Three independent films worth watching this 4th of July weekend.

Just because a film doesn't have a big budget doesn't mean it doesn't have big ideas or something to say.  Three films that I have seen in the last month have not only caught my attention but my imagination as well.

Chef - Comedy
First from Open Road Films is John Favreau's summer film "Chef.”  The film may not make tons of money, but it will make many people happy.  "Chef" is a story of one man's search for happiness and finding it at the most essential level: food, family, and personal self-worth.  "Chef" includes “Iron Man" alums Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson in supporting roles.  But the big stars along with Favreau are Emjay Anthony, John Leguizamo, and Sofia Vergara.  The MPAA gave "Chef" an R rating for language, and some suggestive male bonding references.  The film runs just under 2 hours and worth every minute.

The Rover - Crime Drama

Secondly, I recommend the Australian film from A24 studios titled "The Rover.”  A carefully paced film that loves wide-open spaces, and with a sense of turmoil that burns below the surface.  Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson star in a film that typifies Australian cinematic style with long periods of silence and then sudden bursts of violence that shatters the narrative and reminds the viewer that the world that we are wandering in. is a wilderness of pain and violence.  "The Rover" is a film about the search for humanity, civility and the safety of structure.  The film is violent and deserves its R rating, and runs about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The Signal - Sci-Fi

Last, but not least is "The Signal" from the art house Focus films.  Director William Eubank takes us on a journey into the depths of conspiracies and into a world of interesting concepts.  Is it Alien contact, or is it something from "The Twilight Zone?"  That is the question "The Signal" asks.   The film stars Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke and Laurence Fishburne star in this well-made stylish Science Fiction adventure.  "The Signal" is Science Fiction in its true form, unaltered by fantastical elements from fantasy or the horror genres.  If you don’t see “The Signal” in theaters, make sure that you catch it on Blu-ray or DVD. Rated PG-13 and runs 85 minutes.

Summer 2014 Independent Film | A Constantly Racing Mind

The Rover - One Man's Search For Justice In the Land of the Lawless

" I am looking for my car. There are three men in it.  Have you seen it?"

T he opening scenes of "The Rover" warn the viewer that this is not a slick Hollywood Blockbuster, instead it is a carefully paced film that loves wide open spaces, and with a sense of turmoil that burns below the surface.  "The Rover" typifies Australian cinematic style in this manner as well as the sudden bursts of violence that shatters the narrative and reminds the viewer that the world that we are wandering in. is a wilderness of pain and violence.  Guy Pearce ("Memento," "The Count of Monte Cristo," "Animal Kingdom," "Lockout ") stars along with Robert Pattinson ("Water for Elephants," "The Twilight Saga: New Moon") in this straight forward narrative of two men searching for the life and security that the world once held for them. “  The Rover" is a violent film, and deserves its R rating, and runs about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The opening title card only says "10 years after the collapse."  The fall of the Western economy leads many to the mines of Australia to eke out a living. Thievery and robbery are the norm, and the price of water and petrol are high.   David Michôd ("Animal Kingdom" "Hesher") and writer and actor Joel Edgerton ("The Great Gatsby," "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones") ,  tells a direct narrative of brutality in the Australian outback.   Sitting in his car, Eric (Guy Pearce) finally decides to exit his compact car and enter a bar for a drink.  Pearce’s Eric is dressed in a short sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts, as if he was planning on doing some gardening in his backyard but decided to have a drink instead.  He has a full beard and moustache and his hair is a slicked back mess and thinning.  Approaching the bar from a short distance are three men in a small pickup truck covered in mud.  They are fighting with one another.  A wounded Henry (Scoot McNairy), argues with Archie (David Field) who is sitting in the back seat while Caleb (Tawanda Manyimo) drives the getaway car.  They are arguing over leaving Hank’s brother Rey (Robert Pattinson) behind either wounded or dead in the street.  A struggle ensues and the car goes crashing by the barroom window as Eric drinks his beer morosely.  The three men, sitting in their car, uninjured, try to get the car to move but cannot.  Two men in the bar leave the bar with shotguns to investigate and Eric follows.  Archie leaves the backseat and breaks into Eric's car and electronically hotwires it; the other two follow.  Eric is able to start the truck and pursues the three carjackers.  

