The Accountant (2016)

Christian Wolff is a math savante with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King, starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

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42 Seconds of Happiness (2016)

A circle of thirty-something friends reunite for a weekend away to celebrate the same sex wedding of a member of their group. Yet, despite their best efforts to behave themselves, a series of surprise plans, unexpected arrivals and exposed secrets lead to an explosion of drama that, coupled with the flammable combination of hurt feelings, unresolved tensions, and lots of wine cannot be contained.

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Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) (2015)

Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) is the story of a country in turmoil, told through the experience of one family in particular : the director's family. But this is not a weighty history lesson. The major events takes place off-screen. We experience their repercussions on the life of the protagonists. Without avoiding the ceremonial events (birth, death, marriage) that usually punctuate this sort of family chronicle, the author-director focuses on the textures of daily existence. His project stands as a monumental act of testimony, teeming with evocative incident and Proustian detail. 'Homeland' means here both 'home' and 'native land'. It is a film about a home, a country and real life looked at through the eyes of real people. There's no heroism here, just the everyday life of normal people confronted to ordinary and extraordinary events. All human life is here: tragedy, comedy, death and fleeting moments of daily existence. Inevitably much of the story deals with the war, and it is fascinating to see how things evolve, coming up to a brutal, fatal term which leaves us heartbroken.

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The Teacher (2016)

Since the arrival of the new teacher, Maria Drazdechova, to a Bratislava suburban school in the year of 1983, life has turned upside down for students and parents. The teacher's corrupted behavior and one of the students' suicide attempt that could be related to that matter, makes the school Principal call the students' parents for an urgent meeting that will suddenly put the future of all the families at stake. They are asked to sign a petition to move Miss Drazdechova out of the school. The teacher's high connections within the Communist Party makes everyone feel threatened, but at his point they have no choice but to make a decision: will they dare to go against Miss Drazdechova and stand up for what they believe in at any risk, or will they just remain silent and let things be?

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La mort de Louis XIV (2016)

The biggest wonder of this film is that it had most of its audience sitting all the way through. For almost 2 hours of every minute detail of the last days of Louis the 14th, the greatest king France has ever known. Truth is though we do follow every minute detail we don't really see every thing. In fact what we do see is mostly close ups of the faces of the protagonists (mostly the face of Jean-Pierre Leaud who does a superb work as the dying king betrayed by his body, but keeping his mind sharp to the very last moment), we often only get to hear whats taking place while we keep on seeing these close ups. The result is a very beautiful, claustrophobic film, with very little plot development and very little action. Theatrical in the most cinematographic way - namely it's very theatrical but we always get to see it through the eye of the camera, did I forget to mention loads of close ups. So I did stay focused all the way to the end. And I do appreciate the technical mastery of the director and the cinematographer. And the acting was first class. But there's too little of any other element that could make it into a real masterpiece.

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Peelers (2016)

I went to Swapping Dead in Seattle and saw this movie there. After the movie, the writer and the director told everyone about how they made the film and a bunch of other cool stuff. It was really pretty cool. The film was pretty cool too. I knew it was an independent film and so didn't expect much. I think the thing that got me was how great it looked. You could tell a lot of time and money was spent on the camera work. The story was great and really fun. It had some good characters and flowed really well. And the blood. Wow! There were a lot of kills and they were cool too! I'm so glad I had a chance to see it and was very surprised and entertained by the movie makers afterwards. Good job! You should see this if you get the chance. Especially if you like action horror movies.

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Gehenna: Where Death Lives (2016)

A group visits Saipan to search for locations for their company's newest resort. As they find what they think is the perfect spot, they discover a hidden bunker on the property which they decide to explore. However, they soon find out that curiosity can kill. As each member faces their most private secrets and the secrets of the bunker itself, the results lead to a most shocking conclusion. ...

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Tower (2016)

I cried three or four times, maybe five times while watching Tower.

Told with a combination of still photos, grainy 8mm film footage from the incident itself, and rotoscopic animation, it begins in the middle, with the radio announcement some tens of minutes into the incident, lingering only briefly to set the mood.

