Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

SXSW 2020 Review: Blocks (dir by Bridget Moloney)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I have to admit that, when it comes to people spitting things up, I’m kind of a wimp.  It’s something that I typically have a hard time watching.  It’s one reason why, in college, I usually left the room if someone had too much to drink.  I seriously didn’t want to be there when that person started throwing up a combination of beer and nacho cheese.  I mean, bleh!

So, Blocks was not always easy for me to watch.  Blocks is a 12-minute comedy about Ashleigh (Claire Coffee), the mother of two young children who, one day, starts to vomit up toy blocks.  Now, fortunately, the film doesn’t get particularly graphic when it comes to the vomiting.  Usually, we only see the aftermath, which is often Claire lying on the floor, exhausted and surrounded by toy blocks while her children (and sometimes, her husband) knock on the bathroom door and demand to know why she’s not spending time with them.  Ashleigh can’t tell anyone about the toy blocks, of course.  She just pretends like the family has always owned the toy blocks that are mysteriously appearing around the house.  Her children refuse to play with them.  Eventually, Ashleigh finds a use for them.

As I said, I’m a wimp when it comes to people vomiting but still, Blocks was a well-done and frequently funny film.  In her introduction to the film, director Bridget Moloney says that the film was based on her own feelings and experiences as a mother and I think anyone who has ever been stuck in a house with two hyperactive, inquisitive kids will be able to relate to Ashleigh’s feeling of being overwhelmed.  Before I watched Blocks, I was going through one of my “I really want to start a family now!” phases.  Having watched it, I now think that maybe I should wait a year or two because, seriously — if I can’t handle someone vomiting legos, I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle all of the disgusting stuff that toddlers do.

Blocks, like many other films that were going to be shown at this year’s SXSW festival, is currently available on Amazon for a limited time.

Lisa’s Week In Review: 4/27/20 — 5/3/20

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Am I still in lockdown?  Am I out of lockdown?  Who the Hell knows?  What I do know is that my state is partially re-opened but my county is still like, “Shelter in place until at least May 20th!”  So, other than the fact that I’m working from home until at least June 3rd and all of the local movie theaters are still closed, I don’t know what the Hell’s going on.  Oh well.  At least I watched a lot of movies and wrote a lot of reviews last week!

Films I Watched:

  1. Affurmative Action (2019)
  2. Bad Education (2020)
  3. Basic (2020)
  4. Blonde Ice (1948)
  5. Cat People (1982)
  6. Dangerous Lies (2020)
  7. Deadly Mile High Club (2020)
  8. Dieorama (2019)
  9. Dragonheart: Vengeance (2020)
  10. Figurant (2019)
  11. I Due Kennedy (1969)
  12. The Incident (1967)
  13. The Inventor (2019)
  14. Killer In The Guest House (2020)
  15. Lions in the Corner (2020)
  16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
  17. Rising High (2020)
  18. Run/On (2020)
  19. Shaft (1971)
  20. $tack$ (2020)
  21. Still Wylde (2020)
  22. Summer Hit (2019)
  23. The Super Cops (1974)
  24. Super Fly (1972)
  25. Tigertail (2020)
  26. Vert (2019)
  27. The Voice In Your Head (2020)
  28. Waffle (2020)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. 60 Days In
  2. Bar Rescue
  3. The Bold and the Beautiful
  4. Days of our Lives
  5. Doctor Phil
  6. General Hospital
  7. Ghost Whisperer
  8. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  9. Magnum P.I.
  10. The Office
  11. Survivor 40
  12. The Young and the Restless

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Avril Lavigne
  2. Ben Zaidi
  3. The Chemical Brothers
  4. Deadmau5
  5. EDEN
  6. Fiona Apple
  7. HAIM
  8. Lana Del Rey
  9. Lindsey Stirling
  10. The Rolling Stones
  11. Saint Motel
  12. Selena Gomez
  13. The Speakeasy Three

News From Last Week:

