Indie Showcase: AnyBodies Game (2018)

A new indie feature-length film is on its way in less than two months and it promises to bring a mixture of drama, action and suspense thrills. The name of the movie is AnyBodies Game and here is how it describes itself:

While a group of friends are enjoying life they mysteriously began to receive bloody letters and prank phone calls. They all began to take the threats serious after the death of one of their own friends. Who could do such a thing when the finger is pointing at all of them? This could be AnyBodies Game.

The trailer shows an ambitions piece written and produced by Ann P Productions. It holds plenty of characters and a plot that seems to be constantly going through twist and turns.

With a strong element of mystery, AnyBodies Game appears to tackle the horror thorpe of a group of friends being hunted by an unknown assailant. The first thing that comes to mind with this setup in the series Scream, but with a setup that is taken into the modern time and complemented with a natural approach to acting.

The movie is set to have its theatre premier on July 5th, 2018. For more information about this event and the movie, check out the AnyBodies Game official website.

Actionflix.com – An Upcoming Streaming Service Specializing in Action Movies!

For me, action movies are the bread and butter of filmmaking. They, along with thriller and drama, are the essential genres and a perfect place where up-and-coming filmmakers learn the trade and get a foothold in the big-time movie business. However, unlike the other two genres, action often ends up being a butt of the joke and many people tend to see it, in general, as mindless fun which rarely comes with any deeper meaning. I disagree with all of them and that’s why I’m happy to see initiatives like the recent Actionflix.com. Here is how the upcoming streaming service describes itself:

Actionflix.com will be a Global Streaming Broadcaster specializing in independent Action Movies and Subgenres made by creative filmmakers around the globe. Global Streaming means that ACTIONFLIX movies can be watched in all territories around the world, on any platform (iPhone, laptops, tablets, Apple TV, Xbox, etc.). The filmmakers will not only share movies but most importantly, also share stories about the making of these productions. We’re creating a community where audiences and filmmakers come together around their common love for this genre.

Film Review: Cold November (2017)

Growing up is never easy and sometimes, it can take us on unique journeys, both outside and inside. Cold November is a movie that explores this notion and does it remarkably well through a seemingly simple setup. The film follows Florence, a 12-year-old living and growing up in a rural part of the US. Interestingly, her family has followed a tradition of the women going to a deer hunt as a sort of rite of passage for entering into adulthood.

Florence is near that point, so she and her mother, grandmother and cousins decide to follow the same tradition. Yet, this process will not come easy for Florence or her loved ones in a tale of nostalgia, change and our ever-inadequate abilities to deal with it, no matter if we are kids, adults or something in-between.

Two Paragraph Review: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

The original Blade Runner movie is one of my favourite cinematic works of art. Ever since I was a teenager I really enjoyed Ridley Scott vision over distance and cold future. At the same time, Denis Villeneuve is one of my favorites new directors, especially when it comes o science fiction. Two years ago I was completely blown away with The Arrival, so naturally my expectations were high for Blade Runner 2049. Now, after seeing it, I have a hard time putting my finger on it.

The movie is visually stunning and it provides an engaging experience in that sense. However at the same time narratively, it's slightly all over the place. While it's easy to connect with Joe, who is basically trying to figure out what’s happening (like the audience) the rest of the characters fall flat. These include Decker who is who is played by an ever older and less interesting Harrison Ford. All of them are distant but what is worse, they end up feeling irrelevant. The same is true for the plot, which simply does not hold up to the immense visual grandeur of the movie. Maybe Blade Runner 2049 will age better just like the original, but for now, the two are not on the same playing field.

English National Ballet's Dance Journeys

Sadlers Wells, London – April 18, 2018

English National Ballet presents Dance Journeys Matinee Takeover, showcasing the choreographic voice of young people on the main stage at Sadler’s Wells during the Company’s Voices of America season. Dance Journeys, supported by John Lyon’s Charity, gives young people the opportunity to work as a professional company, gain an in-depth experience of the production process leading to a performance and igniting a passion for dance.

Our special Matinee Takeover programme also features inspiring performances from English National Ballet Youth Company, English National Ballet School, and English National Ballet performing an extract from William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata 2016.

