Reviews

I saw Temptation at the New York Musical Festival and it was like nothing I've ever seen before. It tells the familiar tale of "Faust", a story of making a deal with the devil. This may seem like many other films, but Temptation retells it in a very unique way. First of all it's a "Rock Musical" with the vast majority of the dialogue and story being conveyed through song. With the recent success of "Chicago" and "Moulin Rouge!", Temptation is the next logical step in the progression of the modern musical. In my opinion the biggest flaw in the musical genre is pacing. Sometime films get lost in the songs and the plot is put on hold for five minutes while the characters sing and dance. That doesn't happen here, everything is well paced and the story continually progresses.

The most unique aspect of Temptation is its stunning visuals. It combines real people with animation and surreal sets/backgrounds to create a world never seen before. The colors are vibrant and I was in awe throughout the screening. I really don't know how to describe it other than amazing and even if I could I wouldn't want to ruin it for other viewers.

The performances were also all great. Zoe Saldana (Drumline, Pirates of the Caribbean) did a wonderful job as "Annie" the lead of the film. She looked and sounded great. There were also stellar performances from Adam Pascal, Michael Cerveris, Alice Ripley and my personal favorite Orfeh.

The biggest flaw with the film is its lack of camera movement. There was some wonderful movement within the film, but overall I don't think it was quite enough. I'm not sure if there were too many limits because of the backgrounds and visuals, but I think probably more could have been done. Overall though this is a minor detail and would most likely be overlooked by the audience.

This is a great film and I highly recommend it. Director Mark Tarlov came up with a wonderfully original concept and executed it perfectly.

"Always Late" is a six minute short film made for the 48 hour film project. Only having 48 hours to fully write, shoot and edit a film imposes quite a few limitations on a project, however it's not evident here. This film is far more polished than many shorts I have seen that often can take months or even years to finish. The acting was wonderful and Megan Pillar really shines. It's obvious why she was cast in the Showtime movie "Speak" and will get many more roles in the future. George Caleodis is also wonderful and Jason Morris, although not as polished as some of the other actors shows that he has tremendous talent. My main complaint about the film is that it is too similar to a previous Sonnyboo flick "License Exam". Having already seen that, I felt this film lost some of the originality. Overall though, director Peter John Ross and producer Linda Byrket did a wonderful job. This is definitely worth the six minutes to view it.

"On the Fringe" is a movie that doesn't try to be something that its not. It's a story about people dealing with real life problems, without cheesy gun fights or sex scenes for no reason. Jeff Palmer does a good job with the writing and directing, however the acting did seem a little stiff and felt like the actors were reading lines instead of truly "being" the characters at times. Overall the music was very good and fit the story well, especially during the opening title sequence. I also loved seeing New England in the fall. It fit the characters and story well, sort of like they were dying but still beautiful to look at. It's worth checking out if you get a chance. This is what independent films should strive to be, a movie that has real emotion and doesn't just try to do the same thing Hollywood films also do.

Ghost Reader is one of the best shorts that I have ever seen. It has a wonderful sci-fi plot that takes place in a future where people cannot read, but rather have machines or "Ghost Readers" read for them. This has gone on for so long that people do not even believe that humans are capable of reading. The film is stunning, with great music, a wonderful opening title sequence and great camera work. I mean some of the shots were unbelievable. It is also very well acted. Personally, I think that Jon Osbeck was great in it, but everyone really did a wonderful job. Overall, this film was great. I really wish there were more movies like this out there.

Solve for X is by far one of the best short films I have ever seen. It has a great story that is dark and cryptic. It's also wonderfully shot and has a great feel to it. John Whitney did a terrific job making this film and I would love to see more of his work. If you haven't seen this movie, it really is a must see film.

Stolen Summer is a decent movie that could have been a lot better. It is the story of a 8 year old Irish catholic boy growing up in Chicago in 1976. The boy, named Pete O'Malley (Adiel Stein), believes he is on the fast track straight to hell. Although he seems like a good kid, his teachers and parents seem to tell him he is going to go to hell more than anything else. In order to get to heaven, he decides that he is going to convert Jewish people to Christianity, to both save them and himself. On his quest he meets Rabbi Jacobsen (Pollak) and his son Danny (Weinberg) and all of their lives are changed.

