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Reviews
Exile (2008)
EXILE-icious!
I would like to extend a thank you to Mike Conway for sending me his movie EXILE! I thoroughly enjoyed it last night! And I got more involved in the story as it progressed, than I ever thought I would at the start. You kinda get into it somewhere between where Reyna finds the new guy she can serve and where Reyna goes to shoot the little tentacruels in the cave.
The latter of course are made fantastic by the blinking eyes on them! :) Great that you added that.
What I like about the storyline is it's simple. Very simple. But what there is is all the exciting essentials that are needed. Your average indie filmmaker can definitely learn from this movie how to keep it simply exciting.
Yet, very refreshingly it was NOT predictable. One might think from the idea gathered from your poster that you simply have the hollowback formula of letting people crashland on a planet and finding that a monster is offing them one by one until the "Ripley" among them alone escapes with the cat. But, ingeniusly, this was not the case. Reyna and her unpredictability added another dimension to it.
I like the octagonal (not sure if that's right for something that has eight sides) shaped corridor set. I was drawn to walk in it. Your compound set was once again simple without lacking anything - it's all there.
Mike Conway himself plays the music for this movie on his keyboards. In his behind the scenes look he shows how he plays the music on the fly - very talented! It just sooo goes with this genre :) Really perfectly. What do you call this genre? Kinda like the indie squiddly creature fantasy planet genre. Your music really ties it well into a defined idea genre for me that I can feel the vibe of, Mike. Good job! I wasn't quite sure what the "Big Dreams" featurette was doing on the DVD. Perhaps Mike could explain.
Your behind the scenes video is just as interesting. I like the way you made sweet edible festering puss, and how you let one of your actors bash the other's head in with a branch, instead of using a fake branch. The real thing always looks best I agree with you wholeheartedly! :) It was worth the probable brain damage.
Anybody else, if you feel that spirit within you, that good ol' spirit of indie, where good times are had between creative people and the love is shared, make sure you get this movie for your collection of modern-day indie films while it's fresh off the press!
Checking In (2006)
Best Gelder film I've seen
This I would say is THE BEST film on Gelder's "Steve Gelder presents 4 short films" DVD!!
A scorpion crosses the road. Not sure why the scorpion is in, but it's done artistically and enjoyably and adds production value in my eyes. Then, a guy with a scorpion drawn on his wrist arrives at a motel to rob it, and then the twists and tails start.
Gelder's writing style is very sharp and well thought out, with subtle humor throughout - now THIS is the style I can enjoy! His twists in his stories are soowheet! Really great writing.
Gelder is also clearly someone with a touch of art in him, which adds a lot of production value to his movies. Many things are either just there for artistic touch, or done artistically.
Sometimes when I watch indie films, I'm like grrrrrr, obvious mistake there! Steve Gelder's films don't have that. His has very high production values.
Checking In is written fantastically, executed fantastically, I loved it! :) Best Gelder film I've ever seen.