Film

News: Kevin Smith finds funding for Clerks III

Posted on by indiemacuser

Writer/director Kevin Smith let slip on his podcast Hollywood Babble-On (an entertainment/chat show co-hosted by Ralph Garman) that he had secured funding for the long-awaited film Clerks III. This is reportedly as a result of renewed interest following Smith’s recent horror/comedy Tusk.  

Smith made his film debut with Clerks in 1994; shooting the film for around $27,000 paid on various credit cards before selling the film to Miramax at the Sundance film festival. He went on to further successes with films such as Dogma, Chasing Amy & Jersey Girl before returning to Clerks with Clerks II in 2006. Continue reading →

Movie Gem of the Week: War, Inc. (2008)

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There exists a great tradition in cinema of political satires that highlight current and future issues ironically through their use of dark comedy; whilst not actually featuring factual characters or events (i.e. The Manchurian Candidate)…this is one such film.

War Inc. is the 2008 dystopian sathttps://i0.wp.com/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/WarIncPoster.jpg/220px-WarIncPoster.jpgire from director Joshua Seftel and writers Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser and John Cusack; starring John Cusack, Hillary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack and Ben Kingsley. Continue reading →

Review: Motivational Growth (2013)

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 Originally reviewed for Battle Royale With Cheese

‘Motivational Growth‘ is the 2013 dark comedy/horror film from Writer/Director Don Thacker and has already been well received on the festival circuit; winning several awards.

motgrowth1

The story revolves around Ian Folivor (Adrian DiGiovanni); a reclusive slacker who dispels his own schizophrenic, self-effacing view of the world. The film opens with an excellent stylised montage of retro trash TV as Folivor flicks between channels on his old TV set ‘Kent’; his only companion as he spends his life on the couch. When the set malfunctions Folivor attempts to bring an end to his miserable existence; he wakes up after knocking himself unconscious only to discover The Mold (voiced by horror veteran Jeffrey Combs) is talking to him. He starts to take advice from The Mold and begins to clean up his act but as the story continues we see this relationship turn sinister; think Little Shop of Horrors but without the songs.   Continue reading →

Retrospective: Alien³ (1992) *Spoilers*

Posted on by indiemacuser

Written by Lewis Mainwaring

 

Alien³ is a 1992 American science-fiction horror film and the debut feature film of director David Fincher(Fight Club, Se7en, The Social Network).

This film is the third instalment of the Alien film series;alien-3-australian-movie-poster-27x41-1992-david-fincher-sigourney-weaver set directly after the events of the previous film Aliens         (1986 – which was written and directed by James Cameron and is personally my favourite instalment of the franchise).

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Interview: Scott Schiaffo – Character Actor from ‘Clerks’ 20 Years On

Posted on by indiemacuser

To mark the anniversary of the release of the indie hit film Clerks(1994) from writer/director Kevin Smith we talk to character actor/musician Scott Schiaffo who played ‘Chewlies Gum Guy’; a memorable comic character part in the film.

A native of New Jersey, Scott got his big screen début in 1994 with Clerks but has gone on to appear in many independent films and shorts; including another notable character part as Travis Lee in the film Vulgar(2000) from director Brian Johnson and executive producers Kevin Smith/Scott Mosier.

Continue reading →

Review: Pride (2014)

Posted on by indiemacuser

Co-Written by Lewis Mainwaring

Pride tells the story of ‘Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners‘; a real activist movement who came out in support of the miners during the 1984-1985 strike.

pride Continue reading →

Review: Blood Valley – Seed’s Revenge (Seed 2)

Posted on by indiemacuser

Co-written by Lewis Mainwaring   Originally reviewed for Battle Royale with Cheese

This film from writer/director Marcel Walz is the follow-up (but not a direct sequel) to the 2007 film ‘Seed’; which followed Max Seed on a rampage of blood and gore.

seed-2-watermarkedMax Seed (played by Nick Principe in this film) is not in our opinion a modern day slasher icon such as Michael Myers (Halloween franchise), Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th Franchise) or Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise) but was clearly deemed ‘popular’ enough to spawn a blood-soaked sequel; although this time he’s not killing alone.

The story resolves around a group of four friends (Christine – Natalie Scheetz, Olivia – Christa Campbell, Claire – Annika Strauss and Barbara – Sarah Hayden) on their way home from a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. The film opens strongly with a grotesque horror sequence that stays with the audience long after the fade out before flashing back to the girls leaving Las Vegas; this in itself is not an unusual device for a horror film but as the film continues we realise the story is chopped up completely out of sequence and scenes appear to be inserted at random without consideration for the plot and character development Continue reading →

Interview: Marilyn Ghigliotti – Star of ‘Clerks’ 20 Years On

Posted on by indiemacuser

 To mark the anniversary of the release of the indie hit film Clerks(1994) from writer/director Kevin Smith we talk to actress Marilyn Ghigliotti who played Veronica; one of the female protagonists in the film.

Born in New York, Marilyn started her acting career in local theatre after moving to New Jersey before getting her big screen debut with Clerks in 1994. She has since gone on to play a variety of roles in indie horror, comedy & action films. 20 years on, we ask her about the experience of making the film as well as her life and work since. Continue reading →

Movie Gem of the Week: Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

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Safety Not Guaranteed is the big screen debut from American director Colin Trevorrow & writer Derek Connoly (both currently at the helm of the new Jurassic Park sequel ‘Jurassic World’) and stars Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass & Jake Johnson. Producers Peter Saraf and Mark Turtletaub were also involved with 2006 indie hit ‘Little Miss Sunshine’.

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Three Short Film Reviews

Posted on by indiemacuser

As part of my ongoing contributions to film site Battle Royale With Cheese I was asked to review three short films.

These three shorts were produced in the UK by Chocolate Bear Productions.
All three will be featured at the Portobello Film Festival on September 14th, 2014.

Continue reading →