An Interview with Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom, directors of 'An Honest Liar'

[AN HONEST LIAR screens Saturday March 28th at 4:20 pm and Sunday March 29th at 11:35 am at Tower City Cinemas as part of the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival.]

See all posts about the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival 

Review by Bob Ignizio

While I probably saw James “The Amazing” Randi on TV as a kid performing some sort of magic or escape, I first really became aware of him in my early twenties when I took a college course at the University of Akron called “Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents” that taught critical thinking about paranormal claims (i.e. stuff likes psychics, ghosts, UFOs, etc.). In this world, Randi was one of the key figures, debunking psychics, faith healers, poltergeists, and the like with his knowledge, based on years in the illusion biz, of how the human mind can be tricked.

An Honest Liar (March 28th and 29th at Tower City Cinemas as part of the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival)

[AN HONEST LIAR screens Saturday March 28th at 4:20 pm and Sunday March 29th at 11:35 am at Tower City Cinemas as part of the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival.]

See all posts about the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival 

Review by Bob Ignizio

When co-directors Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom began shooting their documentary AN HONEST LIAR, it's subject, stage magician/escape artist turned skeptical paranormal investigator James Randi, had already lived a life more than worthy of a film. What the filmmakers couldn't possibly have known was that during the course of filming, a shocking revelation would come to light regarding Randi's long time companion (now husband) Jose Alvarez. It's the kind of surprising turn of events that some filmmakers might have used to paint their subject in a negative light, while others might have simply swept it under the rug rather than make their subject uncomfortable. It's to Weinstein and Measom's credit that instead they tackle the issue head-on, showing Randi as a more human and fallible figure than his public persona often suggests, all without undermining the important work the self proclaimed charlatan has done in exposing phony psychics, faith healers, and the like.

31 Days of Halloween 2013: The Life After Death Project

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Okay, here is where a lesser critic might have inserted one of those tiresome "Based on a True Story"/"Inspired By Actual Events" PG-13 rated Hollywood spook shows that P.T. Barnum their way into the strip-mall multiplexes every September or October. You've probably seen a few of them, but simply forgotten the experience: A HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, THE POSSESSION (or was it called THE POSSESSED? I actually forget), THE APPARITION, THE RITE, etc. etc. I can't imagine who was actually convinced of the paranormal by any of these, except the sort of mouth-breathers who actually believe that reality-TV is true and unscripted. Especially the Discovery Channel and Travel Channel embarrassments where guys in black T-shirts with I/F cameras lurk around abandoned buildings and pretend to be terrorized by `orbs.' 

My Amityville Horror (now on Video On Demand)

[MY AMITYVILLE HORROR is now available on Video On Demand.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

From a fairly early age I was interested in all things spooky and paranormal. That being the case, growing up in the seventies there was no way I wouldn't have been fascinated by the purported supernatural goings-on that beset the Lutz family in late 1975. The incident became commonly known as “The Amityville Horror” and spawned a 1977 book by Jay Anson. However, it was the film adaptation released in 1979 that served as my introduction to the supposed sinister events. It's not a particularly good film, but it worked for me when I was a kid. The parade of mostly awful sequels and remakes that followed, less so. Notheless when I heard there was yet another film about Amityville, this one is a documentary, my interest was piqued.

Dope Island: Mayan Eyes Have Seen the Glory of...The Outer Space Connection

If you are reading this, it is likely you survived the Mayan Calendar running out, or you are a conquering alien. Let's assume the first. Nothing happened on December 21, 2012, outside of the usual binge-buying of firearms by gun nuts, while, faraway in tall towers, business schemers plotted more layoffs. Christmas season fourth-quarter cutbacks, foreclosures and all that. Otherwise, business as usual, nothing to see here.

Well, there was one thing to see, and I saw it, courtesy of a lucky thrift-store purchase. It is a theatrically released documentary that had much to do with creating the Mayan-doomsday myth, 1975's THE OUTER SPACE CONNECTION. This feature can probably be secured now in a variety of high-tech-downloads I little understand; I got it the old fashioned way, a fuzzy VHS copy in a battered slipcase cover in a thrift store.

Eyes of the Mothman (now on home video)

[EYES OF THE MOTHMAN is now available on home video.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

That there were some strange occurrences in and around the small West Virginia town of Point Pleasant between November of 1966 and December of 1967 is undeniable. Exactly what went on depends on how you choose to interpret and explain the evidence and eyewitness accounts. A number of seemingly honest and reliable individuals reported seeing a large humanoid being with glowing red eyes and huge wings. There were also UFO sightings, and Men In Black were spotted hanging around the town. Whether or not there is any connection between these things, the strange events began to subside after the Silver Bridge that connected Point Pleasant to Ohio collapsed, taking the lives of 46 people.

Whether you believe anything paranormal happened in Point Pleasant or not, it makes for an undeniably fascinating tale, seemingly a natural fit for the movies. In 2002 there was a dramatized Hollywood film, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, that was loosely based on the allegedly non-fiction 1975 book of the same name by John Keel. The film changed dates and other details considerably, though. Now director Matthew J. Pellowski aims to deliver a more accurate and comprehensive take on the subject, as least as much as that's possible, with his documentary EYES OF THE MOTHMAN.