Indie Gems: Middle of Nowhere

-
We're in some middle place.

When Derek (Omari Hardwick) is sentenced to eight years in prison, his wife Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi) puts her dreams of medical school on hold. She works long hours as a nurse. She has a somewhat strained relationship with her mother (Lorraine Toussaint) and shaky one with her sister. (Edwina Findley Dickinson) When things get harder, she begins to questions if waiting for Derek is really the best option.

I first heard of this movie on Candice's blog what feels like several years ago now. I immediately saved it in my Netflix queue, and I waited. And waited. And waited. And now after all this time, I finally got a hold of this DVD. I'm happy to report that this film absolutely met my expectations and was well worth the wait.

The only actors in this film I was really familiar with were Toussaint and David Oweyelo, who are obviously both fantastic. But Corinealdi, she was so good! Ruby is a strong character, yet she has all her emotions bottled up. She's absolutely heartbreaking in some scenes, and I was really rooting for her to find happiness throughout. Hardwick too is intense and perfect for his role. 

This film is lovely and so beautifully shot. It frequently uses dream like sequences and it blends so well with it's reality. 

Grade: A

Memorable Quote: "I'm not sure if you like the same kind of movies I do." - Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi)

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 8, 2015 at 12:11 PM

    This sounds terrific. I'm off to add it to my list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 8, 2015 at 2:28 PM

      It really is. I'm glad it finally came out on DVD. lol

      Delete
  2. AnonymousMay 8, 2015 at 2:29 PM

    I've been waiting for this one too for a very long time. Looks like the success of Selma finally got distributors to get this a proper DVD treatment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 9, 2015 at 6:50 AM

      It's ridiculous how long this took. I'm glad it's finally here and worth the wait at least.

      Delete
  3. Candice FrederickMay 8, 2015 at 10:12 PM

    I'm glad to hear you liked it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. msmariahMay 9, 2015 at 8:37 PM

    Great review Brittani-- This sounds like a beautiful film and a true indie gem. I've never heard of it. I thought that looked like David Oweyelo in the picture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 11, 2015 at 12:44 AM

      Thank you! :) I hope you can check it out one day.

      Delete
  5. JoshMay 10, 2015 at 11:13 AM

    I really need to give this a look. It's near the top of my Netflix queue, so I should see it soon. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Big Screen Small WordsMay 11, 2015 at 10:26 PM

    The movie sounds interesting, putting in on my watch list. Great review!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more