Two-Sentence Movie Reviews from SXSW

Continuing the CinemaTech tradition, I'm posting two-sentence reviews of the films I saw while at SXSW this week.

- "RiP: A Remix Manifesto"

Brett Gaylor's energetic and fast-moving documentary asks whether we need to rethink the way creative products are copyrighted, with the goal of fostering more creativity. The film has a strong point of view, and dissenting voices aren't really heard from, but "RiP" seems like just the thing to spark a very important conversation about the laws surrounding intellectual "property."

- "Luckey"

Tom Luckey is a Connecticut architect who is paralyzed when he falls out the window of a house he designed. Laura Longsworth's near-perfect documentary explores in a deep and touching way how the accident changes his relationship with his wife and son, who steps in to help with Luckey's architecture practice, and the only flaw is that this very engaging film comes to a bit of a screeching halt at the end, stopping just before two very crucial events happen.

- "Observe & Report"

If you imagine Travis Bickle as a mall security guard, and "Taxi Driver" as a comedy, you'll have a bit of a sense of the weirdness that is "Observe & Report." Maybe Seth Rogen is so popular he can do no wrong, but I found the lack of consequences and one-dimensional characters to be dull and unfunny, and I stopped caring what would happen next about half-way through.