 IFC Films, 2021. Writer/Director/Actor Jim Cummings is one of the more delightfully unique voices emerging in Hollywood. If you haven't seen or heard of his previous films, "Thunder Road" and "The Wolf of Snow Hollow," you're not alone, but do yourself a favor and seek them out.
In "The Beta Test" - co-written, co-directed and co-starring his real-life buddy PJ McCabe - his third independent film is his most biting...a delicious slice of entertainment and intrigue that satisfies as much as it unsettles.
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Read Tom's full review of this movie at the following link: http://www.axs.com/movie-review-moonlight-shines-bright-109354  A24, 2016. Read Tom's full review of this movie at the following link: http://www.axs.com/movie-review-new-rock-doc-gimme-danger-gives-the-stooges-the-spotlight-109015  Magnolia Pictures 2016. Read Tom's full review of this movie at the following link: http://www.axs.com/movie-review-american-honey-a-promising-road-trip-veers-off-track-108226  A24, 2016. Read Tom's full review of this movie at the following link: http://www.axs.com/movie-review-generation-startup-thrives-on-entrepreneurial-spirit-107836  Creative Breed, 2016.  Paladin, 2016. It's been over 20 years since screen icon Jerry Lewis headlined a movie, and oddly enough, he chose a drama for his big-screen return. The result is a mixed bag, as the film features a fine performance by Lewis, but he's stuck in a depressing slog of a movie. As the title character in "Max Rose" (opening today, Sept 16), Jerry Lewis plays every year of his age, which is now 90, as a down-and-out failed musician coping with the recent loss of his wife, whom he was married to for 65 years. Kerry Bishe and Kevin Pollak round out the cast, as Max's daughter and son, respectively, who are trying to care for their father while picking up the pieces of their own lives.
 Photo courtesy of A24, 2016. Used with permission. If you're a sucker for a good coming-of-age story, then "Morris from America" (opening today, Sept 2) is a film you desperately need to seek out. It's funny, different, and one of more surprising finds of the year.
 Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Independent
Opens locally Friday, August 5th, 2011 Run time: 1 hour 33 minutes, Not Rated Starring: Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen Written & Directed by David Robert Mitchell (feature-film debut) Once every so often a movie comes along that changes things. In the small, new film The Myth of the American Sleepover - a film shot entirely in Michigan - the teen coming-of-age story is given the grown-up treatment, and the result is nothing short of refreshing cinematic wonder.  Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Independent, Drama
Opens locally Friday, June 24th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour, 37 minutes, Rated R Starring: Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor Written and Directed by Richard Ayoade (directorial debut, maybe best known as Moss on the British TV series, "The IT Crowd") Don't worry, there was no budget for real Submarines in this quirky British dramedy. Nor was there a need for real submarines, so don't let the film's title mislead you. "Submarine" is a story (adapted from the novel by Joe Dunthorne) about young love, and coming of age in a sense, shown in a real-world way where (gasp!) teenagers actually swear and want to have sex. First-time feature-film director Richard Ayoade creates a style somewhere in-between that of Noah Baumbach (The Squid & The Whale) and Wes Anderson, and the result is an odd yet funny tale about adolescence.  Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Independent, Romance
Opens locally: October 1st, 2010 Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (directorial debut) Run Tim: 1 hour, 29 minutes "Jack Goes Boating" was a 2007 off-Broadway play by Bob Glaudini, who adapted his own work for the screen. The play also starred Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title role as "Jack", as well as Rubin-Vega and Ortiz. This film marks Hoffman's directorial debut, and from what I can tell, is quite faithful to the stage version. |
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the featured film critic appearing on WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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