Review: LX 2048 (2020)

Adam Bird (James D’Arcy) is still getting used to a technologically advanced world. Humans can’t go out normally in the day because the sun is too toxic, but he does go out while wearing a Hazmat suit. He feels like the only human in the world that still lives a regular life, doing his job in the day and interacting with clones – necessary workers because they have augmented pigmentation that protects them from the sun. To make matters worse, Adam learns that he’s dying, so he tries to figure out a way to ensure that his family will be taken care of when he’s gone.

DTF (2020 Documentary)

Some things don’t always go according to plan. That’s a statement filmmaker Al Bailey seems like he’d be familiar with, as his new documentary DTF really wanders from its original premise. The set-up is following his air pilot friend “Christian” as he flies around the world, hooking up with women on Tinder, and we see this in the first part of the film as “Christian’s” dates are documented.

Luz: The Flower of Evil (2020)

In Juan Diego Escobar Alzate’s feature debut, Luz: The Flower of Evil, there’s a focus on man corrupting nature and corrupting everything he touches. This man is a preacher called El Señor (Conrado Osorio) who leads a small commune in the mountains. One day, he brings back a child he calls Jesús (Johan Camacho) who will be the new Messiah. Coinciding with this, his “daughters” Uma (Yuri Vargas), Zion (Sharon Guzman) and Laila (Andrea Esquivel), who is his only birth daughter, are coming-of-age and begin to challenge his teachings.   This aspect of the film challenging him is fascinating, especially when Laila finds a music player in the woods and El Señor claims that this is “the devil’s music.” There’s a lovely discussion by the three “sisters” as they discuss what she found and discuss a music box given to them by their mother, the titular Luz. Luz’s presence is felt throughout the film, as some members of the commune believe her death has brought bad luck to the small commune as the tree where El Señor buried her has not yet bloomed.

TIFF 2020 – Good Joe Bell (2020)

Directed by: Reinaldo Marcus Green. Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Connie Britton, Reid Miller. Runtime: 1h 30 min. Released: This film premiered at TIFF as a part of the Gala Presentations on Sept. 14, 2020. This review contains minor spoilers.  Good Joe Bell is a moving story of a father, Joe Bell (Mark Wahlberg), taking a walk from …

Filmcraziest Interviews, Juan Diego Escobar Alzate for his film Luz: The Flower of Evil

On this episode of Filmcraziest Interviews, I interview Colombian filmmaker Juan Diego Escobar Alzate (pictured in the featured image) about his debut feature film Luz: The Flower of Evil. Alzate talks about the religion of the film, the cinematography of it and what it’s like making a film in Colombia, and much more.

Shudder Review: Yummy (2020)

Alison (Maaike Neuville), boyfriend Michael (Bart Hollanders) and Alison’s mom Sylvia (Annick Christiaens) travel to a shady hospital in Eastern Europe to visit an acclaimed plastic surgeon. Alison wants a breast reduction surgery – a scene talking about this emulates Superbad’s “she has back problems, man” discussion – and Sylvia is getting what seems like every plastic surgery imaginable. The anxious but supportive Michael is just along for the ride. They find more than they bargained for when Michael inadvertently releases Patient Zero in the hospital’s basement as he wanders around with hospital employee Daniel (Benjamin Ramon). Zombie horror ensues.

Spiral (2020)

Directed by: Kurtis David Harder. Starring: Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Ari Cohen, Jennifer Laporte. Runtime: 1h 27 min. This film is now streaming on Shudder in the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand as of Sept. 17. Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and Aaron (Ari Cohen) are a same sex-couple who move to a small town from Chicago …

TIFF 2020 – Concrete Cowboy (2020)

Directed by: Ricky Staub. Starring: Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, Lorraine Toussaint. Runtime: 1h 51 min. Released: This film premiered at TIFF as part of the Gala Presentations on Sept. 13, 2020. When picking the films I wanted to watch for this year’s TIFF, I picked Ricky Staub’s Concrete Cowboy because of Idris Elba. I’m glad …

TIFF 2020 – One Night in Miami (2020)

A fictionalized night based on real events, this film hooks from its introductions. We see the characters doing what they do best – Clay fighting, Sam singing (at the Copacabana), Malcolm X speaking. Strangely, instead of playing football we meet Jim Brown on a porch speaking with a white benefactor called Mr. Carlton (Beau Bridges), where the banter is quick and the dialogue entertaining, as they speak to each other like old friends because of Jim’s fame. Then, Carlton drops a bomb, reminding Jim him that he is Black and Mr. Carlton is white. He says what he says so casually and with a laugh that it is shocking given the dynamic 15 seconds before.

TIFF 2020: Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

Directed by: Roseanne Liang. Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Belulah Koale. Runtime: 1h 23 min. Released: This film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2020. We all have specific kinds of films we love where as soon as you hear the premise, you’re sold on it; and that for me …