Yes/No Detroit

I bring to you the last two of my movie reviews for the Cinetopia International Film Festival 2014 , the first film fest I had the pleasure of attending. For these two movies, I wanted to write reviews even though they were my least favorite of the festival. Both still have good things to recommend about them, but overall I wasn't a fan of either, though I will say they are both so off-the-wall that they are still stuck in my head, two weeks later, especially Buzzard , which was filmed in Grand Rapids, MI. Official synopsis : ( OJ: The Musical ) Every small town has that one son who has made it big, and for Orrville, Ohio, that son is Eugene Olivier. From grade school pageants to high school plays and on to the bright lights of New York City, Eugene has made a name for himself in the world of theater. Literally, just for himself. OJ: The Musical follows Eugene as he recruits hometown friends and sets up funding for his musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Othello.” Whether he’...

You didn't think I was done writing Cinetopia International Film Festival movie reviews, did you? (and you can check out my previous reviews and coverage here , too.) Things have been busy lately, but I have this review and will also be doing a joint OJ: The Musical / Buzzard  review later this week, too. Hellion was one of the movies at the fest that had the most recognizable cast: Aaron Paul ( Breaking Bad ) and Juliette Lewis ( August: Osage County ) star, but it's the child actors in this film (Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner, and others) that steal the show. Official synopsis: Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis star in this heartbreaking drama that acutely captures the misdirected angst of teenage years. Thirteen-year-old Jacob is spiraling out of control. Motocross-obsessed, he and his delinquent friends trash things out of boredom and frustration that they hold inside because of the dire circumstances of their lives. All hell breaks loose when Jacob enlists his younger brot...

The two weirdest most unique films I saw at the Cinetopia Film Festival were definitely R100  and The Congress . R100  showed at the State Theater at 11:30 p.m., and it's the type of movie that probably should  be watched late: it's bizarre yet also interesting. I didn't know what the title meant until recently, when I read this review : apparently the Japanese rating system for movies has such like R-15 and R-18 (like our PG-13 and R, I'm assuming), so R-100  is suggesting that it's far beyond these in terms of content. Official synopsis: Any way you look at it, Takafumi’s life is boring. He gets up, makes his son breakfast, sells upholstery downtown, stops by the hospital to see his comatose wife, and picks up dinner on the way home. He needs… adrenaline. When he stumbles upon a mysterious club with the word “Bondage” inscribed on the front door, it seems his routine may change. Before Takafumi signs away, the administrator gives him a glimpse of what’s to c...

My two favorite movies I saw at the Cinetopia International Film Festival  were Lilting  and Obvious Child . The funny thing about Lilting  is that I almost didn't see it: it wasn't on my list of movies I wanted to see, even though I had heard good things about it, but then a fellow movie blogger pulled myself and my friend in to the line to see it, so we saw that instead of Jingle Bell Rocks . Lilting  actually won the Cinematography award at this year's Sundance Festival, as well. Official synopsis: What would you do if the only person that could help comfort you from the sudden death of a loved one spoke an entirely different language than you? That’s the dilemma facing the main characters of Lilting , as Junn, an old Chinese woman, and Richard, the English boyfriend of her late son, must try to overcome their inability to communicate—and their dislike of one another—in order to deal with their grief and honor their memories. The winner of the Cinematography Awar...

The first movie I had the pleasure of seeing at the Cinetopia International Film Festival this month was The Skeleton Twins , which I was definitely anticipating. I love Kristen Wiig, even though I rarely see  SNL , and Bill Hader is usually funny as well. Unlike most of the screenings at the festival, The Skeleton Twins  only had one showing, at the State Theater (Ann Arbor), and because of that, the screening was packed. Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins Official IMDb synopsis: After many years of estrangement, twins Maggie and Milo lead separate lives on opposite sides of the country. When both feel that they're at the end of their ropes, an unexpected reunion forces them to confront how their lives went so wrong. For Maggie, that means re-examining her marriage to sweet "nature frat boy" Lance and her own self destructive tendencies, while Milo must face the pain of an early heartbreak he never quite got past. As the twins' reunion reinvig...

After a crazy weekend filled with 12 feature-length films and a few short films as well, I have made it through my first film festival: the Cinetopia International Film Fest, held in Ann Arbor and Detroit. I only attended the Ann Arbor screenings, but many people I met there attended screenings in both cities. If you read my pre-fest post , I told you my Top 5 list, and the good news is that 1) I was able to make it to all five of those movies, and 2) I enjoyed all of them. Without further ado: *not included: Detroit Voices short films, including high school and adult divisions.

Some of you may know that I'm a University of Michigan alum (class of 2009), so I was excited to hear that Cinetopia will be returning to Ann Arbor (one of my favorite cities), and I will be attending as media. It promises to be a whirlwind of screenings, and right now I plan on seeing 10+ movies during it. (!) The festival takes place in both Ann Arbor (Michigan Theater, State Theater, and UM's Modern Languages Building, or MLB) and Detroit, and showcases 50 films, in 10 venues, and 110 screenings overall  (wow!). You can click here  to see the full schedule, or here to purchase tickets. More about the festival : Created for the people of southeastern Michigan, the Cinetopia International Film Festival features the best feature-length dramas, comedies, and documentaries from the world’s best film festivals (e.g. Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin, SXSW, Tribeca, etc.). The extensive festival program is selected exclusively for Cinetopia by a team that inc...