As the title suggests, Bob Maconel (Christian Slater) plays a quiet man who is an introvert in every sense of the word. He is a loner who works at an unrewarding job where he despises nearly everyone who works with him. He boss humiliates and takes advantage of him. Maconel brings a gun with him to work with the intention of shooting his co-workers, although never follows through with it. One day a colleague has a breakdown and does what he has always wanted to do, shoots a few colleagues. Thanks to him being armed himself he takes out the shooter in what looks like an ultimate display of courage and honor.

Everyone now considers him a hero in the community and in the work place. His boss promotes him to the VP of Creative Thinking, replacing a victim of the shooting, Vanessa. Vanessa is quite possibly the only employee that he liked. She is now a quadriplegic from a bullet to the spine. Maconel visits her in the hospital and she asks him to assist her in committing suicide as she feels she has no reason to live anymore. Deep down he struggles with fulfilling that request or to care for her.

Although, they do touch on it a little bit, I couldn’t help but wonder why more people didn’t question the fact he had a gun to begin with. I can understand at first being perhaps overshadowed by the heroism but I would think it would be something not to overlook. That bothered me a little.

It seems to me that He Was A Quiet Man was nearly two separate films, the first half and the second half. I’m not even talking about the storyline either, I mean in terms of quality of the film itself. The first half starts out pretty rough with continuity errors and awkward acting. Thankfully, the film does pick up and gets on the right track later.

An impressive feat that the film was actually shot in just 21 days but I feel like it was better off as a short-story rather than a full length feature. The visual graphics at times were pretty impressive but in others were a little too amateurish. Some un-needed graphics were in there too. Specifically, when he is sitting around a fire, the fire was fake rather than using a real one. Also the airplanes that flew over were CGI and looked decent but for how close they were to them, you would think there would be a little more wind produced from them.

Christian Slater played Bob Maconel very well and by the end you see a transformation in character. His paranoia and madness was believable. It was hard to tell in the beginning if he was going to be able to pull off this character or not, I think he succeeded.

The cinematography in He Was A Quiet Man was impressive enough to where I think it should have been up for more awards. It did win Best Feature Cinematography at the Newport Beach Film Festival but was not even nominated at Sundance, Independent Spirit, or Cannes. Through unique camera angles and usage it was able to convey the mood of the film. Using a fixed fisheye camera on Maconel as he walks through the office gives you a paranoid and claustrophobic feel.

If you are one to turn off films half-way through if it is not to your liking, you may find yourself doing so. Fortunately, I do not fall into that category, although there has been plenty of times I have wanted to before. I say fortunately because all is not lost and there are some quality moments in there.

Living in Queens, New York on his own, Alejandro , a young and independent adolescent, must find ways to survive. He has no parents looking after him. He lives where he works which is an auto body repair shop. Junkyards surround the area and it is clearly not suitable for children to be in, let alone work and live in. Prostitution and crime are not uncommon in these parts. Alejandro resorts to stealing hub cabs and trading them in for cash.

Chop Shop does not have a plot, conflict or resolution but it does not claim nor try to have any of these. It is more of a day-in-the-life of young street orphan and it’s closer to a documentary than a traditional film. I think a lot of people will have problem with that because throughout the film, there are areas where a lot more could happen. The potential for something significant to occur was available many times, but never executed. It wouldn’t be that surprising to me if it were some sort of autobiography of Ramin Bahrani (the director and writer) for that very reason, it was always realistic.

In more than one way it reminded me of the film Treeless Mountain although Chop Shop was made a year before it. For starters, they both center around young adolescences who basically take care of themselves. In both, they do whatever it takes to get by. Neither one of the films had a score of any sort, which does give off a more documentary or real feel to the films.

Alejandro Polanco did an incredible job playing this role, I hope this is just one of many more to come. The director did a good job showing the lifestyle of the character, the camera work was purposely a tad shaky. It’s not all that surprising that the director, Ramin Bahrani won the Someone to Watch Award at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards and nominated for Best Director and Best Cinematography.

