I am continually amazed at Connolly's work, and this film delivers on all counts. The production value, the cast (SUPERB), the camera work, special effects, script...I have no complaints. I am in awe of how they accomplish what it takes major studios millions of dollars to accomplish. Ryan Connolly will one day soon grace the silver screen with his work...and after years of following his journey as spokesperson, host, entertainer, comedian, instructor, and filmmaker, I think it will be well earned. Great job, guys. Fantastic work. If I could offer one thing that I don't quite understand is...exactly what she is after, and what the digital countdown device (and corresponding arm numbers) mean. Maybe that will come out with the extensive behind-the-scenes that are forthcoming. LOVED it.
Reviews
7 Reviews
Boy in a Backpack
(2016)
Unusual but touching
21 May 2018
I don't know what to make of this film, actually. I love the gritty feel of the setting. It was consistent throughout. A few technical aspects...a black eye wouldn't form that quickly, and his eye would be horribly blood-shot and swollen. Should've opted for a cheek blow...easier to fake with makeup. The boy was the most redeeming quality of the film, actually. And he didn't even have any lines. The filming was good, nice editing, nice cinematography, but the idea they rode on was a bit far fetched. It did hold my interest, however, and I was intrigued with the physically challenged brother. Very interesting facial expressions. Appealing in a What's Eating Gilbert Grape kind of way. A film built more around his character and how he navigates his life would be interesting.
Ephemeral City
(2013)
Beautifully Crafted Film
26 November 2015
I've now seen this film a total of 4 times, every single frame, and it's worth every viewing. Having visited NYC many times, with Phil once as my tour guide, he knows this city inside and out, and he captures the essence of the experience beautifully in this 18-minute film. I've never been a documentary aficionado, but I know beauty when I see it. I also don't know flowers, but when I see one that moves me, I know it. I love how each segment is exactly 7-seconds long, and each captures a unique view of life in the city. Some of the action is surreal and consists solely of visual appeal, others are topical and capture moments that are raw, unedited, and happening in real time. I don't think this film would have had the same powerful effect in color. The black and white strips away the color that might draw your eye to the artistic value of the environment itself. Black and white forces you to see what's going on in the action. The beauty is in what is happening. Not in the aesthetic beauty of color. This film is a wonderful accomplishment and I am thrilled that Phil Davis saw his dream come to fruition. I want more. Keep filming, Mr. Davis! :)
Under the Dome
(2013–2015)
Just Awful
17 September 2013
They've done it again...this time with King's permission. This film is a new story altogether with new characters who are nothing at all like their novel counterparts. Why would King allow this? Is he not wealthy enough? It's just terribly sad and infuriating. One of the best novels he has written and he allowed Hollywood to turn it into a boring, snooze-fest, quasi- evening soap opera with characters who are mirror images of every other brainless, soulless, talentless hipster idiots who populate every other Hollywood low-end talent made-for-TV dramas. What a very sad testament to what Stephen King has allowed Hollywood to do to him. And why? A little bit more wealth. He's basically a Hollywood pimp now. The greatest and most successful novelist ever...EVER...and he's turned into a Hollywood whore. Who pimps out his greatest achievements for a few bucks. Barf. This is literally one of the worst adaptations ever to find the small screen. It's beyond pathetic. It's nauseating. Goodbye, Mr. King.
Talk Radio
(1988)
Almost Brilliant.
15 May 2013
Talk Radio is an excellent film with a phenomenal cast, brilliant writing and a brilliant leading man. Where it fails is with the cartoon character caricature callers who are plucked right out of the textbook of Texas stereotypes. Some of them actually sound like Warner Bros. cartoon characters from Bugs Bunny. It was really distracting. EB is a brilliant actor who really carried the film...with much help from the incomparable Alec Baldwin. If not for the goofy callers, this would be in my top 10 films of all time...up there with Fargo, Goodfellas and others. I was surprised to learn this was an Oliver Stone film because it didn't seem to get much publicity. Excellent story, brilliant script...very enjoyable. I highly recommend this film.
