The lines are busy at the telephone helpline. A life coach records an encouraging video while concerned parents consult a child psychologist. A spectrum of cinematic tableaus shows people trying to counteract the increasing loneliness to create intimacy in a detached society.
In "Upside-Down Magic, a Disney Channel Original Movie, 13-year-old Nory Boxwood Horace discovers she can flux into animals, and her best friend Reina Carvajal can manipulate flames. Together, they enter the Sage Academy for Magical Studies. Reina's expert ability to harness the power of fire lands her at the top of her class of "Flares," but Nory's wonky magic and proclivity f...
Avery is an unadventurous schoolteacher whose sister secretly signs her up for The Great Holiday Dash, a Christmas-themed reality competition show where she's paired with former hockey player Wes. Despite clashing at first, Avery's puzzle-solving skills and Wes' physical prowess help them excel as they travel from city to city and compete in festive feats that have a local flavor. It's not long before a real connection between these opposites begins to blossom. But when Avery overhears a conversation between Wes and a show producer it threatens to derail their budding romance. Keeping their eyes on the prize, the duo continues to dash to the finish line but there may be a more personal adventure for them still in store.
20-something Aden has no other ambition in life than to become an actor. Most of his time is spent making videos as he applies for roles he’ll never get. After a string of dreadful auditions, where bizarre and humiliating requests are made of him, he comes up with a radical move: he will take full responsibility for finding a role that primarily he, himself, wants to play. This self-assured debut, playful in form and narrative with a fairy-tale edge to it, examines both the commercial work ethic and the concept of identity, which it presents as multilayered and also questionable. At the same time, in its exploration of the given themes, the film doesn’t deny itself a socio-critical tone, nor does it resist the temptation to tease the viewer a little.