Buzzard (2015)

Nice effects though.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

You get just enough of a peek into the characters to want more and more and you could spin-off anyone of their appealing lives in a full feature film. I'd love to see a Derek spin-off personally as it would make for a fantastic flick. You could have that guy just walk from one end of a street to the other and enjoy what happens.Marty Jackitansky goes rogue, but does it in such a human manner that you feel emotions for the guy you didn't think possible. I wanted to hate him, but in a single scene you're left feeling sorry for Marty, then almost allied with his misguided cause. I didn't want the story to end, but seeing how it plays out into a violent crescendo was just beautiful.It's screams indie with pure perfection and while some films of the same style let you down in the final third, Buzzard just keeps surprising with all the right turns.I can't give it any less than a 10, as it was my film of 2014 and one of the best of its kind in any given year.

This is not a bad movie if you like this sort of movies.And what sort of movie this is? Well, think the original "office" series (the British version, not the American one) and you will be in the ballpark. But make no mistake because this movies is not a comedy...at least, not all of it.The majority of the movie leans towards a comedy, but then you start realizing that the message on this movie is that there are actually guys like the main character, which may make you feel a bit umconfortable.In fact, I am willing to bet that most of us know someone like him, or may have been him a while ago. It is a phase that we all have. A phase where life is a bit like a game, and it is hard to discern between fantasy and real world, between good and evil, between what is legal and what is not.But while we are all supposed to end that phase as we enter adulthood, some people stay there permanently. That is hardly an spoiler as the main character makes that fact clear from the get go......then again this movie has a couple of tricks down its sleeve that you will not want to miss.My complain about the movie is that some scenes are far too long, and while it works in some cases (one of them its really hilarious) in others you just wish the movie to be over already. Cutting this scenes to the necessary length, and perhaps expanding a bit more the end, would have a much better effect in my humble opinion.Still its a movie worth watching if you are into "the office".

"I may live badly, but at least I don't have to *work* to do it." Hitchhiker from Richard Linklater's Slacker.The slacker, Marty (Joshua Burg), in his titular reference, Buzzard, is more socially disaffected than Napoleon Dynamite and scarier in a covert sense than Freddie Krueger. In all, this comedy drama is a witty allegory about teen anomie and an indictment of a society that constructs barriers through bureaucratic indifference.Marty is a small time scam artist, mostly stealing checks from his temp work at a bank to trading in discarded McDonald's sandwiches from the garbage for fresh ones. All the while this metal meat head has a poster of Freddie and a glove with knives for digits. You guessed it: If director Joel Potrykus places the glove in a shot early on, chances are we'll see it later on in a far less sedentary shot. Yet meanwhile, Marty is pulling little cons with motel room access and check kiting and generally avoiding the law. He is alternately lovable in his counterculture way and menacing when faced with authority he doesn't respect. Through most of the film, Marty is an amusing though disreputable slacker, a temp worker ripping off the bank he works for and a buddy only temporarily engaged while he thinks of his next low-level crime. "Buzzard" should get the year's prize for the most accurate title in film. Marty feeds off the carrion of society while he literally does so in his McDonald's larcenies. Until the climax, he evades the authorities, who must by now be up to his game. Without focusing on his criminal activities, an inference could be drawn that society needs to be vigilant and proactive to help these Napoleons have meaningful lives. Otherwise, Freddie has spawned a most lethal buzzard.

This is the sort of film that kind of immediately grabs you from its opening scene, for no apparent reason really. It's not visually stunning or doing anything outrageous, it just has a very clear tone and seems to know what it's doing. The ride throughout is interesting, even if it has some parts that don't entirely work. The directing is smooth and has an off-kilter vibe that many would be proud of. I think this sort of film has the capacity to establish a real fanbase, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Overall, the running time also needed to be a little shorter, for such a limited story, but I recommend this uneasy, weird film.