100 young dancers from west London schools: Copthall School, Friern Barnet School, Hammersmith Academy, Hampstead School join English National Ballet’s ENBYouthCo to work together as one Dance Journeys Company to perform Chrysalis at Sadler’s Wells.

Chrysalis takes its inspiration from Aszure Barton’s Fantastic Beings, is artistically directed by Jo Meredith, and choreographed by Morgann Runacre-Temple and Luke Brown, Katie Cambridge, Lucy Evans, Georgia Heighway and Danielle Teale with input from English National Ballet Youth Company’s Principal Dancer and soloist, Isabelle Evans. The work is set to an original score by composer Thomas Hewitt Jones, recorded by young musicians from the Royal College of Music Junior Department Contemporary Ensemble and conducted by Jacques Cohen.

Tamara Rojo CBE, Artistic Director, English National Ballet said: “By nurturing and encouraging new talent through projects such as English National Ballet’s Dance Journeys, we can further develop our art forms, attracting new audiences and offering the chance to create art and artists of the future.”

Fleur Derbyshire-Fox, Engagement Director, English National Ballet said: “Dance Journeys positively impacts on young people far beyond the project, it raises aspirations, increases confidence and develops greater resilience and life skills.”

Dance Journeys Matinee Takeover also sees ENBYouthCo perform Life of the Party, choreographed by New Adventures company member Tom Jackson-Greves. A playful reaction to Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, this piece looks at the ideas of loneliness and memory from the perspective of a group of young people.

English National Ballet School students Vania De Rosas, Victor González Pérez, Lauren Mitchell, Kirica Takahashi, and Valerio Zaffalon, perform their choreography Volts, inspired by the work of William Forsythe.

Completing the programme is English National Ballet, performing an extract from William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata 2016 from the Company’s Voices of America programme. Originally created in 1996, and recently reworked by Forsythe for Paris Opera Ballet. Approximate Sonata 2016 is a series of pas de deux that deconstruct the classical ballet vocabulary and is accompanied by a new version of the original score by Thom Willems.

Indie Showcase: My Tiny Universe (2004)

As a rule of thumb, movies are not that good of a way to predict the future. If they were, we would be at least having one or two flying car companies instead of another social media app that just came out. However, sometimes, away from the spotlight of the big prediction and blockbuster visions of the future, some movies do nail the future in an eerie fashion. My Tiny Universe, which was made almost 15 years ago, seems to be one of those films. Here is it’s plot:

Dickie Bates is a washed-up actor. Bobby Devillin is a sleazy A-list producer. Luring Devillin to his home, Dickie pushes the big-shot's weak-points by toying with the one thing that matters to him - his cell phone. The actor's small home is soon filled with an irrepressible crowd of characters in this fast-paced satire of life in Tinseltown.

 

Two Paragraph Review: Annihilation (2018)

Annihilation is the movie about change, more precisely the horror that lies in the same change when it's unknown. The brilliant book on which the movie is based showcases a type of horror which is hard to explain but very easy to experience. In this new rendering of the story Alex Garland, the film’s director and writer tried his best to capture the same essence even though I bet he fully understood that he will at least partially fail. However, the full result of his effort is not a fail by any means.

Instead, it's one of the best sci-fi movies based on a horror premise that was made recently. This is seen in the fact that the movie gains steam as it progresses. For me, that's almost always a really good cinematographic sign and Annihilation is no different. While the initial character exposition scenes are shaky, once the main plot of the movie gets underway the film quickly finds its focus. Naturally, the great cast of the expedition further underlines this idea with their great performances. Natalie Portman, in particular, does an excellent job as the Biologist, which isn't a big surprise, but the rest of the women are not far behind. Thanks to them and Garland’s vision of the novel, Annihilation is a movie that is a must-watch for every sci-fi fan out there.

Indie Showcase: Ring of Silence (2018)

Human trafficking is a horrific process that oddly enough, is seemingly getting more prevalent in the modern world. The same is true for any country on the planet, no matter how developed it might be.

A new feature-length movie called the Ring of Silence explores this very idea and does so right in the hearth of the United States. Here is how the film describes itself: