Indie Game - Independent Game Designer Movie

OK, you've watched some movies in your time right? Ever notice for every formulaic, commercially successful film such as "Saving Private Ryan", "The Blind Side", etc there are tons of decent Independent films that sort of just get trampled on the sidelines? Occasionally some lucky movie-fan finds one of these indie-flicks and that special film with all its artistic heart and soul finally gets its notice of recognition.

Believe it or not, the video game industry is the same way. For every smash-hit Madden 2000-something football game or Max Payne bloodbath, there are indie-games out there made by a very small team of programmers who shun the popular gaming cliches and try to break out with their own ideas.

The film follows four game designers who work out of tiny offices or just their homes for years on one game.

Jonathan Blow created "Braid" .... a guy is trying to rescue a princes

Edmund McMillian Tommy Refenes created "Super Meat Boy" .... basically a bloody skinless cube trying to find his Band-Aid girlfriend


Phil Fish created "Fez" ...... where you collect bugs to rebuild the world the character lives in.

I know what you are thinking.... these games sound all so-done-before and boring. I admit I haven't been a gamer since the 80's and as I watched the film I couldn't help but think how much these resembled Coleco's "Donkey Kong" and perhaps the Atari 2600 "Adventure"

Watch the film more closely though and you'll become intrigued with the wonderful nuances of these games. Yes, on the surface they seem simple but they are truly works of art in their own right. Each designer puts his heart and soul into each game. I can't do descriptions of these nuances any justice here. "Fez" for example inserts a 2 dimensional character into a 3 dimensional setting, can't say that's been done before. "Braid" combines time control and character relationships which remind me of every time I've wanted to rewind time to make things better. "Super Meat Boy" at first glance looks all cutsey, but it is a dark and violent maze about two characters who, quite literally, are without purpose until they find each other.

The film at times is suspenseful and has a classic-underdog feel to the movie. Blow, McMillian, Refenes and Fish all bring distinctly different emotions that add to the intrigue of this film. If you are starving artist yourself or simply love indie films about very indie-people, check this out. You'll enjoy it.

The Giant Mechanical Man - Jenna Fischer Chris Messina

This is a heck of a little film. Jenna Fischer (The Office) and Chris Messina (Julia and Julia / Argo) play Janice and Tim. Both are in their thirties and, you know the saying, "Don't know what they want to do when they grow up."

Revanche - Austrian Gotz Spielmann Movie Review

Tamara (Irina Potapenko) walks the streets and Alex (Johannes Krisch) is an underemployed ex-convict working as an assistant in a seedy business. They are in love, live in a bad section of Vienna and looking to improve their lives.
Eventually the two encounter a country policeman (Andres Lust) and his wife (Ursula Strauss) which impacts the lives of all of the parties involved.

Revanche is passionate, dark, brooding, talky and disturbing at times. The thing I enjoyed the most about this film was its slow pace. The entire film seems to move in real time (albeit over the course of a few days) and this really lets you dig in to these complex characters in a way that a faster paced film might not be able to do.

At times I thought some of the parts were a bit too convenient or contrived but over all the subtly of the film not only saves it but makes it a terrific film. Not 'terrific' in that when you get done watching it you'll be like "Wow, what a great flick!" Actually, many of you when the film ends will be like "Whaa?" but film is terrific in that it sticks with you. As subtle as it is, I found it stuck with me a while in my thoughts.

Gates of Heaven Pet Funeral Documentary

There are plenty of people who love their pets dearly. Some love their pets more than anything on Earth.  Their pets mean more to them than even some of their close relatives.  Some people will do anything for the animals they own.

"Gates of Heaven" is a documentary film that focuses on the Pet funeral business in California.  It was made in the 1970's and true to filmmaker Errol Morris' form, centers around a real-life cast of people with diverse and overwhelming personalities.

There is no narration. The film is driven largely by the dialog of the people being interviewed.  The cast includes the owner of a failed pet cemetary, the father and sons of a successful pet cemetary, an operator of a dead animal processing center (they make fuel or dogfood or  something from animal remains) and a bunch pet owners.

Who knows what is going on in this film?  It's pretty open for interpretation.  Sure you learn a bit about the business of disposing of dead animals but the movie feels as though it gets off-track, perhaps intentionally way-off track at times, and loses itself in the personalities of its characters.

The characters are certainly all west coast USA, white, affluent types but they are a motley bunch.  At times their viewpoints are hilarious, deeply personal, informative and, just as often, pathetic.  This zany bunch makes the film feel like a dead-pan parody of the pet funeral business but this film is not a parody at all.  It is quite serious and that is what makes it all the more interesting.

Documentary buffs out there, Errol Morris wrote this film. If you have never seen an Errol Morris film, this one would be a good one to start with just to get your feet wet.  You might hate it, you might love it,  but his style of letting the movie unfold on its own through individual monologues from each of the cast sometimes makes me wonder if the whole world is goofy or if he is just turning the mirror on ourselves?  I tend to believe both.


Here's another Movie Review on Best Movie Reviews By TurtleDog

After you see this Liam Neeson wolf movie, you'll wish there were more pet funerals, at least up in Alaska.  Check out my review of Liam Neeson and his 'wolf' movie The Grey

Like Al Pacino? See him  in a terrific Heathcoat Williams play turned movie called Local Stigmatic on DVD

 

The Local Stigmatic - Al Pacino Heathcoat Williams Short Film

I wish there were more short films with such quality acting but I guess there simply isn't a market for it. "The Local Stigmatic" is a short movie (58 minutes) that follows a pair of close friends whose relationship carries a veiled sense of intimacy powered by a sociopathic game they play on unsuspecting victims. If you are thinking this is just another crime flick though, you are wrong. There are no investigations, police chases, chest pumping, hostage taking or any of the other actions you'd might expect. This film is a dialog-driven character study or sorts of two Englishmen who live in their own shadowy world apart from the rest of mainstream England.

The Grey - Liam Neeson Wolf Movie

A bunch of Alaskan oil workers are being transported by plane from one Alaskan job site to another. Along the way the plane crashes deep in the Alaskan Wilderness, in the sub zero temperature, harsh Wilderness. While completely exposed to the elements the oil workers are systematically hunted by wolves.

"The Grey" uses all the same formulas that most survival films use. Ottway (Liam Neeson) is a bit of a survivalist and has some expertise in the habits of wolves. Like most films where victims are hopelessly stranded there is always one guy that, in theory, has the expertise to save the group but her or she has never actually used that expertise before.  Liam Neeson's Ottway is one of these guys.  You may have seen this character before. In spite of the would-be hero's competence, his  lack of practical experience causes certain members of the group to resent his actions. Eventually the savior must prove himself by one upping another member via debate or conflict, demonstrating some remarkable accomplishment or by simply telling the group something like"... follow me if you want to live or stay here and die if you don't...." Neeson's character, Ottoway, does all three by the way.

Parking Lot The Movie - The Corner Lot VA Documentary

Parking Lot The Movie is a documentary about a working in a parking lot called "The Corner Lot" in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Corner Lot is situated in a college town (University of Virginia) nestled down a back alley behind a row of bars and stores.

What makes The Corner Lot so unique is that is has a history of being staffed by graduate students, teachers and otherwise over-educated intellectuals (and I mean that in a good way). You may have run into folks like this. Think of the scruffy, liberal, well spoken, skateboard types and you'll understand the kind that work here. These are the kinds of folks some conservative types would scoff at but secretly wish they could have a long, deep conversation with.