Category: Movie reviews

Award-winning NYC subway documentary End of the Line digital release

Times Square subway closed in Emmett Adler’s End of the Line. Photo: Gravitas Ventures, used with permission.

Award-winning filmmaker Emmett Adler’s feature documentary End of the Line is a character-driven political drama about the New York City subway crisis and a long overdue reckoning on infrastructure. End of the Line will be released on digital and video on demand platforms in the United States on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. (Gravitas Ventures, 2022)

Video on demand platforms include Apple/iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, Vudu, Microsoft, and more.

End of the Line – Establishing the vital economic importance and grandeur of New York City’s historic subway system, the film dives into its dire modern-day troubles picking up in the late 2010s when flooding, overcrowding, power failures, and derailments have become commonplace. After a particularly bad spate of disasters in the summer of 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proclaims a state of emergency and hires a new international wunderkind executive named Andy Byford to save the subways. Byford, an earnest Briton with an impressive resume, enters as a charismatic would-be hero. As the political turmoil behind the subway’s decline comes into sharp focus, scenes in barbershops, bodegas, and bakeries show the frustration and devastation among business owners and residents who are caught in the middle. 

Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic furthers this, and brings to light America’s need to shore up its infrastructure in cities across the country and the inequality struggles that are central to this debate. A heartfelt and scrupulous exploration, this film poses the question: what happens when the lifeline of a city goes flat? This film is dedicated to the heroic New York City transit workers who lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executive Producer: Emmett Adler, Ian Mayer
Producers: Emmett Adler, Ian Mayer; Co-Producer Mariah Wilson
Official selection: Doc NYC

Feature Documentary/ Not Yet Rated / Running Time: 65 Minutes

Emmett Adler is an Emmy-winning filmmaker who has taught art in Shenzhen, China, was once a chess champion in the state of Illinois and can juggle pins while walking on stilts. He has over a decade of experience as a freelance documentary and commercial film editor. In 2021, he made his directorial debut with the feature documentary End of the Line which premiered to sold out audiences at DOC NYC film festival. 

Gravitas Ventures is a leading all rights distributor of independent feature films and documentaries. Founded in 2006, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers and producers with distribution opportunities across the globe. Working with talented directors and producers, Gravitas Ventures has distributed thousands of films into over a hundred million homes in North America – over one billion homes worldwide.

Photo: Gravitas Ventures, used with permission
Gravitas Ventures

Movie review: Demigod

Demigod is coming to theaters and On Demand on Friday, October 15, 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Just in time for the Halloween season, Demigod, starring Rachel Nichols, Jeremy London, and Elena Sanchez opens nationwide in theaters and On Demand on Friday, October 15, 2021. Upon the death of her grandfather, a woman and her husband return to her birthplace in Germany’s Black Forest, only to find a terrifying secret awaits them. Directed by Miles Doleac. (Demigod, 2021)

After her grandfather dies, Robin (Rachel Nichols) and her husband Leo (Yohance Myles) travel to Germany to return to her childhood home in the Black Forest. She grew up there surrounded by the wonders of the forest and has memories of spending time with her grandfather. The more time she spends there, the clearer those memories become and they are not all pleasant ones. Soon after, a group of local witches captures the couple and they, along with other captured locals, become part of an ancient hunting ritual meant to appease Cernunnos. Cernunnos was an ancient Celtic god who represented nature, flora and fauna, and fertility. He is frequently depicted in Celtic art wearing stag antlers or horns and usually a torc around his neck.

Demigod is a horror movie composed mostly of suspenseful horror instead of the type of horror that scares people and haunts them after the movie is over. The Black Forest is the perfect location for this type of dark movie that centers around witches, a demigod, and winter solstice rituals. It also provides excellent cinematography that envelops the action and makes it come alive. Cernunnos’ dark red eyes stand out against the bleak background for dramatic purposes. Having a group of people struggling to survive reveals the strength of the human survival instinct and how far they are willing to go to protect a loved one. Prepare for a plot twist at the end.

Overall, Demigod is entertaining, suspenseful, and at times creepy. The violence is not too graphic, which might otherwise turn off more sensitive viewers. At only an hour and a half long, the story is short and to the point. There is some German dialogue with subtitles.

Digital platforms: iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Xbox/Microsoft, Comcast/Xfinity, and more.
Demigod, 2021
1 hr. 35 min.

*The author received an opportunity to pre-screen this movie for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.

Cernunnos. Courtesy photo, used with permission.