Tape (film review) Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman

Very well written drama with sharp dialogue.  Linklater proves again here why he was one of the best writers of dialogue of the 90's.  Ethan Hawke plays a loose canon drug dealer and volunteer firefighter who travels to Lansing Michigan to attend his High School buddies film screening at the Lansing Film Festival.  The drama begins right as the two reconnect and keeps escalating.  Captivating interactions, great character studies and many twists and turns.  Again Linklater shows what can be done with solid actors, a good script and a low budget.  The entire film takes place in one room.  Incidentally this would be a good play as well.  Reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock s "Rope" which also took place in one room and built an intriguing story and film.  "Tape" is a thinking persons film, if you are looking for something cerebral this is a great choice, if you want lots of bangs and action look elsewhere.

Slacker (film review)

Oh college, good times.  Oh the early nineties, the pseudo intellectual college conversations with some small nuggets of wisdom here and there.  "Slacker" watching this film, 21 years after it came out it is clear how important this movie is now, was then in many ways.  The first is everyone in the film is much skinnier than people are today, no one is distracted by "Facebook" or "Twitter" on their phones while in a bar or coffee shop together.  People seem much more engaged in each others pseudo-intellectual conversations than they are today.  This film is a time capsule, in retrospect a more innocent time, a more peaceful and calmer time for America.   In many ways this movie was one of the first, if not the first to kick off the 90's independent movie renaissance, which only years later after "Pulp Fiction" became bought out by the Wienstiens.  This was before YouTube, before people could pick up a camera and make a movie but in many ways foreshadowed what was to come.  "Slacker" showed that good dialogue, a small budget and some creativity can produce an interesting, intriguing and fun film.  Cheers to Richard Linklater.