art historian and now a Diva Dominatrix who wants out. Partnering with her friend Gabe (Shannon Brown) on a business deal, this investment is Ava's escape to happiness. Ava comes home from a hard day's work to find her Russian mobster boyfriend (whom she refuses to admit is) is dumping her and wants the money he loaned her to invest with back. Oh, and that money is now gone along with their investor friend Lloyd who died of an unfortunate circumstance.

Bonus she's got 28 days to deliver. What's a girl to do?

When offered to exploit a local priest for precisely the amount she needs, she takes the offer. Ava, though decides to play detective to find out the why. Ava learns though the priest and she are not so unlike each other in this romantic comedy adventure.

Amazing cast. Larrisa Julianus dominates! Not a rom com fan but I fell in love.

Great family film. Even my autistic son fell in love with this movie. He watched the whole film! The CG squirrel is ADORABLE! I forsee stuffed Ulysses plushies everywhere! Warning your kids may want a pet squirrel now. Thank you Disney.

Evil Down the Street... um, Think Paranormal Activity without the video cameras. In fact, the camera work here is everything!

In Evil Down the Street, we meet the Ryan family moving into their lush new home. When one of the teen daughters finds some strange occult stuff along with an Ouija board in a trunk in the basement, she oddly gets locked in the basement. The family starts to experience strange stuff then firmly calls this dark occult box off-limits. But when the youngest teen daughter Maddy and her friend decided to sneak down and play with the Ouija board, things start to take a strange and sinister turn and mom Kate is the target.

Evil Down the Street indeed gives you a few jumps. This is owed it really to the way they filmed the movie. The camera angles employed were like you were actually observing through the eyes of the evil that lives within the house. Completely eerie! This is what glues you to the film.

Alena Gerard, who played mom Kate, carried out an excellent job. Especially if she was going for the bipolar creepy mom performance. I also oddly adored Deborah Remagila as nosey neighbor Penny. She was perfection.

My only down side is it runs only 97 minutes long I was left craving more! Maybe later down the line they can go all feature length with it, yet still keeping with the original vibe of the film that makes this The Evil Down the Street a surprising hit.

Can a horror/thriller movie have a heart? The Crumbs is superbly entertaining and goes where I didn't think a horror/thriller movie could go...AND it succeeds!

Directed by David J. Espinosa (who also plays Angel Valente) and written by Craig Ahrens (who does a cameo) and David J. Espinosa. The Crumbs is a bit like Resident Evil 7 video game storyline mixed with a bit of the Wrong Turn, then add a dash of the "feels" to it, yes, I said the feels.

We encounter Dr. Benjamin Crumb and his family who run a quaint B&B in the woods where not all checkout. At least not before getting lab-tested by Dr. Benjamin Crumb with the aid of his family and helper Leonard. Don't worry though they don't waste the dead meat if you know what I mean. This is just the tip of the Crumbs dysfunction too. So, pray you have a reservation. The Crumbs family have a code of honor you know.

The Crumbs is a totally awesome film. I cannot stop raving! It keeps you glued to each juicy bit throughout flowing along seamlessly. Kudos to David Johnson on cinematography. I loved this one-shot where it looks like it's a drone shot looking down over the forest as you see the transition of the night into day. This shot seems to of been done in real-time. Not sure if it was, but it was a standout shot for me. For indie film this is a great film.

Suffering amnesia after a mysterious accident, film director Archie Finch pieces together his life with the help of a seeming specter.

Psychopomp is an art-house style indie piece; thus, you have to kind of observe it through a different set of eyes. This is Indie, not A list, high budget Hollywood. Indie is true film art with a whole lot of passion. That being said Psychopomp it is a psychological/horror that, messes with your mind mentality type of film. If this is what director and writer Arthur Reyes was going for then Psychopomp totally works.

When we open, we meet Archie who we find is currently in psychological therapy. He suffers from amnesia after being in some form of an accident as well as being haunted by these odd dreams, which start to blend into his reality leaving the viewer not knowing what is Archie's real-life or his whacked-out dreams. That is until a pivotal moment where Archie does start to remember. In flashbacks, we learn the truth of what happened and the truth about Archie himself. Throughout this though a TV or microwave head guy is roaming around hunting for Archie. Reyes (Director) does a great smooth blend of working him into Archie's life when he finally manages to catch Archie.

Acting-wise I thought Samantha Weller (Birdie) and Maria Olsen (Rita) who you might remember seeing as Mrs. Dodds/The Fury in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Paranormal Activity 3, American Horror Story, and Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem brought brilliant life to the film and their roles. Weller retains the best line in the whole film I think, "I'm Free." The way she delivered that line at that moment and the repercussion of the meaning behind that line too... it just gave me chills. I just think that was the best line in the whole film. So, if psychological/horror acid tripping movies are your thing? Check out Psychopomp.