During the pursuit, Eric catches up to the thieves, but is knocked unconscious and left on the side fo the road. Upon awaking,  Eric stops at every shithole town that litters the Australian desert.  He also finds himself at odds with an old brothel/opium den owner who goes by the name of Grandma (Gillian Jones), several Chinese acrobats and a dwarf (Jamie Fallon), whom Eric ends up murdering in a quite nonchalant way.  Eric also runs into Rey who is losing blood from a gunshot wound.  After driving miles to find a doctor, Eric finds one by the name of Dorothy (Susan Prior).  After she removes the bullet, cleans, and dresses the wound, Dorothy finds Eric in a shed where she keeps quite a few dogs held in cages.  Watching the caged dogs, Eric is quiet and filled with sorrow. He sits in front of them and sobs.  Dorothy tells him that the owners left the dogs with her to care for.  The owners never returned.  She didn’t want to release the dogs because she knows that they would be killed and eaten as food.  The next day during an encounter with the Chinese acrobats who came avenge the dwarf..  Eric uses Dorothy’s rifle to shoot them from a distance.  Rey, still recovering, marvels at his accuracy.  Eric takes Rey with him as he is the key in finding the brother, the other two thieves and his car.  

Eric’s car acts as a McGuffin in this film.  It seems to be Eric’s purpose for living.  One must ask themselves why the damn car is so important.  The interaction between Eric and Rey, which starts out guarded, is insightful to the audience.  We find that Eric is an ex-soldier and a failed farmer and Rey is a young American man who may be described as one with limited mental abilities.  Rey is a role that Robert Pattinson gives an exceptionally good performance.  His mannerisms and the difficulty he has in getting his words out are painfully realistic.  Throughout the film, Rey’s character metamorphoses into something other than a mentally challenged kid who is severely dependent on his older brother.   

The theme of friendship and trust grows throughout the film in small yet credible ways.  Eric is harder to fathom as he is a man full of despair, and acts as a one whose search for meaning has failed.  After Rey accidently kills a motel owner’s daughter, he ends up in a gunfight with a soldier who Eric dispatches matter-of factly.  The next day Rey is deep in thought and tells Eric that he is thinking of the girl he killed.  Eric replies, "You should never stop thinking about a life you take.  That is the price you pay for taking it."

As the two travel the Australian Wasteland there are people surrealistically crucified on the side of the road.  Eric is morose throughout the film with an air of existentialism on the surface but with a terrible anger boiling beneath.  At one point, after being captured by the soldiers, he talks to the Sargent filling out his transfer papers.  Eric asks the soldier why he doesn't just kill him rather than sending him to Sydney.  The soldier’s reply borders on the absurd, "Why shoot them, if we shoot them and never send them to Sidney they will wonder why they are paying us.”  He then confesses to the soldier about murdering his wife 10 years before. For Eric, the loss of structure, the lawlessness, and the struggle just to survive, leaves the his world meaningless and sullen.  As Eric awaits his death, gunshots ring out, and within seconds, the soldier he just confessed to, is dead.  Rey arrives like the cavalry to the rescue.  Welcome to the apocalyptic version of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

Amidst the ramshackle buildings and the desert heat and openness, “The Rover” is paced stubbornly and has a quality reminiscent of "The Book of Eli."  Michôd questions the value of the Rule of Law, or in this case the lack of it.  One sits mesmerized to the screen as each scene and each act of violence unfolds and you are given time to reflect on what the world has come to.  The Human psyche is a fragile thing and in either Eric and Rey’s world, or your own world, where respect for human life and politeness come into question as each bit of civility, slowly and insidiously is stripped from humanity.  The film exudes complacency as seen near the end when an old man watches the murder of his companions.

Have I scared you with a description of this film?  Don’t be, my intentions are only to guide you.  The Rover is a film for those who are not faint of heart and enjoys a directing style that aims clearly at telling a story of violence in a realistic but in a weirdly beautiful way. Natasha Braier's cinematography and Peter Sciberras editing doesn't rush or force the characters or the story.  "The Rover" is a film about the search for humanity, civility and the safety of structure.  The film is also about justice; not just justice for the film’s bad guys, but also for the "hero" as well. 

