Author: BRWC

Catching Fire: The Story Of Anita Pallenberg – Review. By Richard Schertzer.

In a world where everything is imperfect, seeing the world through an “It Girls” eyes proves to not be as beautiful as one would think and shows a dark reality of what really went down when a beautiful woman fucks around with the Rolling Stones.

Anita Pallenberg worked as a fashion model and afterwards had a rocky and violent relationship with Rolling Stones member Brian Jones and later with Keith Richards, as she [Pallenberg] hopped from place to place after she and her partner(s) came under fire for possessing illegal drugs. 

She comes face to face with every tragedy and every win that molded her. Many people will say that her movies are what she is known for, but it’s actually her resilience. 

This film has an incredible awe about it underneath its execution as it testifies to the soul of the woman who is Anita. This documentary does everything and more with her story by giving the audience a front row seat into her life.

Moreover, this movie is a heartfelt and ambitious look at a woman who has everything and is forced to run and hide to keep her family safe from the world when she is under the pressures of her stressful relationships. 

All in all, this documentary has a perfect balance of heart, soul and humor that resonates within its core and just makes for some informative viewing. 

Fallen Fruit: Review. By Richard Schertzer.

A lot of films will have heart and humor with a meaningful message inside of it. Fallen Fruit is a film that has that but it has no idea how to use any of those elements correctly to make an effective comedy-drama. 

In the movie, Alex, a young man in his 20s, moves back home with his family and after a series of jobs and plans don’t go as planned, he begins to grow wary of his prospects and sinks into a deep depression that could only be felt once you know what rock bottom truly feels like. 

For starters, the film is another retread into something that could have been a lot better than what it was. It seems like a college film that was made in a few days and there is nothing wrong with that, but when making a professional film, it doesn’t do itself any favors being made this simply for audiences.

I will say that the cinematography is nicely composed and shot for a Miami landscape. The realism of this film befits its simplistic plot, while not being too overly bombastic. 

This film feels like a half-made concoction of what is yet to come and is going up against other heavy-hitters in the independent film space. With that being said, it’s very easy to forget about this LGBTQ+ film when there are so many others like it.

Overall, the film has a very good heart behind all of it, but it fails to reinvent the LGBTQ+ film genre with any meaningful message or themes. 

Sting: Review. By Daniel Rester.  

Sting is a goofy, gooey giant spider film from Kiah Roache-Turner, the director behind the Wyrmwood zombie flicks. It takes place in a city apartment building during a massive snowstorm. The residents of the building have more worries than the cold outside once an alien egg from space crashes into the building. 

Alyla Browne plays Charlotte, a frustrated young girl who tries to connect with her stepfather, Ethan (Ryan Corr). The two bond over comicbooks, but they often have conflicting ideas. Charlotte wishes Ethan would take her thoughts on his comic series “Fang Girl” more seriously. 

Charlotte gains an unlikely pet in a spider that hatches from the aforementioned egg. Soon the strange arachnid (which can whistle and mimic animals) gets loose and starts feeding on anything and everything alive, which causes it to grow rapidly. Ethan, Charlotte, and others must fight for their lives in order to survive against the spider after it grows to the size of a German Shepherd. 

Roache-Turner’s film, which he also wrote, greatly benefits from a strong performance by Browne and clever camerawork by cinematographer Brad Shield. Browne’s believable performance as Charlotte helps ground Sting, even as others around her turn into caricatures (Jermaine Fowler, for example, is completely over-the-top as an exterminator named Frank). Shield, meanwhile, uses quite a variety of smooth shots in depicting the spider horror. His use of lighting and patient movements definitely assists Roache-Turner in giving Sting atmosphere. 

The effects here are pretty good too. They are most effective in a scene where the spider crawls into someone’s mouth and tears her insides up. It’s one of the more memorable bits of terror in the film. Sometimes the creature looks too glossy and CGI-heavy, but for the most part it is creepy in design. 

Sting has moments of dopey humor and family drama that fall flat. Some of the dialogue lands with a thud as Roache-Turner strains to make many of the supporting characters quirky. Charlotte, Ethan, and a baby are pretty much the only people I cared about and didn’t want to get eaten. The others are mostly annoying and expendable. 

Sting works best in its final thirty minutes when it starts to feel like Alien (1979) in an apartment building. The hour leading up to that section can be tedious at times. Even so, Sting is much better than most modern spider horror films overall. 

Rating: 6/10

The Black Guelph: Review. By Richard Schertzer.

‘Trainspotting’ called and they want their movie back. It seems that every single character stereotype came to light in this movie without breaking any new ground for European drug addicts in cinema.

In the film, Kanto is a drug dealer and lousy, deadbeat father. He attempts to get out of his drug-dabbling habits but he continually falls back into old habits and those habits get worse as Kanto’s father resurfaces as he attempts to get a settlement after being a victim in a child trafficking scandal. 

Where do I begin with what’s wrong with this movie? For starters, it does nothing to change or evolve the drug movies that are based around a country in Europe. I haven’t seen something as derivative or predictable as this cliche-riddled drama and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing. 

I will say that the actors do give it their best shot with the material that they are given, which is already a hard task to achieve. It’s not the actors’ faults and they are pretty good at what they do, but they could have been better. 

Much of the film starts and ends with a bunch of loud, arrogant, foul-mouthed junkies being and doing what foul-mouthed junkies do without any meaningful exposition taking place. 

All in all, this is a film that offered no decent character arcs, whines and moans at its own insufferable content and was mostly just a waste of time. 

The Black Guelph: Review. By Richard Schertzer.

Madu: Review. By Richard Schertzer.

When you want to sit down and see a documentary on a child who attempts to chase his dreams to make for a brighter future, this is the one to see. It certainly has the same energy as the dancer that it’s trying to portray, with such fervor and ambition.

Anthony Madu is a passionate dancer who lives in Nigeria and is imbued with such abilities that it catches the attention of an exceptional ballet school located in England. While his family is worried about their son leaving for a foreign country, they are very supportive of his dream. 

It’s amazing to look at a film that Disney has put out that seems genuine and authentic in its execution. It seems like such a great entry into the Disney+ pantheon that tells a story that needs to be told. 

The film has some of the most excellent cinematography that I’ve seen in a documentary film. The camera moves and sways almost in a similar fashion that our subject does. The audience sees the world from Anthony’s eyes and it’s both beautiful and sad, as we see him dance, make friends and struggle with his vision. 

Madu’s struggle is evocative, emotional and inspiring. Seeing such a sincere film come from Disney’s library is a clear sign that the company still has the magic that seems to have been missing for a little while and taking risks in this studio with this film is exactly the win that it needed.

Overall, this film is a fiery and seasoned winner for Disney with the same passion that only a true dancer could achieve.