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What young 1970’s pup, learning to play a guitar for the first time, didn’t, at one time or another, attempt to imitate Pete Townsend’s windmill power chord strum? I count myself in that group. While I was not a very dedicated Who fan, I had an appreciation for the musicianship. There were still songs like Pinball Wizard and Behind Blue Eyes that I would embrace as if they were my own anthems in those days. It would be hard to deny that The Who is one of the most successful rock bands in history. Part of the original British Invasion of the 1960’s, there are few such acts that are even still around, let alone able to fill the huge stadiums and halls of Rock’s yesteryears. Their songs have become anthems, and their antics have become legend. The band wrote the soundtrack for an entire generation, and proudly touted the fact in aptly named song, My Generation. Banned from all Holiday Inns at one time for their well publicized trashing of rooms, they weren’t any easier on their own instruments. Smashing their instruments and amps on stage became a staple, for a while, of the whole Who experience. They’ve inspired a legion of superstars, and now after more than 40 years of rocking, they soldier on.

Their influence goes beyond just rock music. All three of the CSI franchise shows sport Who songs for their opening credit sequences. They’ve been lampooned on South Park and The Simpsons. They were once referred to as The Band That Wouldn’t Go Away, and that was more than 30 years ago. And it was about that time just a little over 30 years ago that the band performed a legendary show at New York's Shea Stadium. Looking at the Mets abysmal 65-win season in 1982, it looks like The Who might have had more hits there than the baseball team.

Interpretation, that’s pretty much all a true crime story is. The thing about interpretation is it does not guarantee an accurate account of the facts, just one person’s perspective of transpired events, meaning what you see could either be true, partially true, or a complete fabrication.  When it comes to We are Monsters, what you believe will be entirely up to you, because it definitely doesn’t pull any punches whatsoever. Told from the perspective of the killer, the story shows his decline into madness as well as a multitude of flashbacks that simply left me questioning how this guy wasn’t locked away sooner and why the key wasn’t encased in a concrete slab.

The story starts with Rob Stewart entering what seems to be a minimum-security facility for juvenile offenders. Through some kind of error, the guards do not have all the details about this offender at their disposal, such as his psych records and prior offenses. Believing him to be a non-threat, he roomed with another offender who is due to be released in a few weeks. What the guards miss is Stewart, a delusional psychopath with racial violent tendencies. Throughout the film, several instances illustrating the threat Stewart poses are brought to the attention to the superintendent of the facility, ranging from racial explicit letters to an inmate relocation request, all of which are ignored due to the facility’s overcrowding as well as what can only be viewed as a general lack of motivation and caring on the part of the staff.  The continuation of Stewart’s delusions as well as the inaction of the guards all culminate in an act that will leave a family devastated.

It is always a privilege to watch an Official Selection of the Sundance Film Festival.  I have had the pleasure to screen a few films from Sundance 2013, and I have not been disappointed. Soldate Jeanette (‘Soldier Jane’ translated to English) is not the most captivating I have seen from Sundance, but with its digital camera aesthetics and visually striking images, it definitely carries a certain charm. Director Daniel Hoesl’s first feature-length film focuses on Fanni, an aging woman who is faced with eviction from her apartment. Fanni considers rent an unnecessary expense after twenty long years of living in her home, so she has refused to pay rent for the last three. Instead she spends her money on leisurely activities such as Tae Kwon Do classes or going to the Cineplex to watch silent films. Eventually her ignorance of standard living expenses catches up to her, and she escapes to the country, evading every necessary payment possible, be it a train ticket or a rental car (she takes a dealership car for a “test drive”).  Soon Fanni finds herself at a farm run by a group of men and a woman named Anna, who begins to look at Fanni with jealousy. Eventually, Fanni and Anna develop a meaningful friendship.

This film’s biggest enemy is its pace. While it has very intriguing content, the amount of time it takes to either resolve conflict or introduce new conflict is very difficult to sit through. I am normally a fan of long takes or lingering shots, but in this film they are a dime a dozen. Because they are so frequent, it is hard to find a solid purpose in their existence (if they have any purpose at all). Largely, they are frustrating. If viewer frustration was Mr. Hoesl’s goal in consistent lingering scenes or long takes of minimal activity, he certainly achieved it. This is unfortunate, as the film has such incredible strength behind the snail-like pace.

"We're just a typical American family that just happens to run a multimillion dollar outdoor empire. We create, test and sell the world's coolest products for the modern outdoorsman, and we find our inspiration on a little slice of Heaven called the Busbice Family Ranch in Louisiana."

Sounds like an infomercial, doesn't it? It's actually the intro to A&E's latest in their collection of redneck families who happen to be in the dough. If you like Duck Dynasty, this show was made for you. It's another one of those eccentric families in the outdoors business. With names like Uncle Hard Luck, these guys fit right in with the Robertson family over at Duck Dynasty. In fact, they're buddies, and Willie guests in the pilot episode. He'll also pop up later as well. It's the whole A&E family of outdoorsmen as Swamp People's favorite Troy "Shoooooot" Landry comes by a couple of times to visit. It's more down-home reality television and "accidental" humor.

Right off the bat, the first 10-minute flashback in Lost for Words that repeats verbatim at the end could have been left on the cutting room floor. If you’re looking for an in-your-face, action-packed summer blockbuster, this isn’t for you. If you have more sophisticated tastes and are seeking a slow to medium-paced love story that transcends country and race, Lost for Words tells the beautiful bilingual tale of American ex-Marine-now-IT-guru Michael and Chinese modern dance ballerina Anna.

Almost stealing limelight from the story is the incredible backdrop in which the story unfolds. Lost for Words is set against the exotic setting of cosmopolitan and rural Hong Kong. Over 40 days, the cast and crew of Lost for Words travelled across Hong Kong to capture its beauty on film.  Though Jimmy Wong, cinematographer, is a veteran of Asian film, this was his first English-language feature film. The contrasting imagery is stunning and rich, and I expect Mr. Wong will be finding more work in American theater.

by Dustin P. Anderson

Design activists Matt and Emily come to a small town in North Carolina which is struggling to get by. Their goal is to start Project H, a design class for high school students, to help get kids interested in school and lift the town out of a recessive period. The students start by building things as simple as a cornhole game, to designing a real building for a farmers market to help the town. Matt and Emily must work against incredible odds, like not getting a salary for their work and an oppressive school board, in order to see this dream come to reality.