What a treasure this one is!  I got to see this one as a midnight screening during SIFF and even the Mystery Science Theater peeps couldn't save this film from being sheer garbage.  Having never seen an Ed Wood movie before, I had no idea what to expect.  I've of course seen classic cult films such as The Room, Miami Connection, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  But, those at least had something to grasp at and enjoy.  Glen or Glenda is sheer madness though.  What the hell was the point of this film?

The Mystery Science Theater guys tried to help the film run a bit smoothly.  Riffing on films is also something I've never watched, let alone seen in a live performance.  To be honest, the first 20 minutes of the film went smoothly and made me chuckle, but eventually the riffing itself got old.  Once the clock struck 12:30AM I felt like what I was watching would be a good way to extract information from a combatant.  I mean really, this whole movie fiasco was sheer torture.  There are now two movie directors that I never want to watch, Jean-Luc Godard and the ever-so-torturous Ed Wood.

The Bottom Line:  Skip it if you have anything better to do with your life.

Score: 1/10

Image Credit: ​http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/movieposters/92953/p92953_p_v8_aa.jpg

Miles tells a story of a boy who joins an all girls volleyball team in high school so that he can get a scholarship to go to college.  As an indie film, this one cuts into our emotions as we see Miles (Tim Boardman) deal with the struggles of a typical coming-of-age story.  All of the cast does a fantastic job in acting their part and Boardman displays his capabilities as a great teenage actor.  Also, Molly Shannon once again creates acts a part that seems all to familiar for her as a somewhat depressive mother of a teenager.  This movie gives us a genuine feeling of what the director coped with in his life.  After the film, director Nathan Adloff discussed that this film was a bit of an exaggeration of his own childhood.  That being said, most of the film feels pretty realistic with its upsides and downsides.

My main problem with this film is the average tone it portrays.  Not only does Miles have a typical story arc of almost every indie coming-of-age film, but it also never seems to delve into certain issues.  There is never the character breakdown that I am hoping to see.  Without a further journey into the emotions of each character, I never felt like I truly cared about anything going on.  I applaud the originality of the events in the story, but overall the narrative just falls short.  This film could have been an ace if only so many others had not preceded it.  Maybe if movies like The Kings of Summer, The Spectacular Now, or Boyhood had not already been made then this movie would not have felt like such a bore.

The Bottom Line:  If you feel like you must watch every indie coming-of-age film, then I would direct your attention to this one.  Just keep in mind that there is not much being added to the genre with  this single film.

Score: 5.5/10

Shoutouts:  Quick shoutout here to Josh Okrent and/or Amalia Williams for the first donation to the site!

Image Credit: ​http://www.getmovieposter.com/wp-content/uploads/getmovieposter_miles_1.jpg

The first time I heard about this film occurred after one of my friends saw it at the Sundance festival.  I immediately watched the trailer and asked my friend, "What the hell this film was and how the hell could it get made???"  Okay, maybe I did not ask my friend that directly but I was super weirded out and confused.  The film starts when a journalist (David Farrier) stumbles upon a competitive tickling contest online.  Ya, your thoughts at this point are exactly what I thought after I saw the trailer.

The film unravels from there in a grand fashion, turning from a comedy into some sort of weird crime documentary.  Farrier leads us on this in-depth journey into the male-endurance-tickling world and at times makes us laugh and scares the hell out of us at other times.  After the film I was exhausted not only by all of the tickling I was forced to watch, but by all of the revelations occurring in front of my eyes.  The viewer is place on the brink of an investigation in one of the best investigative journalist stories I have ever seen on a screen.  I cannot really go any further into this review without revealing key points of the story so I am going to leave you all with what is written so far.  Hopefully, you will all get to have a glimpse of the male endurance tickling world through the story of Tickled.

The Bottom Line:  This film plays with tone so much that while at one point you may be laughing, you will suddenly shrivel up and fear what might be revealed next.

