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The landscape for independent films has changed rapidly. On one hand, the opportunity to build a theatrical release has become increasingly difficult, but on the other hand, digital release has given indies a chance to play to a broad national audience at once. Each week, new indie releases will be profiled and because they might not be playing at a theater near you, one highly recommended film available now a click or two away via VOD (whether a new or not quite new release) will be presented for viewing without leaving your computer.

VOD Pick of the Week

Drinking Buddies
Prolific indie director Joe Swanberg makes his most mainstream movie yet. It’s not a drastic departure from his previous movies – it still focuses on romantic entanglements and relationship politics, but it features his most recognizable cast (Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston) and a bit of a glossier sheen.

Wilde and Johnson play Kate and Luke, coworkers at a microbrewery in Chicago. They are instantly recognizable as each other’s work spouses. They have an easy palpable chemistry and at first glance they seem like a couple, but they are in reality dating other people. By comparison, their significant others seem a little on the dull side. Luke has been dating Jill (Kendrick), a special education teacher, for years, and they are at the point where they are talking about talking about getting married, while Kate is dating Chris (Livingston), a music producer. When the two couples take a weekend trip together, events alter both of their relationships.

The film explores various issues that are often intertwined. Can men and women remain friends when there is sexual tension involved? When it comes to a long-term relationship, is steady and stable a better bet than passion? The film provides a resolution for these characters, but does not assume that their answers are the right answers for everyone. Instead it demonstrates how all relationships can be messy and require work.

The film is also funny. Swanberg had been leaning more towards more serious or darker material, so it is nice to see him do something a bit lighter that could be classified as a romantic comedy. Olvia Wilde seems to have fun playing that hot girl who is at ease hanging out with the guys, but is hiding an insecurity under her bravado. Her scenes with Jake Johnson are filled with a stream of banter. In supporting roles, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston also have a hilariously awkward scene together.

Drinking Buddies will please Swanberg’s fans as well as audiences who wouldn’t be interested in one of those “weird mumblecore” movies.
Available at Amazon
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu

New releases for August 2nd

The Canyons: The Canyons is directed by acclaimed director Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis, but is mostly gaining attention because it stars actress turned train wreck Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen. The plot involves a movie producer who discovers that his actress girlfriend has had an affair and becomes violently jealous, but the focus has been on Lindsay Lohan’s difficult and disruptive behavior during the movie’s filming. It may not be a good movie, but it certainly has a can’t-look-away curiosity factor to it.

Cockneys Vs. Zombies: When a group of inept criminals decide to rob a bank to help save their grandfather’s nursing home in the East End of London, they are interrupted by a zombie invasion. Instead of defending the nursing home from developers, they are now forced to defend the nursing home from the zombie horde. The zombie genre gets another comedy treatment from the Brits in this film that won the Audience Award at the San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival.
Available at Amazon
Available at Vudu


Europa Report: The sci-fi indie which was the Indie Watch Pick of the Week for July 4th gets a theatrical release this weekend. The crew of a manned space mission heads to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, to check for signs of life, but the mission turns out to be even more than they bargained on.
Available at Amazon
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu

The Spectacular Now: Coming of age is fertile material for indie films. In fact, it may be the most common genre in the indie film world. Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley earned a Special Jury Award for Acting at the Sundance Film Festival for their portrayals of Sutter Keely and Aimee Finicky. Sutter is a hard partying senior with no plans for the future who spends much of his time looking for an excuse to get drunk. Aimee is the “nice girl” who has never had a boyfriend. When Sutter passes out on a lawn and wakes up with Aimee standing over him they begin an unlikely relationship.