Author: Morgen Schuler

Festivals Reviews

SXSW 2022: Linoleum

by Morgen Schuler

Lingering in his subconscious, he does his best to deal with a partner ready to check out completely, a job that’s going nowhere and kids that love him but may not like him all that much. That delicate balance is on the brink as a satellite crashes in the back yard of his suburban home throwing their world out of wack and giving them all some much needed perspective. Time starts to stretch and bend as the story takes an unexpected turn that crushes your heart and gives you hope all at the same time.

Festivals

SXSW 2022 goes hybrid

by Morgen Schuler

Just as the world is starting to open back up (for what… the fifth time now?) Josh, Jenn and Morgen are “headed” to SXSW but only as far as their living room. This year the film festival is both in person and at a distance. Luckily for us there are a ton of options to take advantage of virtually so we can avoid those skyrocketing airline tickets and gas prices.

Cyrano A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film Photo credit: Peter Mountain © 2021
Reviews

Cyrano should be better, but the attempt is beautiful

by Morgen Schuler

Whether you’ve seen Edmond Rostand’s original Cyrano de Bergerac on the boards or not, it’s been told, retold again and again more ways than I’m sure Rostand would ever have imagined. Cyrano’s long-time friend and beloved Roxanne falls instantly in love with Christian, a new soldier in the army, in which Cyrano (Peter Dinklage) is highly regarded and ranked. Roxanne (Haley Bennett) asks her old friend if he will watch over Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and encourage him to romance her through letters.

Festivals Reviews

Sundance 2022: Neptune Frost

by Morgen Schuler

A futuristic look at life and death that still deals with the same struggles Black people suffer through today whether they’re American, Australian or African. Neptune Frost follows one person’s journey through life, the afterlife, and beyond in this strange tale of what it means to survive through the lens of social justice and technology.

Festivals Reviews

Sundance 2022: My Old School

by Morgen Schuler

What if you found out you were going to school, and even best friends with, a complete stranger? That’s the oddly intriguing premise of this strange, winding documentary. A young man named Brandon Lee enrolled at Bearsden Academy, a secondary school in a ritzy suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. Over the course of the next year or so, he went from a nobody to the lead in the school play, everyone’s pal and the life of the party. Little did they know, he had a secret that would throw everyone he’d met there for a loop.

Festivals Previews

Slamdance Film Festival, where avante garde is the norm

by Morgen Schuler

Slamdance, founded in 1995, is a film festival that runs literally alongside Sundance in Park City, Utah. In their own words they are a film festival for filmmakers by filmmakers. Unlike Sundance, the unique part of Slamdance is the submission requirements: every one must be feature-length, a directorial debut without U.S. distribution, and budgets of less than $1 million USD. Many amazing artists have debuted their work at this festival like Bong Joon-Ho, Christopher Nolan, Anthony & Joe Russo, Rian Johnson, and our very own Lynn Shelton. To say that it’s a hotbed of talent is putting it lightly to say the least.

Reviews Year End Lists

Morgen’s Favorite Films of 2021

by Morgen Schuler

Wow what a garbage year 2021 has been, and I didn’t think 2020’s sequel could be even worse, but here we are. However, thanks to the film gods, we didn’t have to go through it without some quality entertainment laid at our feet. Below is my top ten… ok top twelve movies for the year. One of the toughest parts of this list was which should be ranked where, so lets say they’re mostly tied with a couple stand-outs at the top.

Reviews

Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Last and First Men is a meditative journey of sound and human experience

by Morgen Schuler

A long time coming, this surreal, ambient music-filled journey into the minds of humans far into the future, throws us into Jóhann Jóhannsson’s vision of the world. You see, this will be his first, and only, film in the director’s chair; he passed away far too young in 2018 before he could see its widespread release. With Tilda Swinton’s calm, yet emotionally distant monotone narrating, we embark on a free fall into Jóhannsson’s vision of what we as a race will be like and what we’ll be doing over a billion years in the future.

Reviews

End of Us exudes a charming nostalgia none of us ever wanted

by Morgen Schuler

Leah and Nick are at the end of their rope. Nick is a starving actor relying on the steady income and stability that Leah adds to his life. She’s just about ready to cut the cord on him and the relationship when the pandemic hits and they’re literally stuck with each other. Even in the early days of COVID, the fear and intensity of the moment didn’t seem to distract from the frustration of being with someone they couldn’t stand and we’re taken along for the ride. They traverse the murky waters of isolation and uncertainty in a bubble of their own drama where both of them make questionable decisions, but seem to find a way to accept the humanity in one another.

documentary Reviews

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time does justice to the story of a complex man

by Morgen Schuler

It’s nearly impossible, from a third party perspective, to give the full account of a man’s life. To read about him in a book, a magazine, or a newspaper, to talk to those who knew and loved him, it’s barely a caricature of the actual person; a two-dimensional facsimile. Fortunately for him and for us, director Robert Weide didn’t have to stoop to such measures to discover what made Kurt Vonnegut tick, he lived it. He met him, grew to know him, grew to love him, and over several decades’ time this film became a footnote in a friendship that would come to define him. Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time is a love letter, a friendship that would span many years, many life changes, and bring meaning to both their lives.