  1. Susan Sarandon shows support for Biden’s sexual assault accuser
  2. Daft Punk to Score Dario Argento’s New Film Black Glasses
  3. The Oscars Might Look a Lot Different in 2021
  4. BREAKING: Oscars to allow streaming only content for 93rd Academy Awards
  5. AMC Theatres Refuses to Play Universal Films in Wake of ‘Trolls World Tour’
  6. Man Arrested Trying to Quarantine on Private Disney Island

Links From Last Week:

  1. Oscars on demand: will the Academy be able to put the streaming genie back in the bottle?

Links From The Site:

  1. Erin shared Boy Chaser, Sin Preferred, Portrait of the Damned, Sins of an Aspiring Actress, Man In The Alley, Body For A Blonde, and Queen’s Caprice!  She also profiled artist Hubert Rogers!
  2. Doc shared a music video from Lindsey Stirling!
  3. Jeff shared a music video from The Rolling Stones and reviewed Recruits, School Spirit, Police Academy 3, Police Academy 4, Police Academy 5, Police Academy 6, and Police Academy 7!
  4. Ryan reviewed Blind, Drippin, and King of King Court!
  5. I shared music videos from Ben Zaidi, Lindsey Stirling, Avril Lavigne, Saint Motel, and Haim!  I shared my April Oscar predictions!  I also reviewed: Slacker, Frances, Convoy, Psych-Out, Angel, Angel Down We Go, The Cool Ones, When Cary Grant Introduced Timothy Leary to LSD, Some Call It Loving, Cover Me Babe, Three, There’s Always Vanilla, What Did Jack Do?, The Panic in Needle Park, Fingers, The Passenger, The Boy With Green Hair, The American Friend, The Vanishing, Gomorrah, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Alexander, Esther and the King, Peter: The Redemption, Escape From Hell, Affurmative Action, The Voice In Your Head, Waffle, Still Wylde, Lions in the Corner, Figurant, Basic, Dieorama, Run/On, Summer Hit, Vert, Deadly Mile High Club, and $tack$!

More From Us:

  1. Ryan has a patreon, please consider subscribing!
  2. For Reality TV Chat, I reviewed the latest episode of Survivor!
  3. At her photography site, Erin shared: View of the House, Quiet, America, One Lane Road, Signs of Life, No One, and Sidewalk Directions!
  4. At Pop Politics, Jeff shared: A Week Without Updating?
  5. On my music site, I shared music from EDEN, Lindsey Stirling, Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple, Lulu Belle & Scotty, The Speakeasy Three, and Deadmau5!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Short Film Review: $tack$ (dir by Gerald Webb)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Sometimes, you have to laugh.

That may seem like odd advice to give at this moment in history because, right now, there’s a lot of people who are convinced that we’ll never share a joke or a smile again.  They look at the news about the spread of COVID-19 and the empty grocery store shelves and everything else that’s going on and they say to themselves, “Laughter is dead.”  Of course, what they’re failing to understand is that often, it’s laughter and comedy that help people survive tough times.  It’s much easier to deal with a problem if you laugh at it first.  Sacrificing one’s sense of humor is the first step towards surrender and surrendering is not what we, as a people, are about.

The 7 and a half-minute short film, $tack$, opens with a familiar cinematic situation.  Two men are in an underground garage, standing next to their car and waiting for someone else to arrive.  They exchange a few words, the type of tough guy talk that we’ve heard in countless crime films.  Both of them are armed.  Both of them know that the situation is serious.  Both of them are ready for whatever happens.

Another vehicle pulls up and more people get out.  More guns are displayed.  A sell is being made.  The second group of people is assured that they’re getting the best, “pure white.”

As I said, it’s a situation that we’ve seen in countless crime films but this one has a humorous COVID-19 inspired twist, one that I will not spoil here.  It’s a clever little twist, though and it’s one to which everyone — and I do mean everyone — will be able to relate.  Making his directorial debut, Gerald Webb plays the action straight, even when $tack$‘s main joke is revealed.  The audience may laugh but, to the characters in the film, there’s nothing more important than the business transaction being conducted in that underground garage.  And really, who can blame them?

