Movie reviews of Alex Brannan

Another Round has a fascinating tone. It has a dry humor mixed in with moments of bitter realism, and this tone culminates in an almost fantastical sequence at the end. The ensemble complements this tone well, doing a particularly sound job of acting inebriation. Review

Collective is disturbing in the sense that it puts a spotlight on the hollow bureaucracy of government corruption, as well as the uphill battle to even address that corruption, let alone stop it. It is also one of the most compelling documentaries of the year. Review

When the plot could fall into the traps of addiction narrative cliches, or romantic melodrama, or hollow emotional appeals, it instead does something unexpected. Thus, its ties to these genres produce genuine and powerful emotional moments. Review

The interplay between Jones and Murray is the selling point of the film. There is a significant chemistry to their rapport that makes much of this film watchable. Review

I cannot deny being swept up in the film’s atmosphere. However, I failed to be swept up in the old Hollywood charm enough to forgive the meandering and occasionally indulgent narrative. Review

While this static tension is the only significant string Greyhound has to play on, the rhythm achieved through it is admirable. Review

Chastain and Davis make the best out of what they’re given, but they aren’t even given an inch. Review

It is an elegant, beautiful story of finding new erotic feelings, exciting feelings the performer admits to not experiencing in some time, and translating those feelings into erotic art. Review

Viewed solely as a unique story in one of the more fascinating sports histories, You Cannot Kill David Arquette is fairly fun. But perhaps this is because I, a non-wrestling fan, would love to watch a doc on the history of WCW. Review

Undergods is a well-made film. It is colored ugly (intentionally), which sucks energy out of the lives of these characters. For the audience, though, Wojciech Golczewski’s score balances this energy level out. Review

Given the lack of narrative reasoning for this evil, this reads as abjection for abjection’s sake, ugliness without motivation. Review

PVT Chat is a novel premise—two people falling in love after first engaging in a transactional sexual relationship online—executed unevenly and with a strangely-written protagonist. Review

It is clear from the beginning that these stories will all become relevant to the two characters’ present situation, converging into a neat and tidy resolution. But it is such a long walk getting to what is, in execution, a fairly plain result, leaving the film feeling slightly tedious. Mitte, to his credit, gives the strongest performance in spite of the dialogue. Review

It is an idealistic anti-war message, but it is one presented with the passion and experimental formalism of a master. Ôbayashi’s swan song is an opera; perhaps the perfect cap to a prolific career. Review

The lead performance from O’Donnell is committed and engaging, and Stacy Keach’s entirely sedentary performance is surprisingly dynamic. There are ideas in this worth exploring, which fill out this metatextual environment well, but it does not all come together into a coherent whole. Review

The film flails around histrionically to keep up with them as they wreak havoc on a small suburban town. It is an engaging, if not unfulfilling, experience. On the plus side, the music is quite good, with one recurring earworm that really grew on me. Review

Monster Seafood Wars is a deliriously silly send-up of low budget kaiju movies. Review

A good documentary requires a great subject. Hail to the Deadites is a passionate film made by fans of The Evil Dead for fans of The Evil Dead. Unfortunately, its subject does not provide a wealth of content. Review

The more I think about Patrick, the more I feel I may have been deceived by its simplicity. Expecting an offbeat anti-comedy, I got something much more existential. And it is possible that that is why I wasn’t able to get on the film’s level. Review

Mainly, I could not wrap my head around the episodic structure, in which increasingly wild happenstance encounters occur and are made all the more wild due to the presence of a covert alien. This may have been more palatable had this structure culminated in a satisfying conclusion, or if the happenstance encounters were so intriguing in their own right to excuse the lack of a meaningful narrative arc. Review

Special Actors might not reach the highs of One Cut of the Dead, but it is nevertheless a humorous and wholly engaging experience. Review

As interesting and idiosyncratic as the world is, it is less fascinating to learn about the world than it is to see how it resembles our own. There are parallels established that make this a very clear satire of our technological existence, yet the film’s plot rarely lends itself to this satire. Review

The film is fairly engaging, particularly if you do not know the full story of Pepe. Review

Yummy is a charming, nasty little horror comedy. It presents clever twists on familiar horror movie tropes and strings along a plot with a number of pleasant (and morbidly delectable) surprises. Review