Going into the film Chop Shop with the right mind is essential, you have to know that it is more autobiographical than plot driven. It’s an independent film that while the story is engaging, it ultimately never really climaxes so you have to take it for what it is, a real glimpse of a young adolescent struggling to survive in a rough part of New York.

Writer Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty) is out on the road promoting his book with his brother. One night back at the motel room Davy is alone and gets a random phone call from a mysterious woman named Nicole. They have a long intimate conversation that is just what the lonely writer need. This fantasy of a girlfriend continues as they begin to talk over the phone on a daily basis.

About half way into the film Davy admits that he hasn’t been in too many relationships before to Nicole. He also confesses that the relationships that he has been in do not last because he never lives up to what they expect him to be. Although we can tell that his character is shy in the beginning, he acknowledges it by saying that he would like to be with other girls but never does anything about it.

It is clear that Davy want this relationship to be more than just phone sex. She refuses to give out her number and demands that she just calls him. That is something he tries to change a few times but she doesn’t budge. I believe that this is the closest thing he has had to a real relationship in a long time.

As with real relationships conflicts and hardships arise and do so here as well. Davy runs into a old girlfriend that he was once into at a party and he forced to make a decision on which relationship to pursue. Not wanting to hide anything, he tells Nicole about the situation.

The first half of Easier with Practice starts off relatively slow and I feel it only gets better the more into the film you get. Mostly due to the character development we get to see from Davy. In the beginning, we really don’t get a true sense of who he is and it isn’t until much later you find out at what extent his loneliness really is.

There are several long scenes of Davy talking into the phone which is quite hard to do. Not only is he having a somewhat awkward relationship and conversation on the phone, but often does it while masturbating. Brian Geraghty does an amazing job with this character making him feel believable.

Easier with Practice is an independent film whose dialog at times is awkward but very real and honest, it is shot very well and the acting is good. The story is on the verge of being too simple but considering it was Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s first film it is impressive. The ending may not be as rewarding as you would hope, but you must appreciate it for what it is. I wouldn’t recommend this film to everyone but there are more than just a few that I think could enjoy it.

The New Year Parade focused around a family that is going through a difficult time dealing with a recent separation. Siblings Jack (Greg Lyons) and Kat (Jennifer Welsh) are the main characters of the film. Kat is finding it very difficult to deal with all the fighting between her parents and Jack is there trying to help her out.

Kat wants to prove that she is able to be in an actual relationship with her boyfriend, but she is reluctant. This is due because of her parents recently going through a break up, so she is hesitant. Because of the pressure from her boyfriend, she gets birth control pills but you can tell she is uncomfortable about it. While at a party she and her boyfriend get intimate and again she becomes scared and says no. Her boyfriend becomes very upset and quite literally asks, “What do I need you for?” after she denies him sex. She knows deep down that this relationship will only end up where her parents did, nowhere.

Ultimately, The New Year Parade is about relationships and how people deal with them. Jack with the random girl from bar. Kat with her boyfriend of four months, which she can feel is not a long term. Even down to the cat seeking attention from Jack’s girlfriend. It is evident that is the message the director was trying to portray as the take is quite long and cat is determined for affection.

This film was nominated at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards for the John Cassavetes Award. In order to qualify for this award, the budget of the film has to be under $500,000. This film was definitely shot well under that but it doesn’t necessarily show that. It is directed, shot and edited very well for a low budget film.

The music was chosen and placed very well in the film. It really seemed to fit the mood well. This may seem like a simple achievement, but a misplaced song can really wreck the mood and throw off the emotion of the scene. Where as well placed tracks only add to the feel of the film.

The New Year Parade has a very genuine feel to it which works both for and against it. It works for it because it allows you to relate to it fairly easy, it’s very believable. It works against it a little because it’s all too real and nothing out of the ordinary really happens, it does not really have a gripping story or a memorable one.

