Adam Selvidge's Website Blog
Look Away: Directed by Assaf Bernstein. With India Eisley, Jason Isaacs, Mira Sorvino, Penelope Mitchell. Maria, an alienated high-school student, has her life turned upside down when she switches places with her sinister mirror image. The idea that there’s another darker version of you on the other side of the mirror is nothing new, but this is one of the better versions of that story. India Eisley is a new actor to me, but she absolutely killed in in “Look Away” playing two versions of the same mousey high schooler and Assaf Bernstein uses some exceptionally good camera work with...
Resident Evil: With Ella Balinska, Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong, Adeline Rudolph. Nearly three decades after the discovery of the T-virus, an outbreak reveals the Umbrella Corporation’s dark secrets. Why they decided to split the typical Resident Evil insanity with a teenage commentary on modern society, I’ll never know, but they did themselves a disservice by doing that There was one hilariously bad episode that was a solid hour of the two teenage girls going on a scavenger hunt in their home to find clues that their dad had left them in a note, all while talking about their relationships with...
How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town: Directed by Jeremy LaLonde. With Jewel Staite, Ennis Esmer, Lauren Lee Smith, Katharine Isabelle. When “town slut” turned sex columnist Cassie Cranston returns for her mother’s funeral it spices things up in the small town of Beaver’s Ridge when a group of eccentric town folk, each with their own motives, convince her to plan an orgy. I think this is the first time that I’ve seen Jewel Staite in the leading role of a movie, kinda wish we could see more of her, other than her time on Firefly then Stargate...
The Visitor: Directed by Giulio Paradisi. With Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, Lance Henriksen, John Huston. The soul of a young girl with telekinetic powers becomes the prize in a fight between forces of good and evil. I started this one becuase I was drawn in by the amazing artwork on the Kanopy page for it: www.kanopy.com/en/video/11413791 but alas, that artwork did not live up to what I was hoping for. Even the art on the wikipedia page is pretty cool: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Visitor_(1979_film) The movie is nominally about a war between cosmic powers for the fate of humanity, but that story gets...
Marriage Story: Directed by Noah Baumbach. With Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Julia Greer, Azhy Robertson. Noah Baumbach’s incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together. It’s hard to see this movie as anything other than a direct attack on ethics, and while I love her as an actress, the character that Scarlett Johansson plays here is an absolutely abhorrent villain that drags her kid through the mud and breaks nearly every promise or agreement that she made with her husband. I can’t believe this was the intent, but every opportunity for her to act...
Last Night in Soho: Directed by Edgar Wright. With Thomasin McKenzie, Aimee Cassettari, Rita Tushingham, Colin Mace. An aspiring fashion designer is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something darker. From all the trailers and marketing that I had vaguely seen out of the corners of my eyes, I had the impression this was going to be a fabulous story of the 60’s with dancing and singing. We did get that...
Hook: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins. When Captain James Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy. At long last, my Robin Williams journey has brought me to one of my favorites of his career. Even though the directory doesn’t hold a special place for it in his heart, I’ll always be grateful for the massive display of talent and effort that’s exhibited in every scene of “Hook”. Buy On Amazon!
Samaritan: Directed by Julius Avery. With Sylvester Stallone, Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Pilou Asbæk, Dascha Polanco. A young boy learns that a superhero who was thought to have gone missing after an epic battle twenty years ago may in fact still be around. Initially written as a movie, then released as a comic, then adapted for the big screen, then bought and distributed by Amazon, the journey for the film was long and difficult, but now it’s ready for you to consume at your leisure on your device of choice! The movie itself is pretty ok, with many elements of a...
The Fisher King: Directed by Terry Gilliam. With Jeff Bridges, Adam Bryant, Paul Lombardi, David Hyde Pierce. A former radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man who was an unwitting victim of that mistake. If you want to know what 90’s film making was like, this movie is a great look into the transition from the nitty gritty 80’s style to the slightly less gritty but still grungy around the cuffs 90’s films. This is by no means one of Robin’s better films, nor is it Jeff Bridges’....
Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee: Directed by Charlie Russell. With Dean Barrow, Rocco Castoro, Neil Cavuto, Janice Dyson. Life and death of software pioneer John McAfee who developed the software: McAfee Antivirus. I only tangentially knew about John McAfee and what he was up to in the later parts of his life, but this 1hr 45min movie gave a peak behind the curtain and there’s not much to like about what he was up to, from the supposed ties to governmental hacking and cartels to the over use of drugs that eventually lead to his...
