http://www.culturecatch.com/taxonomy/term/947 en http://www.culturecatch.com/node/4448 <span>There’s An App for That</span> <span><a title="View user profile." href="/user/7306" lang="" about="/user/7306" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">Chet Kozlowski</a></span> <span>June 4, 2025 - 08:14</span> <div class="field field--name-field-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-inline"> <div class="field--label">Topics</div> <div class="field--items"> <div class="field--item"><a href="/film" hreflang="en">Film Review</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-inline"> <div class="field--label">Tags</div> <div class="field--items"> <div class="field--item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/947" hreflang="en">action thriller</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><article class="embedded-entity"><img src="/sites/default/files/styles/width_1200/public/2025/2025-06/self_driver.png?itok=9biSX0Hw" width="1200" height="535" alt="Thumbnail" title="self_driver.png" typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" /></article><p>I almost titled this review <i>Tacky Driver</i>—never waste a good pun—but I decided it would be too cheeky and untrue to the material. Turns out <i>Self Driver</i> is a clever, original film made on a shoestring budget that deserves your attention.</p> <p>A character identified only as “D” is at wit’s end. He has a new baby, lots of expenses, and relies on an Uber-ish ride-share app called VRMR to bring in money. He drives a shitty car (bad AC), works ridiculous hours, and must contend with an array of eccentric passengers. The faceless, soulless app doesn’t care. An agent just tries to get him to upgrade. Then one day, a slick passenger named Nic offers D a chance to sign on to a new app, promising fast money. D demurs at first. “A libertarian,” Nic chuckles. “I like it.” Pretty soon a party girl pukes in D’s back seat. That’s the last straw. D calls Nic.</p> <p>The new app, Tonomo, has great pay-outs but strict rules. D stands to make a lot of money as long as he follows the prompts. If he doesn’t ask questions, and does everything the app tells him to, he can make a lot more money than with the app he’s been using. Nic tells D that the more “offers” he accepts, the more he makes. But if he refuses an offer, he <i>loses </i>money and possibly the whole gig. “Lastly, and most importantly,” D. stresses, “you have fun.”</p> <div class="video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video form-group"><iframe width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bw-C5GnJQ68?autoplay=0&amp;start=0&amp;rel=0"></iframe> </div> <p>Then things go really wonky. D is tasked to pick up all manner of shady characters clearly involved in the commission of crimes. One tosses him a wrapped gun-shaped package and mysterious pink sugar cubes as a “pick me up.” D realizes he is driving what is essentially a getaway car. The electronic prompts become more demanding and personal. “Discard the bag,” it intones. “Move to the back.” And it isn’t long before Tonomo is instructing D to do the crimes himself.</p> <p>Director Michael Pierro keeps it all in close. His movie embodies what he calls its “guerilla spirit:” most of the time his camera is trained on D’s increasingly concerned face or action draped in shadows. As director, writer, and editor, Mr. Pierro brings a manic energy to the proceedings. Under it all is Antonio Naranjo’s playful yet ominous score.</p> <p>As D, Nathanael Chadwick maintains a steady gaze and impatiently clicking tongue as he monitors the goings-on in the backseat. We see his passengers in a funny, rapid-fire montage: they bicker, they complain, they pontificate, they try to get out of the fare. Other cast members stand out: Adam Goldhammer as Nic, Catt Filippov as Angel, Reece Preesley and Lauren Welchner as a pair of traffickers. Stone-faced Harold Tausch’s bit ends with his blood on the backseat.</p> <p><i>Self Driver</i> is a techno nerd’s dream of a thriller. What could be a gimmicky contrivance is, in fact, a small, ambitious film that would make a good watch on a Saturday night at home.</p> <p>__________________________________</p> <p>Self Driver. <i>Directed by Michael Pierro. 2024. From Cinephobia Releasing. Runtime 89 minutes.