Nearly the first 15 minutes of the film, aside from a few cries and moans, is without dialog. All you hear is the eerie soundtrack which was done by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood. A soundtrack that would earn him a Grammy nomination. Greenwood creates a soundtrack that works so well with the film, it would not have been the same without it. Mixing up classical sounds and making them haunting. Something that would rival what Stanley Kubrick would have chosen.

Essentially, There Will Be Blood is about a ruthless oil man named Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis). He learns that there is a small town which has plenty of oil resources. He convinces the town to let him set up operation there and begin drilling. He promises the town to build schools and cultivate their land to make the town boom. However, one person in particular is reluctant, the local preacher named Eli Sunday (Paul Dano).

Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday’s relationship begins early in the film. Having being tipped off from Eli’s twin brother, Plainview arrives at the family’s ranch in search of oil. However, Plainview being the kind of man he is he tries to get a bargain for the land by claiming he wants the land for quail hunting. Thus giving the family prices for quail land and not land with oil. Eli knows that there is oil on the land, something his father doesn’t seem to know. While Plainview is trying to pull a fast one on the family’s father, Eli steps in during negotiation.

After buying the Sunday ranch Plainview soon realizes that Eli is going to be a nuisance. Eli is constantly making sure that this oil venture that has quickly taking over the entire town is in the best interest of his church. Eli approaches Plainview asking if he can bless the first drilling, which Plainview abides to without hesitation. But as the time approaches for the blessing, Plainview does not call Eli up to speak. Instead he does his own blessing but doing so in a way that makes him and his business look like they there are doing a charitable thing for this town.

Which one could argue either side for. On one hand he is providing the town new opportunities for irrigation which in return would provide food easier. He is also building a road for the town and a new school. Part of the agreement was that he would also contribute money to the church that Eli wants so desperately. On the other hand, Plainview’s drilling does bring death to one of the man, via an accident on the dangerous job. It even leads his child to lose his hearing and be permanently deaf.

Shortly after the incident is really the first time you get an intimate look into Plainview’s personality when he says, “I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.” Also in the same conversation, “There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking. I want to earn enough money that I can get away from everyone.” It is a very important scene because for the first time you see that he is self-aware that he has evil tendencies. He verbally admits of his hatred of people and that he has no room for compassion.

Plainview and his son are on a train when Plainview tells his son to stay put. He leaves the train with his son still on it. It was pre-arranged that another man takes the child. Plainview does this without any emotional tie with his boy. This becomes even more apparent in the next scene when he is in a meeting with a company looking to buy out his land. They tell him they will make him a millionaire if he chooses to sell. Plainview asks them, “What would I do then.” As if he does not know that there is anything else in life then work. They reply he could spend time when his boy, a reply that does not sit well with Plainview.

It is brought to his attention that there is one piece of land that has held out from the initial buying. This land is crucial to Plainview because it stands in the way of the pipeline he wants so that he can transport the oil. If he does not get this land, it’s a 50 mile detour that his pipeline would have to endure. That is just not feasible.

The land owner says he must wash in the blood of Jesus Christ and that’s the only way to salvation and the only way for him to get the land. Plainview tries to buy his way out offering him more and more money but the land owner wants him to be baptized. It is obvious Plainview does not care much for religion and even less for Eli Sunday, so this is no easy task for him.

The scene where Plainview attends Eli’s church is simply amazing. Eli knows exactly what Plainview is doing there and you can tell by the little smirk on his face that he is awaiting his chance for revenge and humiliation. Eli demands him to get down on his knees and scream out “I am a sinner” over and over. If that was not enough, he makes Plainview admit that he has abandoned his own child.

There Will Be Blood makes you question your own morality in the most chilling scene in the entire film towards the end when Plainview asks Eli Sunday to admit that he is a false prophet and that God is a superstition. Eli must choose between falsifying what he firmly believes in order to receive money for the church from Plainview. The film then comes full circle as Eli Sunday made a fool of Plainview earlier in the film when he makes Plainview scream “I am a sinner” many times in front of his congregation.