Movie Data

Genre: Crime, Drama

Year:  2014

Staring: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy, Tawanda Manyimo, David Field, Susan Prior, Gillian Jones

Director: David Michôd

Producer(s): David Linde, David Michôd, Liz Watts

Writer: Joel Edgerton, David Michôd

Rating: R

Running Time: 102 minutes

Release Date:  6/20/2014

Twilight: New Moon

Torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool.

Well that pretty much sums up "New Moon," the latest in Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" series. I have not read any of the “Twilight” soap opera series of books and just reviewing this film only. I am sure the book is probably better. This movie is for "Twilight" fans or teenage girls.

First piece of advice for those who know nothing about this series and want to watch this movie ... rent it do not buy it. Secondly, you need to see "Twilight" first, as this movie does not recap much for the newly initiated. Finally, do not expect much in the way of any deep revelations on vampire lore.

A quick synopsis from "Twilight" -- girl meets vampire; girl falls in love with vampire (it’s a bad-boy thing); more bad guys come between girl and vampire; vampire saves girl. Good, we have caught up with the series. In "New Moon," we focus more on the shape-shifting Native-Americans living up in Fork, Washington. They introduce the werewolf part in the "Twilight," just so you know. Leaving off from "Twilight," all seems well and good for Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward ( Robert Pattinson) until Edward tells Bella that his Vampire family, the Cullens, have to move on because the locals are noticing how remarkably well preserved they all look after all these years - it must be the vegetarian lifestyle. So off they go, leaving Bella to face her fears of growing old.

I am sure that this movie appeals to teenage girls for precisely this reason, their first love, their realization that growing up and leaving home and facing their mortality is just awful. Either sit at home in a rocking chair like Bella, or get out and get another boyfriend. Bella does both. She goes after Jacob, her friend from childhood, and also a member of the local American-Indian tribe, the Quileute. Bella forces herself on this kid; re-build motorcycles together, and Bella is falling for him. Jacob, played by Taylor Lautner, is a bright kid, has an impressive hunky body (my daughter's words, not mine) and seems to be smart, but who is running with the wrong crowd. Now this is where "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" comes to mind. Bella's choice for a boyfriend is difficult, should she go for the hairy and hot Jacob? Perhaps she should go for the smooth and cold Edward? The changing into werewolf is a metaphor for the change and Jacob is changing from a child into a man.

The photography is beautiful, the greens contrasting nicely against the gray pallet of the North West. The acting is barely passable, the characters are not credible, and the actors are attractive, but the acting is too reserved. The story is weak and limps its way. The visual effects are great, although Edward shines too much. The ending ... Well let’s just say that they set you up for "Eclipse," the third in this series. Ultimately “New Moon” is a terrible movie.

Movie Data

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy | Romance

Year: 2009

Starting: Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli

Director: Chris Weitz

Writers: Melissa Rosenberg, (screenplay) - Stephenie Meyer

Producers: Wyck Godfrey

Rating: PG-13

Twilight: Eclipse Review

Eclipse Has the Best Male Bonding Tent Scene Since Brokeback Mountain

T he first thing to remember is that the whole "Twilight Series" is written for teenaged girls. However, for every teenage girl that wants to see "Eclipse," a teenage boy will want to take her.  For every teenage girl without a boyfriend and without a driver's license, there are the girl’s parents to take her and family to see "Eclipse."  So right away, you can see how the ticket sales multiply exponentially in this fashion.  Knowing this bit of information, at least sets ones expectations for "Eclipse" in the right place.  Of The "Twilight" Saga's three different directors, David Slade ("30 Days of Night") may be the best yet.  Returning to her role as Bella Swan is the ever-dark Kristen Stewart, and reprising his James Dean looking character is the ever quiet Robert Pattinson as Edward the vampire.  Bringing heat and passion to the cold northwest is Taylor Lautner as the shape-shifting werewolf, Jacob Black.  Once again set in the cold dreary rural outskirts of Seattle, in the little town of Forks Washington, "Eclipse" brings a less depressing Bella and a more entertaining story to Twilight fans everywhere.