Vile
(2011)
Not Bad
15 May 2013
The acting was not very good and parts of the interactions between the victims was a bit forced and unrealistic...but, I did keep my attention throughout. As far as realism, the actors didn't convey as much pain as they actually would have felt. If you have a fingernail ripped out like that, you are going to be writhing on the floor for a long time and the throbbing from your finger would render that hand useless and would render you unable to be able to focus on anything until the gruesome pain subsided. Which would take a long time. Most of them had multiple fingernails ripped out. Also, when the one guy has the pot of boiling water poured over his lower half...he would have been unable to do anything more...yet we see him in the next scene without any discernible evidence of pain. In fact, we see him walking around like nothing has happened to him. The realism needs a lot of work.
A Nice Family Film
18 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I'm a big fan of magical films that touch you deeply like...E.T., The Never Ending Story, Free Willy, Matilda, The Wizard of Oz, etc...and while this film was somewhat magical, I can't categorize it with the former list. It just missed something...extra special. It did have the potential for what I am describing, as probably anyone who saw the advance trailer last year might have anticipated...a couple who yearns for a child...suddenly one magically appears, from all places...the garden, where they've planted a sort-of wish list...the premise had endless possibilities! Where it doesn't fully meet the expectation, however, is...Timothy Green didn't, in my opinion, seem to have a real purpose for being there. Perhaps it was to mend the relationship between the husband and his father? That did happen, but I don't understand why Timothy was needed for that to take place. Somehow the grandfather had a change of heart near the end of the film, but it is not clear what made him have that change of heart. To turn the heart of the grumpy old Museum curator? That happened, too, but, again, I don't see why Timothy's presence made that possible. In fact, I don't remember a part in the film where she and Timothy had an exchange that would have somehow changed her.
It was clear from the beginning that the husband and wife would make good parents for a child, a little weird and neurotic though they were, and Timothy's presence in their life didn't seem to make that any more clear, so that couldn't have been the purpose.
Perhaps it was to save the rapidly-sinking pencil factory with the invention of the new kind of pencil...which was made by the husband and wife with the encouragement of Timothy, but that side story seemed out of place and didn't ring true at all to me. A magical kid wasn't necessary for that to take place.
Oh, and the presence of the character of the mean factory foreman also didn't seem to have a purpose in the film. He didn't drive the plot in any sort of way that I could detect. The only thing that stood out for me about him is he's the same actor who played the lead in the subculture classic, "Office Space".
I enjoyed the film because Timothy was a delightful kid with a cute face and a wide-eyed innocence and because he befriended the odd-girl-out who also had a beautiful face, but a homely red birthmark on her right shoulder that was an obvious source of shame for her. There was no apparent reason for this friendship between the two, but they did construct a wonderful little "world" out of fallen leaves in the woods that was enchanting and made the mom start to like the girl, for some reason.
This film will appeal to children and it does have enough charm to not fall completely flat. I won't give away the ending, but it was sad and will make some people cry, but it also has a happy element...and was something that was obviously going to happen from the beginning.
It was clear from the beginning that the husband and wife would make good parents for a child, a little weird and neurotic though they were, and Timothy's presence in their life didn't seem to make that any more clear, so that couldn't have been the purpose.
Perhaps it was to save the rapidly-sinking pencil factory with the invention of the new kind of pencil...which was made by the husband and wife with the encouragement of Timothy, but that side story seemed out of place and didn't ring true at all to me. A magical kid wasn't necessary for that to take place.
Oh, and the presence of the character of the mean factory foreman also didn't seem to have a purpose in the film. He didn't drive the plot in any sort of way that I could detect. The only thing that stood out for me about him is he's the same actor who played the lead in the subculture classic, "Office Space".
I enjoyed the film because Timothy was a delightful kid with a cute face and a wide-eyed innocence and because he befriended the odd-girl-out who also had a beautiful face, but a homely red birthmark on her right shoulder that was an obvious source of shame for her. There was no apparent reason for this friendship between the two, but they did construct a wonderful little "world" out of fallen leaves in the woods that was enchanting and made the mom start to like the girl, for some reason.
This film will appeal to children and it does have enough charm to not fall completely flat. I won't give away the ending, but it was sad and will make some people cry, but it also has a happy element...and was something that was obviously going to happen from the beginning.
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