Nachos Below Canal Street

The Sentimental Engine Slayer

Reality and fantasy entangle in the semi-autobiographical tale of a twenty-something misfit's loopy trip through manhood in El Paso.

At the Drive-In/Mars Volta lead guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López's directorial debut is surprisingly funny.

I wondered who played the main character and learned during the end credits that Omar plays him! I didn't recognize him at all.

Someone wore a Mars Volta shirt to the screening. If wearing a band's shirt to one of their gigs is uncool, then what is wearing a band's shirt to a screening of a film by one of the band members?

El Paso looks hellish.


Sons of Perdition

In the polygamist community cultivated by the notorious "prophet" Warren Jeffs, the desire for autonomy means banishment from homes and families. Explore the heartbreaking losses and hopeful determination of a group of teenage boy exiles as they struggle to make new lives in mainstream America.

I wish the exiled subjects were more endearing. Yes, they're courageous, but they're also hard-partying bros.

The Devil's Playground it ain't.


The Other City

John Legend enjoys popcorn with his AIDS documentaries.


Before an encore screening of The Good, The Bad, The Weird, I mistook the Human Centipede trailer for a "silence your phone" notice.


Dog Pound

A searing look at three incarcerated teenagers fighting for their lives and for hope in a brutal and deficient correctional system.

I somehow missed that the actor who plays Spinner on Degrassi: The Next Generation is one of the three leads.

"Is that Spinner on Degrassi?"
"Whoa! Spinner on Degrassi is eating a girl's vajayjay!"
"Whoa! Spinner on Degrassi is bare naked!"
"Whoa! Spinner on Degrassi is being butt raped!"

The lead lead, played by Adam Butcher, is a mesmerizing anti-hero.

During the Q&A, a woman opined that the film was more brutal than anything she saw over five [sic] seasons of Oz.

"We must not have watched the same Oz," I thought.

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