Authors: Alexander Ortega
Slamdance Film Review: Kidnapped for Christ
David is a close-to-4.0 student enrolled in AP classes and an International Baccalaureate Diploma candidate, but once his parents find out that he’s gay, he’s forcibly taken from his home in the early morning and enrolled in Escuela Caribe—a Christian youth correctional school in the Dominican Republic. Here, these born again Evangelicals manipulate biblical doctrine in order to brainwash teens to conform. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Cheatin’
Cheatin’ is a bit bizarre, but entertaining nonetheless. It’s an animated narrative film that tells the troubled love story of Ella and Jake, which has no dialogue, just grunts and squeals from the animated characters. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Little Hope Was Arson
Theo Love’s documentary, Little Hope Was Arson, finds communities in East Texas reacting to the burning of 10 churches. The film follows the logic of law enforcement and community members discovering their churches having been torched, one by one, and the trajectory of the investigation. A central figure of the documentary is Christy McAllister, who received a lead that her brother, Daniel McAllister, was a suspect. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Who Took Johnny?
Who Took Johnny? is a spooky time. This documentary reaches back to 1982, when Johnny Gosch, a West Des Moines, Iowa paper boy, was abducted. Noreen, his mother, has powered on with the search since then up until now. The film initially follows the inaction on part of the local law enforcement to effectively identify Johnny as a missing person (the law used to require 72 hours for the kid to be gone), and initially wrote his disappearance off as him running away until further evidence compounded this assumption. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Rezeta
Rezeta (Rezeta Veliu) is an Albanian (well, Kosovoan) model looking for more opportunities and advancements in her career in México, but, more so, adventure. Once she’s there, she befriends thasher/hesher/metalhead/punker Alex (Roger Mendoza) as a bit of guide for the city she’s in, who also helps her learn español. Rezeta—very much a free spirit—engages in a couple sexual exploits, and eventually tries to drunkenly kiss Alex, much to his surprise and subsequent abashment. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: After Arcadia
After Arcadia is a ’50s-science-fiction-themed short shot in black and white wherein the protagonist’s internal monologue opens with his guilt for having accidentally decimated humanity with a seemingly nuclear invention that he created. He dilapidates in the boredom of solitude in the bunkers in which the film is shot, which spurs him to create a time machine to reverse his misdeed. … read more
Born to Shred: Shred Fest in Fort Duchesne
This past Fourth of July, SLUG Lead Designer Joshua Joye, Managing Editor Alexander Ortega and Junior Editor Genevieve Smith traveled to Ft. Duchesne on the Ute & Ouray Indian Reservation for Shred Fest 2014. Organized and sponsored by the Ute Indian Tribe Center for Alcohol/Substance Abuse Prevention and DJ LA of 90.3 FM Native Voltage Rez Radio, Shred Fest featured six bands, Native and non-Native. … read more
Review: If a Snake Should Bite @ The Ladies Literary...
“This is your Paradise” invokes the jarring chemistry of Nan Goldin or Cindy Sherman photos and makes them move. Utah needs more dance like this. … read more
Finca – 327 E. 200 S. Soft Opening 11.28.14
Finca, a locally sourced Spanish tapas restaurant, has moved from their 1291 S. 1100 E. location to 327 W. 200 S. Upon entering, I was mildly surprised by how pleasantly swanky the new digs are. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Pervert Park
Florida Justice Transition is an adults-only trailer-home community—that’s because it’s a space designed for previously convicted sex offenders reintegrating into society, post-incarceration. … read more