Although somewhat cheesy, the movie is in fact heart-warming. Aidan Quinn and Bonnie Hunt do a wonderful job as Pete's parents. The best acting in the film is probably by Kevin Pollak who plays a kind and open-minded Rabbi who is going through some tough times. The main problem with the film seemed to be that it had too low of a budget. I thought the child actors did a decent job and the shots looked good but some of the scenes don't look like it reached its full potential. I think if there would have been more time and money put forward, the child actors could have done a better job. I also thought at times it looked like there wasn't enough coverage of the scenes, so the editor just had to do the best he could. Overall though it was a good film, but it could have been better.

Abandon is a very average movie. It's nothing that's going to blow the viewer away, but it's not a terrible movie either. Katie Holmes does a good job playing Katie Burke a student nearing the end of college, trying to get her thesis done and land a good job. The movie focuses on the investigation by Wade Handler (Bratt) into the disappearance of Katie's boyfriend two years earlier. Although the film had some good twists and wasn't really predictable, most of the characters other than Katie Burke came off as kind of flat and boring. Embry Larkin played by Charlie Hunnam as Katie's ex-boyfriend was made out to be a wonderful, highly talented genius, but he didn't seem anything special to me. I didn't think Wade Handler, the police officer investigating the disappearance, came across as an very interesting character either. Overall, I'd say that this is an all right movie, but I'd only watch it if nothing else better was available.

Although I really liked "Roger and Me" and "The Big One", I think that "Bowling for Columbine" is Michael Moore's most important film. It explores the topic of gun violence in the United States. But its not your typical boring documentary. It is both extremely funny and extremely sad. The main goal of the film is to figure out why the United States has so many more people die of gun shots each year compared to every other country. It raises many questions and encourages the viewer to rethink their views on guns and what causes people to shoot others.

The film focuses on many different people including John Nichols (brother of Terry Nichols who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City), rock star Marylin Manson, South Park creator Matt Stone, Chris Rock and NRA spokesman and famous actor Charlton Heston. Each person has his/her own take on the rights of people to have guns, why people shoot each other and how to stop violence. The movie goes beyond the quick and easy solutions the news media likes to give to this problem such as video games, rock music and violent movies. This is one of the best films I have seen in a long time and maybe the best film I have ever seen. It is really entertaining and takes on a very important topic. Everyone high school age and up should see this film.

This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Although I am a big Dana Carvey fan, I could not stand this film at all. It was very, very poorly written. The plot was horrible and there were many times in the film that I actually couldn't believe what I was seeing it was so bad. It seemed to me that the final script should have been rough 1st draft at best. I don't suggest seeing this film at all, its not funny and there isn't a good story at all.

New World is a good low-budget science fiction flick. It tells the story of a future were aliens invaded earth and have killed off most of humanity. The movie focuses on a group of rebels who decide that they aren't going to take it anymore and are going to fight the aliens even if it means death. New World features some great ultra low budget special effects but does have the look of a low budget picture. It also has some pretty good acting, although I thought that there were too many characters to develop each individual character enough. Overall though it was a good movie and I hope that there is more to come. It is worth checking out if you get a chance.

Ritual is definitely an entertaining flick. Although I wouldn't describe it as the most frightening movie I've ever seen, it has a wonderful creepy horror film vibe to it. The Rudy Moore character seems to be the typical horror film main character, not too bright and oblivious to the world around him. Harley Kaplan's character, Nick, was much better developed. Overall, it was very well acted by everyone and although it had a few cheesy moments it was a very good movie if you're into horror films.

The Crow is a dark and sad film. It tells the story of a young couple who are murdered on Halloween. The film then jumps to a year later. Brandon Lee's character Eric Draven returns from the dead to avenge his death and to "put the wrong things right". His return is made possible because as legend says a crow takes a person from the land of the living to the land of the dead, but sometimes when a terrible evil has been committed the soul can't rest. Thus the crow allows Eric to return.

The film has really good acting in it, especially Brandon Lee. It is really sad to watch him knowing that he died while filming the movie. I think he could have been a really great actor and dominates the film. Ernie Hudson also does a great job as the good police man who does his best to do the right thing and help people, even though it means he gets in trouble with his boss.

Overall this is a great movie. It is both sad to watch and serves as a constant reminder that life is precious and no really know how much time they have left on earth. A must see film.

This movie was very well made, with a solid plot and great acting. For a low budget film it looked really great technically. I think almost everyone would enjoy seeing this. The film had a good amount of running time, but I almost wished that they had a little more stuff in it and made it a feature. Overall though it was a really quality flick.