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gleedavis
Reviews
Ascension (2004)
Outstanding first feature
First-time director Maria Petros has crafted a taut, well-acted tale of teen angst and the private tragedies that ultimately lead to public violence.
As writer, producer and director, Petros has evidently marched through the hades that is Independent Film and survived, but moreover has proved that a small budget and limited resources need not stand in the way of a skilled director delivering an involving, satisfying movie experience.
In spite of the familiar subject matter, this is an original story with true suspense and believable performances by a large cast of both teens and adults. Worth watching, not only for its cautionary message, but for a chance to watch a sensitive young director like Petros transfer true emotion from script to screen.
Trial by Trigger (1944)
Serial-like use of old footage and new starring "Inspector Henderson".
Akin to the Republic movie serials of the 1940's in its use of new footage shot to match older, stock footage from 1938's "God's Country and the Woman", this fast-moving, entertaining logger epic (starring young Robert Shayne, seven years later to gain classic TV fame as Inspector Henderson in the George Reeves "Adventures of Superman" series) only misses the mark when the new footage (shot in post 1940, clearer black and white) is edited against the older (1938, three-strip color) footage. Shayne's dark hair vs. the stuntman's light-colored hair (a situation that can likely be blamed on the 'bleaching' that happens when color film is duped in B&W) make every carefully-planned re-staging of the action and every calculated match-edit into a distracting jumpcut. More's the pity, because the logging sequences and especially the runaway train climax are first-rate.
The Etiquette Man (2002)
Hilarious, insightful, completely unclassifyable.
You simply won't 'get' The Etiquette Man if you insist on trying to fit it into a prescribed category.
This is the story of a traveling lecturer who, without apology, teaches 1950's dating etiquette to 21st Century teens with warm, if inevitable, results. The high school characters in the film -- as well as its viewing audiences -- initially greet The Etiquette Man with stunned disbelief. What the h-e-double hockey sticks is this tall, soft-spoken, bow-tied guy talkin' about? "Arrive early for a date and shake hands with your date's dad?" Sheesh!
But as the film progresses, as The Etiquette Man and his tatooed, body-pierced banger classes discuss courtesy and respect and civility's place in modern relationships, we (as they) realize how complicated and selfish all our lives have become. Few films of any length inspire this kind of insight and gentle self-examination.
I loved every second of this delightful, quirky short comedy. The accolades it's received around the world are well deserved.