On Demand Weekly

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: BLOOMINGTON (FilmBuff).

BLOOMINGTON
By Amy Slotnick

BLOOMINGTON is a coming of age drama about Jackie, a former child actress (played by Sarah Stouffer) who attends college in the mid-west to find independence from her acting career in Los Angeles. However blending in with the student body proves to be more difficult than Jackie expects. Her peers seem to only be interested in her as a celebrity but don’t show much genuine interest in being her friend.

At a meeting for the psychology department Jackie meets Professor Catherine Stark (played by Allison McAtee), a beautiful teacher in her 30s who is rumored to seduce her students. Despite warnings from others, Jackie is quickly enamored with Catherine and without any hesitation, they begin an intense and sexual romance. Jackie leaves school for a job in LA and the distance from Catherine, complicates their relationship.

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN (Tribeca Film) .

THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN

By Chris Claro

A tissue-thin romance that sags under the weight of its own whimsy, THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN is a time-filler that looks as if it were assembled by spreadsheet rather than by a filmmaker passionate to tell story – The Giant Mechanical Film.

Lee Kirk’s debut feature as writer/director checks off all the boxes: a TV-star-with-indie-cred lead (Jenna Fisher, who is married to Kirk), a soulful male lead with proven chops (Chris Messina, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA), a couple of up-and-comers in support (Malin Akerman, WANDERLUST; Rich Sommer, MAD MEN), and a star in a quirky character part (Topher Grace, SPIDER-MAN 3). Throw in a South-by-Southwest-ready “post-rock” soundtrack featuring such performers as El Ten Eleven and shoot in a filmmaker-friendly tax-credit location – Michigan, which is neck-and-neck with Louisiana in the race to see how many of its cities can stand in for Anytown, USA – and boom! You got yourself a little flick.

Jenna Fischer / THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN (Tribeca Film)

Not that there’s anything wrong with little. Slight stories about sad people can be finely wrought, as evidenced in the last year by both ROADIE and MAN ON THE TRAIN, each of which delicately depicted the ravages of loneliness. The issue with THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN lies in its pallid, listless script which breathes no new life into its subject.

After Fischer’s Janice is axed by her temp agency employer, she is forced to move in with her insufferable sister and brother-in-law, played by Akerman and Sommer. At the same time, Messina’s Tim is dumped by his girlfriend, who’s fed up with his forsaking real work in favor of slathering himself in silver makeup and strapping on stilts to pose in local plazas as the Giant Mechanical Man.