Forgiving the Franklins
Year: 2008

Director: Jay Floyd

Stars: Aviva, Robertson Dean, Teresa Willis

MPAA Rating: R

Studio: Grinning Idiot Entertainment / Indie-Pictures.com
Running Time: 100 Mins

Review Rating: 4 Stars
Official Website: http://www.forgivingthefranklinsthemovie.com/

Forgiving the Franklins has had the privilege of playing at some of the major film festivals. The film has wowed audiences at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, 2006 South by Southwest and the 2007 Santa Fe Film Festival to name a few. After no major distribution company picked this film up for release the film is now available on DVD via Indie-Pictures.com.

The film is about you typical North Carolina Family that was very religious and very conservative in their political views. The husband, Frank is a lawyer for a big law film; the housewife Betty was a stay at home mom; The son, Brian is a one of his high-school team’s best football players, and the sister Caroline is a cheerleader for the team. Things are going well for the family until an accident puts Frank, Betty, and Brain in a coma.

Once those three wake up from their coma, they begin to act differently, much to the horror of Caroline, who escaped the car crash with minor injuries and the entire community. The three begin to act out their sexual fantasies was the repressed before the accident. Soon everything will never be the same, in the Franklin’s household.

Forgiving the Franklins is very entertaining and funny dark comedy. I personally like these types of comedies, as I’m personally sick of the comedies that the major studios like to churn out, like Harold and Kumar films and Superbad where they have no story to them. This film here has good story that focuses on issues in a funny and odd way.

Writer/Director Jay Floyd does excellent job making this film enjoyable. He focuses his film on the various topics of religion, it fanaticism and the acceptance of sexual behavior. It’s same things that are usually explored, in most British and John Walter’s comedies. The topics, I thought were focused very well in the screenplay, as helped made this film’s content original. The performances were very good, as Floyd directs them very well. They made the characters that they played interesting and also they had good chemistry.

The screenplay, which was also written by Jay Floyd, brought depth and explored some issues that most filmmakers don’t want do period. He tackles that in a way, so that it isn’t too gross out or too offensive to some. Floyd also spends a lot of time developing the characters within the family, from before the accident to after the accident. It does that, in the way that you don’t hate any of the characters within the family. Another thing that made this film very good was the way Floyd took the film into a different direction in the last act of the film. At first, I didn’t like it, but later came to the realization that it was actually was not a bad direction to go. I thought, it helped the film, in a way because I had a feeling that this was going to go the predictable route, but didn’t as it helped add more of a dark element to this comedy.

Forgiving the Franklin is very dark and twisted comedy that will spend time with them more often.

DVD Extras:

Theatrical Trailer

You can order, “Forgiving the Franklins” by going to:

http://www.indie-pictures.com/Forgiving-the-Franklins-p/094922875457.htm

One Night
Year: 2007
Director: Michael Knowles
Stars: Bill Sage, Melissa Leo, Christian Campbell
MPAA Rating:
Studio: 7A Productions
Running Time: 98 Mins
Review Rating: 5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.onenightthemovie.org/



One Night is a film that has been circulating on the festival film scene for a while. The film has played in various festivals including the Tacoma Film Festival, Kent Film Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival, and most recently at the Solstice Film Festival and the Sunscreen Film Festival, where director Michael Knowles won Best Director.


The film focuses on various character that include, an A&R representative that is having an affair with his young assistant behind his beautiful girlfriend’s back because he has a very bottomless feel that he becoming older. A young sensitive college student, who’s madly in love with her boyfriend while thinking that one of her closest friend, is childish. An twenty something woman, who meets a man for the first time in person after meeting him through the internet. A middle-aged woman, who is looking to change her life and a nervous actor, who finally gets be with the person who he has dreamed about. Through out the night these characters all convene at the same music venue where their lives will change either for better or worse.

One Night is a great film that examines human relationships and intimacy between people who are looking for love. Writer/director Michael Knowles’s direction of the film was very good. He does a great job not making the various plot lines and the drama in the film confusing, since the film focuses on a lot of characters. Knowles direction of the actors and actresses performances was very good. This is definitely the best ensemble piece that I’ve seen this year, so far. Their performances were great. It’s great because of the script that they had and the actors performed their roles very well, which helped bring out the personality of each of the characters. It’s movies like this that you appreciated the craft of acting, when people are there to act and passionate about the material.


The major thing that makes One Night great was Knowles’s screenplay. He does a great job exploring the aspects of human interaction, relationships, and intimacy. The characters that were created for the film were good, as they varied in age from college students to people in their late forties. The reason why he puts it there was to explore these issues, like an older man in love with a younger woman or the interaction of two character that in their forties still searching for love. Knowles also keeps each of the subplots moving by being in a closed environment for most of the film, so they could interact with each of the other characters and makes the viewer become involved with each character’s story. Also. I liked how the characters were intersected into each of the various plotlines. It helps make the story of the film and the characters in it interesting. Knowles also did a good job exploring the dark side of love, as he focuses on the sadness and the things they would do that would drive people who are desperate to be loved.


I definitely suggest that you check this film out, if it’s playing at your film festival. One Night is a very entertaining look at the need for human interaction and intimacy.


