Hey everyone! I hope you are doing well! I have been very busy watching a bunch of big and small films. After a strange Spring and Summer it is fun to be back busy watching and reviewing movies! Today I have 3 quick reviews for you of smaller films- 2 of them are part of the Fantasia Film Festival which I am grateful to have been granted press access for. I hopefully will have more coming up in the next week.

You Cannot Kill David Arquette-

I really like character piece documentaries and You Cannot Kill David Arquette is a good example of one that really works. The documentary follows actor David Arquette as he returns to professional wrestling after a stunt world championship win in 2000 that angered the wrestling fanbase. Some of the pain Arquette goes through is tough to watch but by the end it feels like quite the underdog story. We also get to hear from Arquette’s famous family, ex-wife and current wife and experience him go through this along with trying to maintain his sobriety and keep his family together. It’s both sad, fascinating and triumphant at the same time. We perhaps get a bit too much wrestling for my taste but still worth a watch.

7 out of 10

Smile Worthy

Northwood Pie-

Made on a very small budget Northwood Pie is another movie that tries to do the indie raunchy teen comedy game but in order for that to work the characters need to be appealing (Dazed and Confused) and the laughs need to be there (Booksmart). Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for me with Northwood Pie. Young Crispin played by Todd Knaak doesn’t have the charisma of a John Heder in Napoleon Dynamite or a John Cusack in Say Anything. But I can’t really blame him because the main problem was the script that just wasn’t funny and seemed to think the f-word is an excuse for a joke, which gets old fast. I hate to be too hard on super small films like this but it didn’t really work for me.

3 out of 10

Frown Worthy

Savage State (L’état sauvage)-

The new film Savage State by director David Perrault will probably end up being quite divisive. It reminded me a little bit of The Beguiled by Sophia Coppola from a few years ago. Both are slow female-centric stories set in the past. I didn’t love The Beguiled even thought it was well cast and shot and I feel the same about Savage State. All of the energy and tension was sucked out of The Beguiled when compared the original and I felt the same way about Savage State. Everything looked beautiful and the actresses were trying their best but the story was not interesting or engaging. Esther (Alice Isaaz) and Victor (Kevin Janssens) do have good chemistry so that helps. I just wish the screenplay had given them more to do.

4.5 out of 10

Frown Worthy

So there you have it. If you get to see any of these films let me know what you think. I would definitely recommend You Cannot Kill David Arquette out of the group!