ADULT LIFE SKILLS
**Winner of 2016 Tribeca Film Festival’s Nora Ephron Prize**
Anna (Jodie Whittaker) is comfortable living in her mom’s garden shed making funny videos all day, but as she approaches 30, she starts feeling the pressure to move on and “grow up” without compromising her youthful spirit.
There is something whimsical about Adult Life Skills that takes hold of your heart. Jodie Whittaker plays Anna, a woman on the brink of turning thirty living in the backyard shed of her family’s home. Attempting to hold on tight to her childhood, she pushes back on growth as she is still reeling from the death of her twin brother. Reliving her relationship through the wonderfully absurd movies they created together for their website, Anna reluctantly takes a lonely neighbor boy (whose mother is dying of what we presume to be cancer) under her wing. Through his growing attachment, she learns to assess her emotional journey and come to terms with her reality. Whittaker is charming and honest. Each beat has depth and humor under the very real sadness. The surrounding ensemble of female family and friends pushes Adult Life Skills to the next level of indie darling. It’s a creative film version of depression. It delves into the mind of sadness with a visually interesting and fully uniquely fleshed out storyline The soundtrack is catchy and haunting as hell. On the whole, Adult Life Skills is simply lovely.
In Theaters and On Demand January 18, 2019
Starring: Jodie Whittaker (“Doctor Who”) and Edward Hogg (“Harlots,” “Misfits”)
Written & Directed by: Rachel Tunnard
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? could not be coming at a more tumultuous time in history. How did we get here? Director Astra Taylor poses the question to people from every corner of the globe in this poignant documentary. The film explores the past, present, and theorizes what will become of our future if we do not pause to learn from our previous mistakes. The world is in what feels like total upheaval but it is not the first time we as a civilization have been on the precipice of either disaster or triumph. We march, we vote, we are inundated with fake news, and yet the people continue to strive for peace and equality against all odds. But democracy goes both ways. That’s the very essence of the word itself. Can good prevail without its counterpart? What we gather, on the whole, is that the naive promise of democracy is beginning to feel like an unfulfilled promise. That no matter the world’s location, race, socio-economics, and money rule. Let us not become numb to the negative but continue to seek compromise and understanding. Truly, WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? should be required viewing in every high school civics class. Hell, it should be required viewing by every human being.
The film explores not only the decision but the potential for that regret. It also addresses the fears that all women have about losing their identity. As someone who is a SAHM to two kids under three, 15months apart, there are many days I feel like “I’m just Mom.” I yearn for adult conversation and most definitely experience postpartum anxiety. Thankfully, the film also addresses these emotions. It doesn’t skirt the conversation about getting pregnant and the potential difficulties involved. Motherhood is endless judgment. But so is the opposite. A woman cannot win either way. We don’t judge men in the same way, but I suppose that’s no surprise. Women’s rights are once again under scrutiny. Be it the government, doctors, the economy, the societal pressure to reproduce is unreal when you break it down by dollars and cents. Director Maxine Trump speaks with women from all backgrounds and life choices to see where they’re coming from as she tries to find her own truth about wanting to have kids with her husband. It’s an incredibly thoughtful film that made me feel more normal, frankly. TO KID OR NOT TO KID is wonderfully relevant in a time when women feel like they finally have more of a voice. The world is changing and women’s honesty will make the world a better place. We need to hold one another up not tear each other down. There are too many forces at hand already trying their best to divide us.
This doc explores the boundaries we push for love and acceptance. Amit is a husband, a father, and business owner. She is also transgender. This story is about her transition and how it affects the family and friends that surround her. It’s a timely film here in the US as the government is attempting to legally discredit transgender identity by legally defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth. Amit has four children with her wife Galit. Daughter Agam is beyond wise for her years and the most vocal about their unique family dynamics. She understands that people’s ignorance is not her problem. She chooses to surround herself with open-minded peers. The emotional toll of transitioning seems endless. It has the highest highs and lowest lows. How does a marriage survive when circumstance completely changes? What happens after she goes to Thailand for gender reassignment surgery for a month? It’s not a glamorous film. It’s real, it’s honest. It’s exactly what people need to see. Family in Transition is a story of unconditional love and the ultimate sacrifices we make to become whole from the inside out.
