I’m going to go with a shorter, “rapid-fire” format today. I’m just tired, okay?

Disconnect

Reading the description, I was a bit concerned that this would turn into a morally unsubtle “the Internet is bad” type of story. I was pleasantly surprised that it doesn’t focus too much on the Internet itself; the Internet just a device to incite events and get the story going, and then mostly stays out of the way. The focus stays on the characters, which is as it should be. The characters sometimes behave in unrealistic ways in order to increase the drama, but I thought it was effective and was caught up in the film.

Rating: 7/10

Antiviral

A lot of the pleasure of watching this film comes from trying to figure out how the premise works. I didn’t read the description beforehand and I don’t know what it gives away, but I’m glad I went in not knowing anything. Unfortunately, once the premise is set up in the first act, the movie didn’t do much to keep me interested. There are some cool and creepy visual moments, but I couldn’t really understand any of the character motivations, and I didn’t really care what happened to them.

Rating: 5/10

As If We Were Catching a Cobra

A documentary about political cartoonists working during the Arab Spring sounded like an interesting premise, but the execution was a bit lacking. All the film is is a series of talking-head interviews with various cartoonists and artists. There was nothing really visual or cinematic going on, so it’s just watching people talk and reading lots and lots of subtitles. It was too much for me for an early morning screening, so I walked out, which is a rare occurrence for me. Maybe this material would make for a good book, though.

Rating: waived because I didn’t see the whole thing. But really it’s like a 3 or a 4.

The Bay

I keep telling myself that I’m tired of the whole “found footage” thing whenever I see one (I keep watching them though), but this one felt like a fresh experience. Usually, found footage films have to jump through hoops to justify why there are cameras present, or they just don’t justify it and everyone is left thinking “why don’t you put down the camera?!” the whole time. The Bay avoids this by mixing different camera sources, e.g. A TV news crew, security cameras, police car dashboard cameras. Because of this variety, it often feels more like a well-edited suspense film than a found footage film. It definitely kept me in suspense, although in hindsight, the “monsters” themselves are a little bit silly.

Rating: 7/10

Smashed

Good performances all around, but I thought this story about a young woman with a drinking problem oversimplifies its characters. I didn’t feel like there was much depth to them beyond whether they are drunk or sober, and what they think about other people being drunk or sober.

Rating: 5/10

Much Ado About Nothing

Wesley and Fred. Enough said.

Rating: 8/10