A rap and a music video play over the end credits, on that not only details the hardships of living in the COVID-19 era but which also pays tribute to all of the essential workers on the front lines, which is a nice touch.  If nothing else, it’ll make you feel better about the times that we’re living than watching a hundred “this is the new normal” brand name commercials will.

Be sure to track down $tack$.  It’ll make you laugh and that’s an important thing right now.

Lifetime Film Review: Deadly Mile High Club (dir by Doug Campbell)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime premiere, Deadly Mile High Club!

Deadly Mile High Club tells the story of three people who end up flying the unfriendly skies together.  Tanya (Allison McAtee) is a flight instructor who has been haunted ever since the tragic crash that took the life of her lover and co-pilot.

Jake (Marc Herrmann) is the handsome guy who has a go-nowhere warehouse job where he works for his constantly critical mother-in-law, Margaret (Diane Robin).  Jake has decided to make some changes in his life, starting with learning how to fly.

And finally, Annie (Anna Marie Dobbins) is Jake’s wife.  They’ve been married for six years and, unfortunately, they’ve hit a rough patch.  Annie is busy going to school and Jake is constantly fighting with Annie’s mother.  When Jake tells Annie that she sounds just like her mother, Annie exiles him to the living room couch and good for her!  Annie likes to wear pink.  In particular, she likes to wear a pink hat, which is something that comes back to haunt both her and Jake later on in the movie.

Jake decides to hire Tanya to teach him how to fly.  This quickly turns out to be a mistake because, while Tanya is a good teacher, she’s also totally obsessed with Jake.  After Jake tells her that he and Annie had a fight the night before, Tanya flies him out to Palm Springs and suggests that they spend the night at a hotel.  Jake eventually turns her down but later on, during one of their lessons, Tanya has Jake fly over his house.  He looks down and he sees a strange man kissing a woman wearing a pink hat in the driveway.  Is Annie cheating on him!?

Realizing that things are just getting too strange, Jake attempts to switch over to a different flight instructor.  That flight instructor is named Gonzo (Damon K. Sperber) and he is, without a doubt, one of the greatest supporting characters to ever appear in a Lifetime movie.  Gonzo lives up to his name, dressing like an old World War II pilot and then doing dangerous stunts in an old school biplane while his employees — who are all wearing retro purple flight attendant uniforms — assure everyone watching that flying is safer than driving.  I won’t go into what happens to Gonzo but let’s just say that Tanya has a way of getting what she wants.

Anyway, Deadly Mile High Club is a lot of fun.  It’s one of those Lifetime films that fully embraces the melodrama and goes cheerfully over the top with a wink and a smile.  Tanya is the type of psycho who has no problem trying to trick someone into pushing their wife out of a plane and the entire cast appears to be having a ball with their crazed characters.  Allison McAtee especially does a great job as the unhinged Tanya and she delivers all of her lines with just the right amount of menace and humor.  Deadly Mile High Club is an entertaining film, one that takes the usual Lifetime tropes of the psycho stalker and the clueless husband and the loyal wife and which bring new life to them by putting them up in the sky.  It’s also a film that has a nicely self-aware sense of humor, which makes it all the more fun to watch.

Deadly Mile High Club was on last night and it will undoubtedly be on again so keep an eye out for it.  And definitely, keep watching the skies!

SXSW 2020 Review: Vert (dir by Kate Cox)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy 20th anniversary, Emelia (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and Jeff (Nick Frost)!

Emelia and Jeff are the couple who are at the center of the 12 minute short film, Vert.  They are the one of those couples who you just like from the minute that you see them together.  They have that sort of easy rapport that one would expect a couple to have after managing to stay together for 20 years.  They both live in a nice house.  They both appear to be very happy with their lives.  In fact, everything about them seems to be almost perfect.

What anniversary present do you get for the perfect couple?  How about a virtual reality system?  Through the use of “Vert,” Emelia and Jeff can not only go to a virtual world but they can also get a glimpse of their “ideal selves.”  I know, that sounds like kind of a crazy idea, doesn’t it?  I mean, how does anyone truly know who their ideal self would be?  Well, Vert knows!