</i></p> </div> <section> <h2>Add new comment</h2> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="comment.lazy_builders:renderForm" arguments="0=node&amp;1=4448&amp;2=comment_node_story&amp;3=comment_node_story" token="4V7dnR8VJNuMxCJUdpdk1BhGwDyDf-1b3JjlSxtLOxo"></drupal-render-placeholder> </section> Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:14:54 +0000 Chet Kozlowski 4448 at http://www.culturecatch.com http://www.culturecatch.com/node/4360 <span>Disloyalty Is The Least of It</span> <span><a title="View user profile." href="/user/7306" lang="" about="/user/7306" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">Chet Kozlowski</a></span> <span>September 8, 2024 - 13:50</span> <div class="field field--name-field-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-inline"> <div class="field--label">Topics</div> <div class="field--items"> <div class="field--item"><a href="/film" hreflang="en">Film Review</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-inline"> <div class="field--label">Tags</div> <div class="field--items"> <div class="field--item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/947" hreflang="en">action thriller</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><article class="embedded-entity"><img src="/sites/default/files/styles/width_1200/public/2024/2024-09/betrayal.jpeg?itok=VL-IfjGW" width="1200" height="506" alt="Thumbnail" title="betrayal.jpeg" typeof="foaf:Image" class="img-responsive" /></article><p>Three brothers and their father go hunting in the remote Scottish woods. The father is a bully: rude, insulting, and chiding one brother for missing a shot at a deer. Until he realizes the deer is meant to be bait, and that the real prey is himself. The sons shoot Dad and bury him. It isn’t until they’re home that they realize they also buried the key to the family safe that Dad kept tied around his neck. They must go back to retrieve it.</p> <p>All this happens in the first fifteen minutes of <i>Betrayal</i>. Meaning there’s a lot of time left.</p> <p>The action in <i>Betrayal </i>is robust, with primal <i>Straw Dogs-</i>era Peckinpah<i> </i>energy, but its relentless motion masks a lack of plot cohesion. In press materials, writer/director Rodger Griffiths claims to be delving into the vagaries of the human psyche. What he means is the human psyche with a gun. <i>Betrayal </i>plays like a game of hot potato. Who’s got the rifle? Where’s Dad?  Who’s in cahoots? Who’s zoomin’ who?</p> <p>Mr. Griffiths keeps his script on a short leash. Most of the action takes place in or just outside of a house. This business is between the boys, and they pretty much comprise cowards or ingrates, guys glowering and getting the upper hand. It’s all very dour. Couldn’t one of them have been graced with a sardonic sense of humor?</p> <div class="video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video form-group"><iframe width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5w9pz4Civ2U?autoplay=0&amp;start=0&amp;rel=0"></iframe> </div> <p>As loyalties shift, so do motives. What at first appears to be simple greed turns into comeuppance for a crime. What do these guys want? (More to the point, why don’t they just <i>leave </i>the place?) <i>Betrayal</i> becomes a ballet of carnage: alliances and double crosses are the engine it runs on. But with no morality at its core, it’s hard to sympathize with any of <i>Betrayal</i>’s characters.</p> <p>The cast is composed of up-and-coming actors from the UK. You’ll recognize Paul Higgins from <i>In the Loop,</i> Brian Vernel from <i>Dunkirk</i>, Daniel Portman from <i>Game of Thrones, </i>and Calum Ross from Netflix’s <i>Wednesday.</i> They do their best with what they have to work with. The only women in the cast are Anita Vettesse (Mother) and Joanne Thomson (Annie) and they are less characters than plot points, glimpsed fleetingly in flashback.</p> <p>IMDb lists over twenty-five films with the title <i>Betrayal</i>. It’s unclear why <i>this </i>film is called that: disloyalty is the least of it. These guys cover a whole menu of malevolence. The film’s original title was <i>Kill </i>(how’s that for blunt?). Maybe just call it <i>Kill Daddy?</i></p> <p>_________________________________________________</p> <p>Betrayal. <i>Directed by Rodger Griffiths. 2023. From Saban Films. On Digital and VOD. 94 minutes.</i></p> </div> <section> <h2>Add new comment</h2> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="comment.lazy_builders:renderForm" arguments="0=node&amp;1=4360&amp;2=comment_node_story&amp;3=comment_node_story" token="hv_fhxbX6YZrTGkxwavmSjMLY3rFyukOGZcASfLLxug"></drupal-render-placeholder> </section> Sun, 08 Sep 2024 17:50:46 +0000 Chet Kozlowski 4360 at http://www.culturecatch.com