Upcoming Screenings:


Solstice Film Festival St. Paul, MN June 2008 Date, Time, and Venue: TBA

All Along
Year: 2008
Directors: Robert A, Masciantonio
Stars: Bill Page, Krista Allen, Erin Brown
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Apprentice Productions
Running Time: 76 Mins
Review Rating: 3 Stars
Official Website: http://www.allalongfilm.com/


All Along is the follow-up feature to Robert A. Masciantonio’s 1999 cult horror film “Cold Hearts”, which I’m a big fan of. He now tries his hand at the romantic comedy genre with this film. All Along has already played in such film festivals such, as the Kent Film Festival and the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival.

This romantic comedy is about a guy named Richard Harrison (Bill Page), who has everything going for him, a loving wife, job security, and two rambunctious teenagers. But his life is about to change when he turns 40, as Richard starts to daydream to escape his reality. But his daydreams always get him into trouble when he comes back into reality. In order to stop these problems, Richard seeks the help of a psychologist (Krista Allen) to help trace his problems, so he can unlock the mysteries of his problems and go back to the life that he was accustomed to.

Writer/Director Robert A Masciantonio overall, does a good job with the film. He keeps the action for most of the film through the film’s humor. Masciantonio’s direction of the actors was very good, as he does a good job making their performances gel together. The acting helps makeup for the flaws in the screenplay, which I’ll talk about.

Robert A Masciantonio’s screenplay wasn’t bad but there were some flaws that could have hurt the film in a big way and some good things that help the film succeed. First, the screenplay felt too confined to one area, for the most part, as he spends most of the film at the amusement park. It just felt a little boring that the movie was still at the place, after the first half of the film. I would have wanted to see what would happen with his dreams during his daily routine, even though there is a glimpse of it, in the film. The screenplay should have had the main character daydream in other places, which would have added more laughs and added more fun. Also, the film could have used another fifteen minutes to explore that aspect as it would have helped made Masciantonio’s screenplay better. But, there are also good things about Robert A Masciantonio’s screenplay. He develops the main character’s relationship with the other characters very well. The characters also didn’t seem annoying or dumb. And the film’s humor was funny, as it wasn’t repetitively stupid or something so grossed-out that would make me push the stop button, on the DVD player.

The performances were good. Bill Page was very good as Richard Harrison. I liked how he hits the comedic tones of the material as his reactions helps make his character interesting and fun. Page also had good chemistry with his other co-stars, especially with Krista Allen. The two, worked well with each other, which helped keep my interest in the story, when it was becoming too confined.

All Along is a good film that I do suggest you check out if playing at your local film festival but it’s nowhere close to Masciantonio’s last feature film.

All Along’s Upcoming Screening:

Friday April 4th at 7:00PM at the Fairhope Film Festival, in Fairhope, Alabama

Saturday May 17th at 9:30PM at the Big Island Film Festival, in Hawaii

13 Hours in a Warehouse
Year: 2008
Director: Dav Kaufman
Stars: Danny Selman, Chares Bonin, Meisha Johnson
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 93 Mins
Review Rating: 5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.13hoursmovie.com/


13 Hours in a Warehouse recently had it world premiere at the Nevermore Film Festival

The film is about a group of hired thieves who spend the night in abandon warehouse along with a hostage, after their heist went perfect. As they wait for their boss to arrive in the morning, two of the thieves knew the place was used for a porn studio. Soon numbers begin to strangely appear all over the warehouse and slowly find out that the warehouse was more than a porn studio. Now the thieves have a big problem, as they find out that there is a mysterious presence that is haunting the place and they don’t want them to see daylight.

I see usually three to four horror films a week. I admit it takes me fifteen – twenty minutes to get into a movie every time I review a feature length film. However, 13 Hours in a Warehouse had me hooked from the first shot on.

13 Hours in a Warehouse is one of the most original supernatural horror films I’ve seen in a while from both the independent and major studios systems. Writer/Director Dav Kaufman did a very good job with the directing and screenplay aspects of the film. He sets the tone early, when has his main characters talking like characters found in a Quentin Tarantino film. Amazingly, these characters worked for this type of film. The characters help get your interest level up so that you are interested in the film later on. Kaufman’s direction of the actors was very good. Their performances come out very well, as the actors seemed energized. The effects were also very good. The ghost effects were creepy and static looking, which helped them look frightening on screen.

Kaufman’s screenplay is very original for a supernatural film, like this. I liked how Dav Kaufman blends elements of films like Reservoir Dogs, Saw, Hostel, and Heist together here. The element helps make this supernatural horror film original and keeps your attention through out. The story was very good. Kaufman’s Story also has a lot of twists and turns that keeps the film interesting. Kaufman makes the thieves likeable, in the same way Taratino does with his films. He also does the same with the ghosts, as you have to remember that the thieves were also bad guys in the film. The scares were very effective especially when the disturbing elements were added in midway through the film.

The acting makes this film even more enjoyable for me. The actors were very into their roles. The male leads were just great with each other. The chemistry with each other was very good. These five actors would fit right into a low-budget Quentin Tarantino film, if he’d make another low-budget film.

13 Hours in a Warehouse is a film that you should definitely watch out on the festival circuit. The film delivers on the scares and character twists. This is a film that you should definitely check out if it plays at your local film festival.

You can catch the next screening of 13 Hours in a Warehouse at the Indie Spirit Film Festival on Saturday April 26th in Colorado Springs, Co.

For time of the screening visit the Indie Spirit Film Festival website at http://www.indiespiritfilmfestival.org/.