Theo Love’s documentary, Little Hope Was Arson, finds communities in East Texas reacting to the burning of 10 churches. The film follows the logic of law enforcement and community members discovering their churches having been torched, one by one, and the trajectory of the investigation. A central figure of the documentary is Christy McAllister, who received a lead that her brother, Daniel McAllister, was a suspect. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Who Took Johnny?
Who Took Johnny? is a spooky time. This documentary reaches back to 1982, when Johnny Gosch, a West Des Moines, Iowa paper boy, was abducted. Noreen, his mother, has powered on with the search since then up until now. The film initially follows the inaction on part of the local law enforcement to effectively identify Johnny as a missing person (the law used to require 72 hours for the kid to be gone), and initially wrote his disappearance off as him running away until further evidence compounded this assumption. … read more
Pepper @ Lo-Fi Cafe 01.22 with Lionize
As the members of Pepper walk on stage, there is a roar coming from the crowd before the band can even touch their instruments. With little introduction, they go right into the newer song “Freeze.” Older songs like “Boot” and “Stone Love” make me feel more at home. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Song One
Remember Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist? How about nearly anything that Michael Cera or Audrey Plaza have been in the past five years? Well, what the Hollywood indie scene is to those films, Brooklyn’s folky singer/songwriter scene is to Song One. With Oscar winner Anne Hathaway at the helm, one would expect this to be a level above those quirky indie pop romance flicks, but it doesn’t even reach there. … read more
Sundance Film Review: War Story
I’ve seen some really beautiful, underrated films in the NEXT category at Sundance: where most of the experimental films that only the most open and artsy minded audiences gravitate towards (which means less crowded theaters!). War Story was not one of them. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Ping Pong Summer
From the goofy, ’80s-themed opening credits, this film doesn’t pretend it’s going to be anything other than what it is, and that I can respect. It’s a nod to the campy (in both the cinematic and genre definitions of the word) teen movies of the ’80s and ’90s, the underdog championship dramedies of the early aughts, with a dry, Napoleon Dynamite–styled deadpan sheen—and at times, it succeeded in coaxing a sincere smile of nostalgia or a light chuckle from a good joke, but it’s not quite enough. … read more
The Zero Summers @ Burt’s 01.10 with The Paper Guns, Semi-Sweet, Gerade
The stand out of the night was Gerade (pronounced guh-RAH-duh). They are a rock band from Spanish Fork and this was their Salt Lake City debut. These three boys rocked the house and brought the night to an energetic and powerful finish. The vocalist had an amazing range, the bass was loud and sexy, and the drums nailed it all together. … read more
Two to Watch: Gretchen and Paul Reynolds
They’re committed artists. Every room is clothed in images—landscapes of northern Utah, paintings for painting’s sake, personal photographs and points between. A leaved dining room table has been converted into a table tennis court, and that’s how our interview begins. Gretchen makes coffee for us and opens a beer for herself, while Paul beats me several times at ping-pong. Then we sit down to talk. … read more
The Night Contains the Day: An Evening of Rumi’s Poetry with Coleman Barks and David Darling
For those who attended last year, don’t expect a rerun of the same pieces. According to Klerk, “They never do the same performance twice.” Barks chooses the poems spontaneously the day of, and Darling improvises in response. This reflects the essence of Rumi’s philosophy, which revels in the impulses that happen on the spur of the moment. By playing on their personal friendship, the duo makes manifest the love shared in every relationship, whether it be personal, professional, romantic, friendly or spiritual. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Rezeta
Rezeta (Rezeta Veliu) is an Albanian (well, Kosovoan) model looking for more opportunities and advancements in her career in México, but, more so, adventure. Once she’s there, she befriends thasher/hesher/metalhead/punker Alex (Roger Mendoza) as a bit of guide for the city she’s in, who also helps her learn español. Rezeta—very much a free spirit—engages in a couple sexual exploits, and eventually tries to drunkenly kiss Alex, much to his surprise and subsequent abashment. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: After Arcadia
After Arcadia is a ’50s-science-fiction-themed short shot in black and white wherein the protagonist’s internal monologue opens with his guilt for having accidentally decimated humanity with a seemingly nuclear invention that he created. He dilapidates in the boredom of solitude in the bunkers in which the film is shot, which spurs him to create a time machine to reverse his misdeed. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Glass Eyes of Locust Bayou
Director Simon Mercer provides a look at the lifetime of work by amateur filmmaker Phil Chambliss. Toiling from a (very) small town in Arkansas, Chambliss has been using his friends and fellow citizens—and the striking Arkansas backdrop—to fashion films of his own, unique creation for over 30 years.
… read more