Score: 9.4/10

Quite a while ago I saw Pat Healy in the film Cheap Thrills and I knew that this was an actor with potential.  In Carnage Park, Healy returns to the big screen as a psychopath who entertains himself by shooting people in his territory with a sniper rifle.  The story is more complex than the previous sentence, but that's the basic idea.  Healy does a good job as a the maniacal shooter, but unfortunately the film comes off as boring, repetitive, and oddly-toned.

According to the film, this is a true story that occurred.  Honestly, the story is really weird and messed up but the movie lacks any sort of uniqueness.  The film relies heavily on jump-scares and again I will reiterate that this convention is the main reason I hate modern horror films.  I mean come on, there are so many better ways to create a horror film that don't rely on the audience always having to be ready for a loud noise and a flash of action.  Yet even when Carnage Park moves away from using jump scares, which it very briefly does, the horror aspects are less scary as they are just weird and annoying.  

My final criticism for the film is the tone.  Clearly this is a midnight film which relies on a cult tone, but scenes that could have been comedic fall flat in the film.  Oddly, the first half of Carnage Park goes for a Tarantino-esque style of story-telling.  The problem is that Tarantino films have their style for a reason whereas Carnage Park has no reason for telling the story the way that it does.  If you want a comedy horror film, actually add some humor to the mix and actually make the film enjoyable.

The Bottom Line: This one is pretty much a repetitive bore which can only pride itself in casting Pat Healy using him as an extremely boring character.

Score:  4/10

This film is a true heart-wrencher.  That does not mean that it is overly emotional.  Rather, it is just so like-able and relatable to the struggle of life that everyone endures.  As a Youtube vlogger, Princess Shaw struggles to get attention for her original music.  That is, until she is discovered by Kutiman who is an Israeli musician that uses random Youtube videos to create music.  Throughout this film, there is a sense of connection between the two artists who struggle to get recognition for their hard work.  Director Ido Haar connects the two characters in such a fantastic portrayal of their parallel lives.  Furthermore, the soundtrack hits home with Princess Shaw's original songs.  Her music is used in order to show her subtle rise to what one could call "fame."  

After the film, Princess Shaw herself came on stage for a Q&A whilst being applauded for her movie.  She seemed like such a genuine person that I had to check out her Youtube channel.  To me, documentaries have to have this effect where the viewer strives to learn more after the movie.  That being said, Presenting Princess Shaw left me wanting to learn more so I applaud Ido Haar, Princess Shaw, and Kutiman for their efforts in the making of this film.

The Bottom Line:  This film is very heart-felt and a beautiful portrait of how one person can fit into the bigger picture of life.

Score: 7.5/10

7:00 Microbe and Gasoline
9:30 The Last King

Just watched GoT.  'Nuff said, goodnight.

This was the first SIFF film I got to see and boy was it an experience.  Before this film, I had heard of NOMA (the best restaurant in the world) while watching Anthony Bourdain's show on the travel channel.  The food looks delicious and the concepts look fresh.  The film dives into NOMA's transition to Tokyo after the owner decides to move the restaurant and crew out of Copenhagen and into Asia.  The film was quite interesting to watch as the audience gets to experience the whole crew at NOMA and their process of moving the restaurant.  I do not recommend watching this one with an empty stomach, but if you do you might become full after devouring its content.  The film sort of unravels as we get to see all of the personalities of the staff.  Clearly, the director worked just as hard at making this film as the NOMA crew worked onscreen.  There are different segments that are put together to portray everything NOMA is about.  I like the style and narrative for the most part, but I would have liked the film a bit more if it had more organization.  At times, the segments feel scattered and the movie comes off a bit jumbly.  Overall, this was a good first film for the fest though!

The Bottom Line:  Even if you just taste a bit of this film, your mouth might start to water as it yearns for more.

Score: 7.6/10

A BRIEF AFTERTHOUGHT:  Some reviews may be a bit shorter during the film fest because there are so many films that I am watching!

4:00 Tickled
7:00 Miles
MIDNIGHT The Mads are Back: Glen or Glenda

4:30PM Ants on a Shrimp
7:00PM Presenting Princess Shaw
MIDNIGHT Carnage Park