This new take on a zombie film is actually about protection. Mina is a girl who haunts the woods. She longs for the taste of flesh and is extremely efficient at murder. But the murders serve a higher purpose other than sustenance. She is safeguarding her secret and looking after a kidnapped boy named Alex. She struggles with anger, self loathing, and caring for someone other than herself. Alex suffers from ongoing PTSD, in reality, they are not so different. The payoff of Mina’s backstory is disturbing but meaningful. The trust she builds with Alex is clearly something she never felt while she was alive. She has become a “living” urban legend. The film is driven solely by our two leads. They feel grounded in their backstories and the chemistry is the perfect amount of touch and go, at arm’s length. The film is certainly explores redemption and dabbles further into fantasy with a pretty ambiguous ending. The lack of score, with exception of “Mina’s Theme” that we hear perhaps three times in the film’s duration, adds to the heightened sense of eventual doom and sadness. The Dark is not your typical zombie fare and deserves your full attention
Just when I think Ben Foster can’t get better, well, I should know better by now. His fearless choices in roles continue in the new film Galveston. A man double-crossed and doing a good deed for a captive young girl (played spectacularly by Elle Tanning), Foster once again transforms voice, physicality, and persona to become a hero. His powerful on-screen presence is undeniable and one day, sooner rather than later, we will see him with a much deserved Oscar in his hands. His chemistry with Fanning is delicate and honest as the reality of their dilemma unfolds. The film is a tour de force of intensity from the get-go. It only becomes darker as the story rolls on. Galveston is as heartbreaking as it is triumphant.
We’re living in a world where we have an admitted sexual predator in the White House. We’re living in a moment in time where women are sick and tired of being trampled on, blamed, persecuted, broken, and made to relive their trauma over and over. In dark times we seek escapism. Movies and theater and art keep us grounded. They let us forget the shit and live in a world that can be, at times, as perfect as the fairytale presented. The new film starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, All About Nina, is not that film.
A comic, trying to wade her way through shitty relationships and her budding career, invited us to ride an emotionally explosive rollercoaster right alongside her. As the plot rolls along, it takes a complete 180. Nina’s battle with her past finally comes to light in a very public way. Once this occurs, the script’s small, delicately placed moments have their full weight realized. The comedy is raunchy and appreciated. The cast is filled with comic greats, new and old, but it is Common and Winstead that make this story breathe. It took me a full 45 mins to buy into what Common was selling but maybe that’s just the cynic in me. One particular scene breaks that defense for me and it’s worth the wait. As for Winstead, if I thought she’d even be looked at for this role come Oscar season I would send a blimp with her name on it. She is brilliant in the way women often are but don’t have to balls to shows you, for lack of a better description. Although, once you see her in this film you will just realize it couldn’t be more perfect. All About Nina currently has a 100% fresh certification on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s genuinely difficult to achieve and I am thrilled about it.
presents
Blood Fest takes a page out of the Scream franchise playbook by breaking down the scary movie rules and tropes. It’s a horror fan’s playground, literally. “Bloodfest” is horror’s Comic-Con or Disneyland. The film doesn’t take itself too seriously, the dialogue is snappy as hell, and the sets are incredible. I know people, myself included, that would pay good money to enter such a gore-infused playland. Blood Fest is unapologetically silly and wonderful. Once on location at Bloodfest, we get right into the slashing, enhanced by a nice practical FX and some CG shots. It’s like being trapped in a horror video game you’re watching someone else play for you. Every nightmare someone might have is explored even if only for a moment.Think Cabin In The Woods level humor and (frankly, plot, as well) but with some new twists. To top it off, the entire cast is phenomenally talented. Also, ladies and gentlemen, Zachery Levi cameo. Blood Fest is wildly entertaining and undeniably fun. If you love the horror genre you’ll be thoroughly amused by the tongue-in-cheek way the plot rolls out, despite a few corny moments. Simply sit back and enjoy the bloody ride. Oh, and back to the franchise mention, there is no reason why this couldn’t turn into one itself. A sequel, at the very least, is completely plausible and welcome.
Cam is unique for so many reasons. First, it’s a genre-bending menagerie. You think you know what you’re in for with a sex worker vying to be in the top ten of her live sex show site. But the script is flipped several times and in completely unexpected ways each time. It’s difficult to categorize Cam and I do mean this as a compliment. It seesaws from horror to thriller and swings into surreal territory all while keeping the audience in the dark until the very end. Rarely do we see sex workers treated as human beings, but in Cam, there is a sense of empowerment attached to the storyline. Lead actress, Madeline Brewer, has the massive task of being more than two distinct characters and to explain further would ruin the plot. Brewer knocks it out of the park here. Her talent is undeniable. I will say that the commentary on social media and immediate gratification it can produce is front and center. The final scene renders the plot unapologetic. Cam is an all-around good trip.
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