Nuke's Blog
Periodic ramblings by an old geek…

I spent Friday evening with some friends from work attending the 2009 Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival.  I have been meaning to get to one of these for the past few years, but never had the chance until now.  There are a few movies on the list that I really wanted to see, but unfortunately wasn’t in town Saturday for the other sessions.  I’m glad I had the time to make it, and hope to make the entire weekend next year.  Though it might be silly to review and rate these, as nobody is likely to see most of them, I’m going to do it anyway just so you have an idea what you missed.  You can find descriptions for most of the movies here, and you can find a trailer with a few seconds from most of them here.

 

The Vigilant One

Rating:  

0:07:18 PG Student Short Form Adam Orton, John Allen, and Robin Cline Chicago, IL

This was an interesting type of short film, as it gave you the title of the movie at the end along with what felt like “opening” credits.  It was interesting enough that I almost wished I could watch the rest of the movie it was “introducing.”

 

Zombie Blues

Rating:  

0:06:56 R Pro-Am Short Form Carlos De Leon Sioux Fall, SD

This was fairly corny, but quite hilarious.  The best part of the film was the introduction of each character.  The script would have one character saying something to another with reference to the type of character he was talking to.  The film would then pause the action with text noting who the character was.  I can’t remember the one exactly, but he was something like “Steve… the old, bald guy who doesn’t think he’s old or balding.”  You had to be there.

 

Little Bizzy

Rating:  

0:05:06 PG Student Short Form Brandon DeWyn and Kori Francis Grand Rapids, MI

Pretty funny setup of two TV co-hosts obviously starting to date each other, who through a short conversation on hot-mike, end up letting everyone in the studio hear a huge “DOH” situation (turns out he was really mean to her when they were children, and they hadn’t seen each other since then).

 

Escape

Rating:  

0:03:17 G Student Freestyle Jenny Stolte Hiawatha, IA

Not overly interesting, but I guess there’s simply not much a person can do with only 3 minutes when attempting to explore a fantasy world.  This just didn’t hold up to the rest of the competition.

 

Stray Dog

Rating:  

0:23:54 R Pro-Am Short Form John-Michael Rohrtet and Cordelaine Kline Iowa City, IA

First off, I apologize to the others for jumping between theaters early to see this one.  I was not too excited to see that I’m Your Man, the one film I absolutely did not want to see, was still playing.  I think I also might have been the only one of the group to enjoy this movie.  I can’t really get enough of zombie films, and I’ll be disappointed if future festivals don’t include at least two of them.

 

Disrepair

Rating:  

0:10:35 G Pro-Am Freestyle Jeff Curtis Omaha, NE

So, when we jumped to another theater to catch this one, I remember someone asking what it was about.  I told them “It’s ‘free form,’ so it should be pretty weird.”  Oh boy, was that the truth.  Yes, I “got” the film, but that doesn’t mean I liked it.  Probably too much of the dude “dancing around” in the flowery building.

 

Open Up!

Rating:  

0:18:17 PG-13 Pro-Am Short Form L. Stephen Phelan and Travis Richey Gurne, IL

I really liked this film, which the producer introduced as a “love letter” story.  The best part happened to be the comic relief from the lady across the hall in the apartment complex.  She really kept the film on the lighter side so you weren’t drained too emotionally throughout the dialogue of the “fighting” lovers.

 

The Lost Nomads

Rating:  

0:58:13 R Professional Short Form Ty Clancy

The producer told everyone this was an experimental type of film, saying that if you liked Monty Python then you should enjoy it, and if you didn’t like them, well… good luck making it through the next hour.  He was right on… I spent most of the next hour laughing out loud along with the majority of the theater.  There were quite a few groans over several of the “skits,” but overall it was so fun that I bought a copy of their DVD to show others.  Let me know if you want to see it!  You can view some of their shorts on their website.

 

The Last Lullabye

Rating:  

1:33:10 R Professional Feature Jeffrey Goodman and Max Allan Collins Muscatine, IA

This was really an outstanding film compared with all the indie flavor I saw throughout the rest of the festival.  However, as a seemingly normal, professional film, I feel the need to rate it as a normal movie.  It still grabs 3 stars, as it was a really well done story with some very good acting.  The aloof hitman, played by Tom Sizemore, was the best part of the film.  He felt more true to life than the same role played by other actors in recent movies of the past few years.  I had a hard time placing him until earlier tonight when I looked up the film on IMDB… I think I recognize him from Saving Private Ryan.  Guess it’s about time I watched that movie again anyway.

 

Thanks for the invite and letting me join everyone, Jason!  Can’t wait to hear how Saturday went.

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