Top Ten Films of 2011: Melancholy with a slice of hope

If anyone tells you 2011 was a bad year for cinema, stop in your tracks, turn around and walk away without ever looking back. They have no idea what they’re talking about. With a wealth of quality films from bonafide auteurs devoid of source material, the sheer amount of original work is astonishing. The trend for remakes will most likely never end, but it’s good to know artists in and out of the Hollywood system are fearlessly treading their own path to make movies exciting again. And by exciting I…

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BNFF11: The 5th Annual Buffalo Niagara Film Festival Recap

Another year—another Buffalo Niagara Film Festival complete. 2011 was definitely an evolution for Bill Cowell’s brainchild, bringing in the most filmmakers to promote their work I’ve seen, the inclusion of a new venue with Niagara Falls’ Rapids Theatre, and the first ever ‘Star’ on the BNFF Walk of Fame. The ten-day event smartly coincided with the end of the Buffalo Sabres’ hockey season rather than the start of a playoff run like last year; saw some cold days, but no snow; and did whatever it could to increase audience attendance.…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Nickel City Smiler [2011]

“I am not a Hollywood actor” To a certain extent, I’ve always been of the mind that America needs to start worrying more about its own people before trying to save the world. Our God complex gets the better of us and we bring refugees over by offering empty promises of better lives and safety for their families while our own impoverished population doesn’t even have such security. However, I’m also very much for keeping our word and if we are going to go to a place like Burma to…

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