And soon, Emelia and Jeff know as well….

Vert is one of those films that I watch and I wonder if maybe people in movies just don’t watch Black Mirror.  If they did, they would surely know better than to enter any sort of virtual reality.  But, what makes Vert such a thought-provoking film is how Emelia and Jeff react to what they discover in that virtual world.  Just a few years ago, the plot of Vert probably would have been played for easy laughs but today, it’s played for poignant and emotional drama.  In its way, Vert is a film that shows how far society and culture have come and also how far it has yet to go.

Vert is a nicely shot film, full of atmospheric images.  The cast all give sincere and believable performances and Nikki Amuka-Bird, in particular, does a good job with her role.  Vert is currently available, for a limited time, on Prime.

SXSW 2020 Review: Summer Hit (dir by Berthold Wahjudi)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Summer Hit is a sweet-natured, 20-minute film from Germany.

Laia (Martina Roura) is from Spain.  She’s adventurous and free-spirited and also somewhat irresponsible.  For instance, when she accidentally leaves her wallet at someone else’s apartment, she reacts by running out on a cab fare and then stealing a salad.  And, really — can you blame her?  I mean, if you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money.

Emil (Atli Benedikt) is from Iceland, which he describes as being cold and miserable.  He is somewhat quiet and seems to be a bit shy.  Overall, he seems like a nice guy.  He’s the type who, when you see him staggering about after taking a hit from a bong, you want to help him out.

Together …. THEY SOLVE CRIMES!

Well, no, actually, they don’t.  In fact, as we already discussed, Laia commits a few crimes after losing her wallet.  Instead, they’re both students who meet in Munich one summer and decide to have a commitment-free summer fling.  Unfortunately, it’s a lot easier to say that you’re going to be commitment-free than it is to actually do it.  After they have sex five or six times (Laia says five while Emil insists that it was six), Emil tells Laia that he thinks he might be in love with her.  Laia flees his apartment, leaving behind her wallet….

It’s a good film, one that briskly tells a story to which everyone can relate.  We’ve all been there.  Martina Roura and Atli Benedikt are both such likable performers that you can forgive the fact that both Laia and Emil can occasionally be a bit self-absorbed.  Neither one is perfect but then again, who is?  You hope for the best of them, even if you never quite believe that they’ll really stay together.

Summer Hit is available, for a limited time, on Prime.

SXSW 2020 Review: Run/On (dir by Daniel Newell Kaufman)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Run/On is a 13-minute short film that opens with a shot of a young boy balancing a fidget spinner on his forehead.

It’s haunting shot, one that is beautifully composed and which also tells you almost everything that you need to know about the film.  Fidget spinners are very useful to those of us who have ADD and who sometimes find it difficult to focus in a chaotic world.  I carry a fidget spinner everywhere that I go and, as strange as it apparently seems to some people, spinning it really does provide me with some focus and comfort.  Whenever I start to feel the world overwhelming me, I concentrate on watching it spin and, by the time that it stops, I’ve usually managed to calm down a bit.

The rest of Run/On deals with a boy named Luke and his mother and the time they spend waiting in a believably filthy Greyhound bus station.  Luke doesn’t speak throughout the entire film, but he sees and hears all of the chaos around him.  His mother, on the other hand, can’t stop talking.  She’s got two trash bags full of clothes and two tickets for a Greyhound.  She also has a gun in her purse, something Luke obviously finds to be concerning.

It’s a scary bus station.  Speaking as someone who once spent the night at the Greyhound bus station in Dallas (long story, don’t ask), I can say that this film did a great job of capturing just how scary, menacing, and exciting a big city bus station can be.  When Luke goes to a vending machine, we’re aware of the two men sitting in a corner of the bus station and watching.  When he later walks around the station, he passes a seedy-looking man on a phone.  All around him are people living their own lives of desperation and it’s somewhat frightening to witness it all.  It’s enough to make you want to run and keep running.

Run/On, with all of its mysteries, is currently available on Prime for a limited time.