Author: Take2IndieReview: Mark Lakatos
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COAST ROAD
If there was ever a modern, very Irish answer to Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, it would be Bryan Stynes’ Coast Road. Part leisurely coastal showcase, part gloomy crime caper, nothing is quite as it seems on this particular bus ride. Things start out as bright and sunny as they can be during…
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KING JEFF
A Louisiana-based award-winning veteran of the indie film industry, King Jeff has been around creating his own brand of on-screen magic since 1995. His filmography includes works such as Bang, Shallow Creek Cult and The Murder Men, with his most recent work, Troubleshooters, garnering praise for its uniquely crafted B-movie thrills. He is the first…
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TROUBLESHOOTERS
Sci-fi is, and always should be, about innovation and how we as humans fit into the bigger picture. Its priority should be showing an audience something they haven’t quite seen or thought of before. Everyman indie filmmaker King Jeff’s Troubleshooters guns for a high-concept, dystopian future feature where robot bodyguard underlings turn on their humans.…
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SHADOWS IN MIND
Self-contained call centre thrillers boast a rather spotty track record as far as Hollywood releases go. Either the characters fall flat or the mystery on the other end of the line gives way to comical predictability. Netflix’s recent The Guilty remake comes to mind when referencing such works. It’s a subgenre that demands the trust…
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NINE BALL
They just don’t make them like this anymore. A vintage roadhouse drama through and through, Victor Bevine and Rich Grosso’s feature film Nine Ball, takes things all the way back to the basics. Originally shot in 1995 but released only recently, this 85-minute Kenny Johnson vehicle certainly has all the ingredients laid out before it,…
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LOVE & HUNGER
Long-lost lovers. A tale of survival against all odds. A deserted island. Haven’t we seen this one before? Filmmaker Gabriel de Varona wholeheartedly begs to differ. Deliciously deviant in all the right ways with a unique affinity for dark humor, Love & Hunger is the offbeat epitome of edgy romances. Hector (Roberto Marrero) and Olivia…
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MONOCHROMATIC
All it takes is a couple lingering point-of-view shots of a 1970s urban household in London for Monochromatic to make its statement. A statement of authenticity, growth, and pain. These swaying, vibrant images are the vehicle through which filmmaker Karen Bryson introduces her viewers to something that is deeply and unmistakably personal. Playing out through…
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LifeQuest
With the all the science-fiction bloat flooding mainstream entertainment, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to produce original and meaningful works that project what our future here might be like. In this way, LifeQuest forgoes the attempt to reinvent the wheel in favor of concentrating on the fusion of common tropes into something that is complicated…
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DOWN MEXICO WAY
From its handful of sunset-soaked opening drone shots, Down Mexico Way sets itself up for a fun and uniquely engaging ride. The Loco Burro Restaurant & Cantina truck, a fun reference to director Nino Abate’s indie film company, rolls down the empty country road, driven by Jim Kennedy (Connor Weil). Jim has relied on his…