Film Reviews · Backpex

Title	Overview		Toggle columns Title Overview
Acla's Descent into Floristella	Set in Sicily in the 1930's, Aurelio Grimaldi's feature debut chronicles the harsh story of twelve-year-old boy, Aclà, sold into slavery by his destitute parents to work in the underground Floristella sulfur mines. Overworked and underfed, Aclà toils from Monday to Saturday in the steamy, candle-lit labyrinths. Repeatedly beaten and abused by his "owner" and with constant threats of being raped, Aclà plots his escape to the sea... but this leads to dire consequences for the boy and his family.
Wendigo	George is a high-strung professional photographer who is starting to unravel from the stress of his work with a Manhattan advertising agency. Needing some time away from the city, Jake, his wife Kim, and their son Miles head to upstate New York to take in the winter sights, though the drive up is hardly relaxing for any of them. George accidentally hits and severely injures a deer that ran onto the icy road; after George stops to inspect the damage, he's confronted by an angry local named Otis who flies into a rage, telling George that he and his fellow hunters had been tracking the deer for some time. An argument breaks out, which leaves George feeling deeply shaken.
Chasing Leprechauns	Before an American company can build a smelting plant outside a small Irish village, they have to send their top troubleshooter to find a way around an antiquated law that protects the leprechauns supposedly living on the property.
The Brandon Teena Story	Documentary about Brandon Teena (aka Teena Brandon), a transgendered person, who was murdered along with two others in 1993 in rural Nebraska.
In Vanda's Room	With the intimate feel of a documentary and the texture of a Vermeer painting, In Vanda’s Room takes an unflinching, fragmentary look at a handful of self-destructive, marginalized people, but is centered around the heroin-addicted Vanda Duarte.
Poppies Are Also Flowers	In an attempt to stem the heroin trade from Iran, a group of narcotics agents working for the UN inject a radioactive compound into a seized shipment of opium, in the hopes that it will lead them to the main heroin distributor in Europe. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious woman doing her own investigating of the smuggling operation.
Fluke	Workaholic Thomas Johnson dies in an auto accident and comes back to life as a dog. Remembering some of who he was, he returns to his wife and son to protect them from the man who caused his accident. But, as time goes by, he remembers more of his life, and realizes he wasn't such a good husband and father.
Mister Designer	A famous artist strives to find the secret of eternal life through the beautiful mannequins he creates.
Mischief	1956: The shy Jonathan's luck with girls changes when he wins the rebellious Gene as a friend in his last year of high school. Gene is adored by many girls and manages to teach Jonathan a few lessons. Gene himself would rather just be with one girl: his girlfriend Bunny. But since his father is poor, her parents don't accept him.
The Falls	The exploration of the effects of an unexpected catastrophe, known as VUE (violent unknown event) through the bios of 92 survivors.
Dead Before Dawn	Based upon a true story. Wife with young family finds life becoming unbearable with her successful, but violent and abusive, husband. After filing for divorce, she quickly learns that her husband, through fear of his personal life embarrassing his clients, has commissioned an assassin to murder her before going to court. Unfortunately, for him, the hired assassin turns out to be an FBI agent. The FBI convince her that she must “pretend” to have been murdered in order to prove her husband’s involvement.
Chain of Command	Secret Service agents must retrieve the briefcase allowing the President control of America's nuclear arsenal before massive destruction ensues.
Stuart Little	The adventures of a heroic and debonair stalwart mouse named Stuart Little with human qualities, who faces some comic misadventures while searching for his lost bird friend and living with a human family as their child.
The Obama Deception	Who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda. If you want to know the facts and cut through all the hype, this is the film for you.
Taste of Killing	Lanky Fellow has a typical cynical SW like way to earn his living. He observes valuable transports of money or gold, but when they are robbed he doesn't intervene, but follows the robbers and then brings the loot back to collect the insurance. When his "job" brings him in conflict with the notorious outlaw Gus Kenneback, he has personal reasons to protect the money as Kenneback was once responsible for the death of Lanky's brother. Source: SWDB http://www.spaghetti-western.net

Acla's Descent into Floristella

Set in Sicily in the 1930's, Aurelio Grimaldi's feature debut chronicles the harsh story of twelve-year-old boy, Aclà, sold into slavery by his destitute parents to work in the underground Floristella sulfur mines. Overworked and underfed, Aclà toils from Monday to Saturday in the steamy, candle-lit labyrinths. Repeatedly beaten and abused by his "owner" and with constant threats of being raped, Aclà plots his escape to the sea... but this leads to dire consequences for the boy and his family.