The irony in this is quite interesting, because Eli is in a catch-22, either way he loses, whether that will be money or faith. If he chooses not to falsify his belief then he won’t receive the money he wants to build a new church. On the contrary, saying so even though you may not mean what you say, brings self-guilt and shame. It begs the question, how much are you willing to sell your soul for? Or so to speak.

If you have seen the film, you know that ultimately it doesn’t matter what his choice is. This further perhaps expands the irony that there is no right answer. Plainview really has nothing to gain from this situation other than to get back at Eli and to humiliate him. Which for him is the only thing he cares about and nothing would bring him more satisfaction.

Paul Thomas Anderson typically uses two or more of the same actors in his films, however, There Will Be Blood is his first film that doesn’t include a member of the cast from a previous film. However, an element that is signature to PT Anderson that is present is his long takes of scenes. The film was shot beautifully which eventually earned an Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Daniel Day Lewis is fierce and relentless. Determined to be wealthy he will let nothing stop him. The first evidence of this is at the very beginning of the film where he falls down a mine shaft and breaks his leg. With determination on his side, he hauls himself back up from the mine. Once you see There Will Be Blood it should come to no surprise that Daniel Day Lewis won an Oscar for Best Leading Actor for his performance.

Paul Dano’s character Eli is marvelously haunting and extremely passionate. I got goose bumps when he preached to his congregation. He is just as determined and fierce as Plainview is but in his own way. He is not fueled by greed but instead it’s his religion which drives him.

There Will Be Blood combines superior acting, directing and storyline into a masterpiece. In my opinion a film that was robbed of it’s much deserved Academy Award for Best Picture. It should be considered an important American film that everyone should see, you would only be doing yourself a favor in doing so.

Taking place in Seoul, Korea two young sisters named Jin and Bin must stick together after their mother leaves them to reconcile their father. Their mother takes them to their aunt who is something they barely know. Before the mother leaves, she gives them a piggy bank promising she would return when the bank is full of coins.

Because their mother told them that she would return once they filled the piggy bank up with coins, they work hard on doing so. Thinking the faster they come up with enough coins, the faster they will see their mother again. As if their mother would somehow know exactly when it was full. They first begin doing so by catching grasshoppers and then selling them.

Bin then later stumbles upon another stunning discovery on how to get more coins. She purchases a bun to eat with a single coin and receives her change in form of many low values coins. They don’t understand the concept of value, but rather the quantity they need in order to fill up the piggy bank. So they exchange all their larger valued coins for many smaller ones.

It’s a concept we all been through as a kid when we did not know of value, only amounts. Which is why as kids we were excited to see many presents underneath the Christmas tree, thinking more is better. Also you would get excited if there was a large wrapped present. Even if the value would be the same as one small gift.

The two sisters first see their mother leave from a top of this large dirt hill. To them it seems like a mountain, where they can see things that appear far away. Thus explaining the title of the film. Bin picks up a small tree branch and together they plant it as if it were an actual tree on this mountain of theirs.

There is not a score in the film at all, in fact there is no music found in it at all. I found this to be a little odd. It’s really a shame because I think that would have really helped give it more emotion. Because of this, it is a rather quiet film. Without music, the powerful story isn’t as effective as it could have been.

There are some really beautiful scenery shots throughout the film used in place of music to change scenes. The camera work as a whole was exceptional which explains why it was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards. Treeless Mountain mostly comprised of close up and tight shots of the subjects.

Treeless Mountain is a slow and quite film with an overly simple storyline that had potential of a powerful one. It certainly is not a bad film, where it lacks in content it shines in acting performances and cinematography, I just wished the ending wasn’t as forgettable.

It is a coming-of-age story about a young girl named Jenny (Carey Mulligan) whose father is very determined that she goes to Oxford. Right from the very beginning she meets an older man named David (Peter Sarsgaard) who is witty, suave and wealthy. Naturally her father is a bit skeptical of this name but like her, he is caught off guard of his charm.

They go on a few date with some of his friends and seemed to hit things off quickly as they share similar tastes in music and art. David is almost too good to be true, you just cannot help but assume that there must be a catch. He was a bit vague with his answer when Jenny asked what he did for a living, certainly not going into any details about it. Then one evening he shows up and is sharing drinks with her parents trying to persuade them to let he take her to Oxford for the weekend. David tells them he is an alumni from there, only he told her he never went to college.

After the successfully convincing Jenny’s parents to allow her to go to Oxford, it is brought to David’s attention that Jenny is a virgin and intends to be so until she turns seventeen. David seems content with that. The next morning David and his friend/business partner are go into a house for business reasons. Jenny wants to join but is promptly denied thus further making what he does more suspicious.

Eventually David asks Jenny to marry him. She does not respond right away and has to think about it. She brings this up to her parents, asking them their thoughts on getting married instead of going to Oxford, presuming her father would say absolutely not. Instead, he is perfectly fine with it due to his fondness of David.

It is Jenny’s current school teacher who tells her that getting married would ruin her life and that not going to college would be tragedy. Advising her without a degree you will not be able to get a job. Jenny’s argument is that the education is hard and boring and once you get a job it will be hard and boring. She goes on to say that if she gets married she will live a wonderfully fun life by going to nice restaurants and listening to good music with the man of her dreams. A decision must be made.

First hour of An Education goes by so fast and it really does a good job of developing characters, something that I very much appreciate. Both Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard put on a showcase of great acting. If Carey Mulligan continues with performances as she did with this one, she will be a future star for sure. As the film progressed you slowly find out more and more about David and some of the mysteries that surround him. I felt that some of the initial charm of his was slowly fading and but you cannot discredit his good intentions completely.

What it excelled in character development it lacked in plot substance. I felt there could have been more done with it. The climax was faint and unsubstantial. An Education was not completely forgettable and I would recommend it as a watch once indie film.

Recently arriving to Los Angeles after a painful break up, Wilson (Scoot McNairy) to say the least, is lonely. It doesn’t help that New Year’s Eve is coming up and he would want nothing more than to have someone there to share a midnight kiss with. His roommate comes up with the idea of posting an ad on Craigslist for this problem. Wilson is reluctant and not very comfortable with the idea of online dating but is desperate enough that he agrees.

He gets a call from a girl named Vivian (Sara Simmonds) who agrees to meet him at a restaurant. Vivian is a self-proclaimed ambitious girl who comes off very demanding. She knows what she wants and will not settle for less. Although by the way she acts towards Wilson in the first 10 minutes of meeting each other, I’m surprised he stuck around.

It turns out to be the right decision to stick around because she does begin to warm up and you see a completely different side of her. I was actually quite impressed with the chemistry they seemed to have with each other on the screen.

Although, they do hit a few road blocks along the way, as he says something to upset her and she threatens to walk away from the date and thus walk away from Wilson’s plan to find that midnight kiss. For someone who hasn’t been on a date for 6 years, he is determined to not make that happen.

You can tell by the look of the film that the type of camera they used was extremely low budget. The dialog (mostly at the beginning) also felt low budget. What I mean by that is there are times were it is sloppy and delivered without full emotion. Most of the times these are rescued because you know the intent was realism, natural flow of conversations that are believable.

This explains how In Search of a Midnight Kiss joined the realms of The Station Agent, Humpday, and even The Blair Witch Project by winning the John Cassavetes Award at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards. In order to receive that award the film’s budget needs to be less than $500,000. I am guessing this one was shot for considerably less. Hard to fault it for the lack of money, perhaps with a larger budget they would have been able to afford better quality cameras, actors, etc. Bottom line is, the screenplay was there, the money wasn’t.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is a wonderfully written film that isn’t quite your typical Hollywood chick flick because it is much more relatable and believable than those are. The mainstream audience may not be able to get past the low budget-ness of the film but that’s a shame. It’s worth it.

