Day: January 6, 2016

REVIEW: The Clone Theory [2015]

Jared Mobarak

“Maybe it’s something so crazy you wouldn’t ever mention it in public” There’s a fatal flaw to A.P. Stevens‘ extremely short film The Clone Theory and it’s that clones are not artificial intelligence-controlled robots. At least they aren’t in my understanding of the term. To allow his character “The Human” to admit a crazy theory that clones live among us, watching our every move through social media and webcams as though they are jacked into the system mixes two sci-fi tropes into one. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if…

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REVIEW: What Jack Built [2015]

Jared Mobarak

It’s difficult not to think about Tom Waits‘ song “What’s He Building?” from Mule Variations while watching Matthew Mahler‘s (co-written with Ross Mahler) What Jack Built. This is both a compliment to the tone set by Timothy J. Cox‘s performance as Jack and the tension created by the filmmaker slowly revealing hidden details as the character moves from basement/garage workspace to the woods outside. But it’s also a big reason for why I feel the film doesn’t quite succeed. I try not to let budgetary constraints factor into my experience…

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