Asheville Movies

4 weeks ago | ashevillemovies.com | Edwin Arnaudin

Who exactly is the intended audience for Jane Austen Wrecked My Life? Competent in all regards yet above average in none, the feature debut of writer/director Laura Piani presents a hodgepodge of intriguing ideas and fails to commit to a single one. That approach may appeal to nondiscerning Austen fans, for whom this watered down Austen-like story seems most suited.

1 month ago | ashevillemovies.com | Edwin Arnaudin

Cringe comedy at its finest, Friendship now holds the title of Year’s Funniest Film (So Far) by a significant margin. A veteran of helming TV shows about immature adult men, writer/director Andrew DeYoung makes a stunning feature debut with a story about an individual who makes those vengeful teachers (A.P. Bio) and occasionally barbaric pirates (Our Flag Means Death) look like well-adjusted members of society.

1 month ago | ashevillemovies.com | Edwin Arnaudin

The Duplass Brothers and their peers continue to make quality films. But for me, Joel Potrykus is the standard-bearer for true independent cinema. “Burst on the scene” is maybe not quite applicable for what the writer/director/editor/actor does, so let’s say he idiosyncratically wandered onto cinephiles’ radars just over a decade ago with his second feature, Buzzard, which introduced the world to mismatched buddies Marty Jackitansky (Joshua Burge) and Derek Skiba (Potrykus).

1 month ago | ashevillemovies.com | Edwin Arnaudin

Director Jeremy Workman has made a career documenting such unique personalities as Barbie doll photographer Al Carbee (Magical Universe), champion domino toppler Lily Hevesh (Lily Topples the World), and Matt Green (The World Before Your Feet), who walked every block of every NYC street over the course of six years.

1 month ago | ashevillemovies.com | Edwin Arnaudin

Whenever a narrative film comes along that’s critical of war, some critic is bound to trot out this oft-misquoted 1973 soundbite from Francois Truffaut: “I find that violence is very ambiguous in movies. For example, some films claim to be anti-war, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an anti-war film. Every film about war ends up being pro-war.”This time, in response to Ray Mendoza’s and Alex Garland’s harrowing Warfare, that critic — among others — is me.