As you would guess from the name of the film, it is about a bad lieutenant named Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage). Situations he gets into as a cop he uses to his advantage for drugs. When he busts a drug dealer, he will score some of the drugs from himself. He prefers to do a lot of his work off the record especially when it comes to collecting evidence.

He has a lover named Frankie (Eva Mendes) who is a prostitute and together they work as a team for money and drugs. But drugs aren’t the only thing Terence has gotten himself into, gambling is also a big part of his life. He begins to dig himself deeper and deeper with drug dealers and bookies that eventually make Frankie’s life in danger.

The Bad Lieutenant is riddled with twists and new sequence of events, the two hour run time seems to end in no time at all. It is gripping and keeps you wanting more and more until the very end. Without divulging too much of the film way, the film does come full circle at the end in way you almost can’t help but applaud to show your appreciation at the conclusion.

Nicolas Cage played the character superbly. You almost couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the part. You can see him physically and mentally deteriorating and heading into a downward spiral as his character was. He really played the character with full conviction. I have always respected the work Cage has done and this performance validates my respect. He rightfully won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor.

Many times throughout the film, whether it was a hallucination shot from the drugs or what would seem a normal shot seemed to be captured in an unorthodox way. It really portrays New Orleans beautifully. Untraditional angles and great use of the camera would earn a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards.

The Bad Lieutenant is an indie film that I think everyone can enjoy. The plot seems to grow with every scene and there doesn’t seem to be a dull spot in it. The storyline is captivating and the cinematography is excellent. It’s truly a thriller that you must see.

Some films of the thriller genre, including this one, are better left going into without knowing too much of the plot. This is why I am not going to get into too many details of the important plot structure. Downloading Nancy obviously doesn’t want you to know what is going on in the beginning. It jumps right in to things without explanations, which you end up finding out as the film progresses and sometimes through flashbacks. Character’s keep alluding to “the big finish” and you the viewer are left in the dark towards the beginning as to what that is referring to.

I will vaguely give a background of the film. Because of childhood drama, Nancy (Maria Bello) has a disturbing urge for pain. She desires it even if it means death. She says at the very beginning of the movie, “Death is like sucking pure oxygen” and when asked what life is, she responds, “It’s like being trapped inside the wrong house looking for a way out.” Her husband Albert (Rufus Sewell) notices that she disappears one night and then begins the downward spiral of events.

Albert begins with the feeling of regret, it becomes evident when he is staring at refrigerator magnet words that combine to spell “You don’t know you got til its gone”, mysteriously leaving out the word “what”. Later in the film this you see that this is in fact true, he did take her for granted. Seemingly ignoring her calls for fun and sex.

He then becomes very worried when someone calls saying that she was supposed to have an appointment with them and never shows. He nearly calls 911. Then when he first finds out that his wife is leaving him, he is in denial, saying that he doesn’t believe it. Albert becomes insanely enraged when he finds out the truth.

Rufus Sewell had such a wide range of emotion, from normal to insane. If this were a more mainstream movie, I could definitely see Robert De Niro playing this role, or maybe that’s just because I think he resembles a young De Niro a little bit.

Maria Bello did an amazing job and was nominated for Best Female Lead at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards. Although I still think Gabourey Sidibe of the film Precious deserved the win, Bello puts on a stunning performance which probably would have earned her runner up.

The cinematography was noticeably well done. It had a cool bluish tint to it. The camera is almost constantly moving, gives off the feeling of voyeurism. Most of the time it is subtle movements, but on a few occasions it becomes a little distracting.

Downloading Nancy won’t be the greatest thriller you will ever see but it will certainly hold your interest. Some scenes are nearly so distributing it will be hard for some to watch. It’s a fairly modest display of a physiological thriller.