Then it switches to Claire talking about just before things started happening. The actress playing Claire is rotoscoped, which is an animation technique that looks both real and animated at the same time, because it's like tracing over the actual images. It's a good technique for this type of documentary, because at once it distances you from the actor, yet brings you closer to the person the actor is portraying, and of the age they were when the events took place.

In this way the actors explain things using the words of the real person who was being interviewed, and they also appear as characters in the re-enactment of the events. Because it's rotoscopy, the emotions of the actors carry over and you're able to relate to their feelings. The rotoscopy also enables the director to place people in the Mall without them actually being there, so there was no need to clear the Mall or to ask for permission to film. And it allows for a special touch when Claire tells of her fiancé.

Claire Wilson is the anchor of the story, having been the first one known shot, and also having been 8 months pregnant at the time. She lay out on the concrete of the Mall in front of the tower for over an hour in the August heat, her dead fiancé beside her, helped only by Rita Starpattern, who ran out to help despite the continued sniping.

Other main stories are of the two policemen who killed the sniper, a citizen who helped them, another policeman who went to help at the top of the tower, a freshman with his own story of heroism, a paperboy who was shot, the radio announcer who narrated and warned of the events, and a young woman who only watched.

Rita Starpattern appears only through Claire's narrative, because she died of cancer before anyone interviewed her. Some of the others had been interviewed before they died, and a few more, including Claire, were interviewed for the documentary.

The last part of the film is inter cut with the interviews of the real people whose avatars have been narrating the action. By saying Claire is the anchor, I don't mean to discount the contributions of the others, most of whom performed heroically in a desperate situation.

The sound of the movie is evocative, with music from the time, announcements on the radio, the cicadas of Summer, and of course the incessant gunfire.

I saw the film at the Dallas International Film Festival, so the director was there to answer questions at the end. Answers I recall were that the sniper, who does not appear in the film, made a midnight call on his music teacher, saying that he was very upset and needed to talk. He sat down at the piano and played Claire de Lune, and then said that was what he needed, and left.

Another was that Rita Starpattern never spoke of her actions that day. He said many people in Austin, where she had lived, gasped when they saw her name.

One man in the audience said he knew the sniper's CO in the Marines, who said that the sniper was very much into his role as a killer, and looked forward to being able to kill people legally.

It's odd to think of something that happened in one's own lifetime as a period piece, but younger viewers will understand more of what life was like before ubiquitous global communication. After the shooting, everyone involved lost contact with each other, something unimaginable today. A local radio announcer was the sole contact for news, and also served to warn people about what was going on. At least there were home phones, radio, TV, and 8mm cameras, so I guess it wasn't that primitive.

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Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016)

Batman and Robin spring into action when Gotham City is threatened by Penguin, The Joker, Riddler and Catwoman. This time, the four super villains have combined their wicked talents to hatch a plot so nefarious that the Dynamic Duo really have their hands full.

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Blue Jay (2016)

I love this film. It's perfect. I would not change a thing. 

It's the gem I always hope to discover when I go to TIFF, and it's ironic that the large costly studio films seen earlier in the week fell flat… and here's this little two-character indie film shot in just 7 days… and it blows the heavyweights out of the water. 

Sarah Paulson is at the top of her game. She should be nominated and win many awards for her portrayal of Amanda. Yes, she is that good. 

The direction, acting, cinematography, editing, script, music... all coalesce to create this perfect little gem. It is bliss to watch and experience. 

MOVIE SYNOPSIS:

Jim is back in his childhood home sorting through family belongings after this mother's death.

Amanda is back in town to visit with her sister who's expecting a baby. 

Jim and Amanda run into each other at the local grocery store and have a difficult and awkward time acknowledging each other's presence. What is making them so uncomfortable? Grab your popcorn and watch their story unfold. 

That's it. That's all I'm saying about the film's story line. The less you know, the sweeter the experience of finding out about these two. But I fell in love with both of them.

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