Instant Reaction: Drive (2011)

Drive is one of those movies that is slow from start to finish, and it's proud of that stylistic choice. Despite its shallow, simple story about a stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver and falls in love with his oblivious neighbor, the film delivers some genuine emotion, thanks to the effectively quiet romance between co-stars Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan.

But it’s more than just the acting that hooked me. When contrasted with the slow pacing and the moody soundtrack, the moments of abrupt graphic violence are so shocking that they carve a spot for themselves in your memory with little effort, culminating in an effective work of visual poetry. This is a movie that's all style -- and that's a compliment, because it works. My brain has trouble reconciling how a film like Drive can be so methodical, yet hit home on a purely visceral level. I can’t get it out of my head.

Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Bryan Cranston

Movie Review: Zombie Warz: Falls the Shadow (2011)

Zombie Warz: Falls the Shadow is an extremely low-budget independent film, one that has much less to do with zombies than it does its cast of characters. I have to imagine that the “Zombie Warz” title was added just to sell DVDs to the crowd that loves awesomely bad B-movies. However, people expecting some cheap-looking zombie guts are going to be disappointed. While Falls the Shadow is definitely a film made on a micro budget, it’s a beautifully photographed, well-directed little gem, that accomplishes more than most student films of its ilk could ever dream of.

The film opens with the execution of a young black woman by a gang of southern neo-nazis, led by the appropriately named Reverend Phelps (Phil Perry), who seems hell-bent on rebuilding a post-apocalyptic America in the image of some violent right-wing God. His organization exemplifies the negative side of how humanity may act in a world where all organized governments are gone; his band of raiders use fear and violence to get what they want, including sex.

s their counterpart we meet a cast of compassionate characters, all of whom begin with their own separate stories. Eventually their lives intertwine, thanks to an invariable link to the band of neo-confederates, who are expanding their reach by raping, murdering, and robbing anyone they come into contact with.