After being drafted for World War III, a group of burnout skateboarders are recruited into a casualty notification unit. “Vertical Valor,” directed by Alex Kavutskiy, takes an inspired premise and pumps it full of dopiness and absurdity, a war comedy that never hits the battlefield. Calvin and Ba...

A struggling actor suffering from an ear infection takes his pain out on the world. “Ear Ache” is an uncomfortably engrossing dark comedy directed by Alex Kavutskiy carried by a potent, on-the-edge performance from DeMorge Brown. Twice a year, Frederik Beltran can have a surgery on his ear that t...

A meager apology tests a woman's fortitude to forgive. “Squirrel,” by director Alex Kavutskiy, is a masterfully-crafted cringe comedy about the unlikely intersection of two L.A. residents who must come to terms with a new reality and one another. As their scenario unfolds, Noreen and Patrick, pla...

Gilbert refuses to have a sad Christmas this year. NoBudge regular Alex Kavutskiy directs “Gilbert’s Little Christmas,” an L.A. holiday comedy which monitors an aspiring entrepreneur (his big idea is hamburgers on a stick) that’s lost all hope after being dumped on Christmas day a year ago. Gilbe...

Being a sound person is thankless. If you do your job well, no one notices; if your boom creeps into frame once or the lav crackles, everyone stops what they’re doing to recognize that you messed up. And so it’s not surprising that Edgar’s self-esteem is a little on the rocks, and the fact that h...