Wendigo

George is a high-strung professional photographer who is starting to unravel from the stress of his work with a Manhattan advertising agency. Needing some time away from the city, Jake, his wife Kim, and their son Miles head to upstate New York to take in the winter sights, though the drive up is hardly relaxing for any of them. George accidentally hits and severely injures a deer that ran onto the icy road; after George stops to inspect the damage, he's confronted by an angry local named Otis who flies into a rage, telling George that he and his fellow hunters had been tracking the deer for some time. An argument breaks out, which leaves George feeling deeply shaken.

Chasing Leprechauns

Before an American company can build a smelting plant outside a small Irish village, they have to send their top troubleshooter to find a way around an antiquated law that protects the leprechauns supposedly living on the property.

The Brandon Teena Story

Documentary about Brandon Teena (aka Teena Brandon), a transgendered person, who was murdered along with two others in 1993 in rural Nebraska.

In Vanda's Room

With the intimate feel of a documentary and the texture of a Vermeer painting, In Vanda’s Room takes an unflinching, fragmentary look at a handful of self-destructive, marginalized people, but is centered around the heroin-addicted Vanda Duarte.

Poppies Are Also Flowers

In an attempt to stem the heroin trade from Iran, a group of narcotics agents working for the UN inject a radioactive compound into a seized shipment of opium, in the hopes that it will lead them to the main heroin distributor in Europe. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious woman doing her own investigating of the smuggling operation.

Fluke

Workaholic Thomas Johnson dies in an auto accident and comes back to life as a dog. Remembering some of who he was, he returns to his wife and son to protect them from the man who caused his accident. But, as time goes by, he remembers more of his life, and realizes he wasn't such a good husband and father.

Mister Designer

A famous artist strives to find the secret of eternal life through the beautiful mannequins he creates.

Mischief

1956: The shy Jonathan's luck with girls changes when he wins the rebellious Gene as a friend in his last year of high school. Gene is adored by many girls and manages to teach Jonathan a few lessons. Gene himself would rather just be with one girl: his girlfriend Bunny. But since his father is poor, her parents don't accept him.

The Falls

The exploration of the effects of an unexpected catastrophe, known as VUE (violent unknown event) through the bios of 92 survivors.

Dead Before Dawn

Based upon a true story. Wife with young family finds life becoming unbearable with her successful, but violent and abusive, husband. After filing for divorce, she quickly learns that her husband, through fear of his personal life embarrassing his clients, has commissioned an assassin to murder her before going to court. Unfortunately, for him, the hired assassin turns out to be an FBI agent. The FBI convince her that she must “pretend” to have been murdered in order to prove her husband’s involvement.

Chain of Command

Secret Service agents must retrieve the briefcase allowing the President control of America's nuclear arsenal before massive destruction ensues.

Stuart Little

The adventures of a heroic and debonair stalwart mouse named Stuart Little with human qualities, who faces some comic misadventures while searching for his lost bird friend and living with a human family as their child.

The Obama Deception

Who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda. If you want to know the facts and cut through all the hype, this is the film for you.

Taste of Killing

Lanky Fellow has a typical cynical SW like way to earn his living. He observes valuable transports of money or gold, but when they are robbed he doesn't intervene, but follows the robbers and then brings the loot back to collect the insurance. When his "job" brings him in conflict with the notorious outlaw Gus Kenneback, he has personal reasons to protect the money as Kenneback was once responsible for the death of Lanky's brother. Source: SWDB http://www.spaghetti-western.net