WATCH Audience FEEDBACK Video

Movie Review: THE LAST POST (Award Winning Short Film) 2015

festreviews 2015 movies, acting, actors, Amanda Lomonaco, audience feedback festival, comedy festival, movie, Movie Review, Short Film Movie Review, Uncategorized, wildsound festival review , , , , , , , ,

THE LAST POST played to rave reviews at the November 2015 FEEDBACK Film Festival

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video from the Festival:

MOVIE POSTERTHE LAST POST, 15min, UK, Comedy/Social Media
Directed by Adam Preston

A halfwit is invited to speak at the funeral of a girl he only knew through the internet.

Review of the Short Film by Amanda Lomonaco:

Hilariously cringe-worthy. There’s no other way to describe this one. We all now a girl like her; updating her social media constantly, her life seems near perfect, everything she does is amazing, and fun, everything she eats is delicious, and if you wanted you could find out everything about her. Well, almost everything. As we all know social media and online profiles only give us little peeks into a person’s life. No matter how often you update it, how much content you add to it, it’s hard to know the real truth of who a person really is purely through their social media profiles.

Adam Preston has somehow managed to perfectly balance the tragedy and comedy of our excessively interconnected lives. Using the knowledge you can typically gather from a person’s social media accounts Preston writes a hysterical eulogy for one such social media star. This is certainly one film where credit needs to be highly awarded for performance. The Last Post’s main character had me tearing up with laughter non-stop.

Admittedly Preston could have added to the comedic value of his short by having the funeral attendants accept the eulogy as a sincere tribute to the deceased. Nevertheless his actual choice of direction didn’t  detract from the hilarity in any way. I also feel obliged to question Preston’s choice of the social class of the deceased and her family. It seems a little reductionist to have her and her family be from a region with a certain reputation for ignorance, simplicity, and poverty. It might have been a little more interesting if they had been from a posh family. However, part of the reason for this could have been to increase the threatening demeanor of the two bully brothers.

The Last Post is more than just a hilarious short film; it’s a commentary on today’s modern, digitally centered society. I had a very odd feeling as soon as the film was over because after having laughed the entire way through the film, I found myself pondreing deeper issues as soon as it was over. Comedy is for everyone, and comedy that is pertinent to current issues is all the more worth it. It kind of suits all flavour preferences; if you’re up for something more serious, this movie will work for you, if you’re up for a good laugh, add this to your list, heck it even has a little violence if that’s your cup of tea! I think you can see where I’m going with this one. Definitely give The Last Post a watch, whatever your inclination. It will be worth it.

 

Movie Review: SHOOT GRANNY (Short Film) 2015

festreviews 2015 movies, Amanda Lomonaco, audience feedback festival, film festival, film festival reviews, movie, Movie Review, Short Film Movie Review, Uncategorized, wildsound festival review , , , , , , ,

SHOOT GRANNY played to rave reviews at the November 2015 FEEDBACK Film Festival

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video from the Festival:

MOVIE POSTERSHOOT GRANNY, 5min, Spain, Comedy/Musical
Directed by Olivier Kowalczyk

Shoot Granny or when an ordinary tea time between three friends turns into an improvised Gymkhana. On a music of Todd Terje.

Review of the Short Film by Amanda Lomonaco:

Shoot Granny garnered a really good laugh from the audience, with great reason. It’s common to hear complaints about loud, partying teenagers, but what happens when those loud partiers are actually your grandparents?

The director Olivier Kowalczyck says he was inspired by his work as a doctor; disappointed by how they seemed to perscribe anti-depressants to help seniors sleep rather than provide them with any real psychological support. He claims to have felt like more of a drug dealer than a doctor, and this thought led him to create the storyline for Shoot Granny.

Thankfully Kowalczyck has managed to turn this upsetting subject matter into quite a hilarious repartie. With the background knowledge of this film in mind it might be easy to reprimand Kowalczyck for his comedic approach, but in actual fact what he has done by injecting comedy into this topic is open it up to a much wider public that might otherwise want to ignore the issue. Kowalczyck also manages to add a stronger element of agency to the elderly, allowing us to relate to them as people who like to enjoy themselves, just as we all do, rather than as victims with no control over their ailments.

Some members of the audience seemed a little put off by the loud music, or by the fact that the film didn’t carry subtitles, but Shoot Granny could very well be played on mute and still get its message across. Someone once told me that a film is only truly good if it is able to be played in black and white, and silently while still achieving the same level of emotional impact. Despite the fact that its bright, psychodelic patterns and blaring music adds greatly to the story, I still believe this film would achieve the same purpose without these elements. I think anyone would benefit from watching Shoot Granny, who knows, it might help you approach and understand again, or your elderly loved ones, with just a little more affection and care.

Watch MURDER Stories from the Film & Writing Festival

festreviews film festival, horror, murder, wildsound festival review, writing and film festival, writing festival , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Watch winning stories and movies showcased at the Writing and Film Festival in the MURDER genre: Short, Feature, TV Screenplays. Short Stories. Novels. Stage Plays. Poems. Stories from festival made into movies: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/murder_stories.html

Watch the best of stories and film with a murder plot from the festival:

AWAKE TO MURDER – Stage Play
September 2014 Reading
Written by Reece Pocock
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/awake_to_murder.html

NOVEL READING – From PRISONER PRODIGAL PAWN
November 2014 Reading
Written by Robert J. Sparkman
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/balloon_chase_scene.html

1ST SCENE SCRIPT – NIGHTDOVES
September 2014 Reading
Written by Matthew J. Lloyd
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/nightdoves.html

SCREAMWRITER – Short Script
May 2014 Reading
Written by Lee Forgang
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/screamwriter.html

TV PILOT – FAUST
April 2015 Reading
Written by Niel Thompson
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/faust.html

Short Script: HONOR AMONG THIEVES
May 2015 Reading
Written by Nat & Digs Palazzo
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/honor_among_thieves.html

THE HOPPER Short Film
WATCH Audience FEEDBACK
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/the_hopper.html
Animation, Germany

FAMILIAR Short Film
WATCH Audience FEEDBACK
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/familiar.html
Horror, Canada

FOUND FOOTAGE Short Film
WATCH Audience FEEDBACK Video
http://www.wildsoundfestival.com/found_footage.html
Drama, Canada

    * * * * *

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com