Bella (Stewart) and Edward (Pattinson) are making plans for graduation and potential plans for Bella's change into a vampire afterwards.  Edward is proposing marriage; however, Bella just wants to turn.  In the seedy areas of rainy, wet, Seattle, there is a series of murders taking place by newbie vampires who are without the boundaries that all good little vampires need.  You know, "spare the rod spoil the vampire.”  An old enemy from the past is creating a vampire army to take on the Cullens and specifically Edward and Bella.  Much of the movie revolves around the teen posturing that you usually find on a high school campus.  For any one who has attended high school, the scenes in "Eclipse" will bring back memories, either fond ones or not so fond memories of those good old school days.  Staying away for the first part of the film is Taylor Lautner, as he was rejected by Bella in the last movie, "New Moon," or he was still in shock from the reviews.  Returning to the screen the shirtless wonder and with his wide smile, Lautner brings the heat and warmth that the cold Edward lacks.  Bella, ever in a state of confusion, is more cheerful and active than she was in New Moon.

While lounging in the tall summer grass, Bella quotes to Edward from Robert Frost's poem 

Fire and Ice, Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice,  I think I know enough of hate To know that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

Bella hints to the audience which boyfriend she plans to choose with this poem.  Warned by the psychic Alice (Ashley Greene), that she and Edward are being hunted by Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard), Bella comes out of her shell and wants to help.  Joining the cast as this episode's list of enemies, is actor Xavier Samuel as Riley, a young man who went missing about a year ago and has since started building a vampire army.  "Eclipse" presents the viewers with the best of all situations for the teenaged audience, two guys as a love interest both fighting over you and protecting you.  Both Edward and Jacob, in trying to protect Bella from the Vampire Army, and the freezing cold, have a long wordy male bonding session in a tent while a storm howls outside.  What they say is not important, what is important to the viewer is that the two work together.  What Bella doesn't realize is that you can't have your cake and eat it too, or maybe you can.  Dealing with subject of becoming a vampirism and the subject of marriage in the same scene harkens back to the days of gothic horror.  Bella begging for penetration of one kind or another, author Stephanie Meyers through the character of Edward firmly say no.  Becoming a vampire has always been a metaphor of casting aside society’s conventions and releasing oneself to ones inner passions and Eclipse dances around this very well.  Add some well placed comedy and director David Slade turned what could easily be a very bad movie into something more enjoyable than New Moon.  


The young actors, under Slade’s direction, enrich their characters this time around.  The script is too wordy for an adult audience, but I think screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, and director Slade chose to keep in the explanations, making it easier for the teen audience and those new to the Twilight series to catch on.  In the last film, New Moon, I felt too much was left unsaid, and have not read the book the film didn't stand on its own.  Being more active in Eclipse, Stewart whose past roles include a suicidal teen in 2007's "The Messengers," frozen through most of "Zathura: A Space Adventure" (2005), and a depressed rape victim in "Speak" (2004) provided her with the background for angst ridden teens.  "Eclipse" gives her an opportunity to show some acting growth, and hopefully she will show us more in "Breaking Dawn" films.  Pattison bares his fangs from time to time and plays his part very subtly, however Lautner, reacts to Stewart's chemistry like a wolf in heat, pun intended. "Eclipse" does stand on it’s on as a complete story while leaving the audience wanting more.  

Howard Shore's compositions for the film score are appropriate and not overbearing nor pretentious.  The effects seemed a little sloppy, but happen so fast that most teenagers or adults won't notice if they are paying attention to the live actors and the story.  In this case, Slades’ direction to his visual effects group was that he wanted the effects to help tell the story and not be the story.  In that, I do applaud the "30 Days of Night" director for keeping the attention focused on the story.  Not many actual shape-shifting scenes to distract the audience with, Slade keeps the audience focused on his three lead characters and the story.  Mixing the cold blues of the Northwest sky with glowing, warm scenes of Edward and Bella, or scenes with Bella and Jacob walking in the sun keep away the gloom.  "Eclipse" is well paced, but more dialog than needed film. For the Young Adult, and extreme fans of Stephanie Meyers novels may find "Eclipse" fun and worthy of their time. However, the narrative is encumbered with overly wordy dialog at times, and a story that sometimes doesn't make any sense, but overall a fun movie to watch with your teenaged daughter. The bottom line is, take your kids if they have to see it, otherwise wait for the DVD or Blu-ray.

Movie Data

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance 

Year:  2010

Staring:  Xavier Samuel, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Taylor Lautner

Director: David Slade

Producer(s): Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt

Writer: Melissa Rosenberg, Stephenie Meyer  (Novel)

Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 124 minutes

Release Date: 6/30/2010

Originally published on Associated Content by Robert Barbere on 7/2/2010