It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I do not even remember which short it was, that made me think "man, I do not understand why bothering us with shorts". Apparently Life thinks I am not allowed to be so categoric. I have browsed a bit IMDb in search of something interesting I had not seen yet, I have found Ink, Frame and Spin from Jamin Winans, and watched the trailers. Coming to Spin I thought "8min is a bit too much for a trailer". I suspected it could be a short. I liked it. I still do not like shorts much. Apart for those of Pixar. But this one made me see that if a short is REALLY well done, it is a very enjoyable art. So, maybe I find more like this, and I start liking shorts :)

"Spin" is an 8-minute movie written and directed by Jamin Winans 10 years ago. The protagonist here is a dis jockey, who has the most extraordinary set of turntables. Not only is he able to turn back time with these, that's why the name "turntables", but he can also change the directions and speed with which people and objects are moving. Now, it's a pretty nice idea and okay execution, but still I felt something was missing to make this a truly entertaining watch. Maybe Winans thought the same and that is why he focused on the people in the second half of the film and the DJ really did not have that much screen time anymore. Looking at the film's high rating here, I must say this was a disappointing watch. I only recommend this to disc jockey or people with an interest in hip-hop or street culture. Everybody else is not missing much. Not too surprised Winans is not enjoying a really successful career as I can see a decent creative idea here, but not much talent in terms of execution. Thumbs down.

The film portrays a supernatural DJ who "falls" to earth and tries to bring harmony to a complex city scene by modifying nature in modest ways through manipulations of his turntables and mixer. The identity of the DJ is only hinted at through various symbols which can be interpreted to indicate that he is none other than one of the fallen angels mentioned in various mystical texts. However, though the film revolves around the DJ and is seen through his eyes, the film is not about the DJ but rather about man and his world. It is about the nature of creation and man's interactions within creation. It is about the interplay between providence an free will.The film depicts three attempts by the "DJ" to achieve harmonious accord. In the DJ's first attempt, he displays smug confidence that the world functions according to hard-determinism. This approach is found wanting and the "DJ" is forced to refine his approach to account for various human factors, demonstrating the philosophical view that perhaps the world works according to soft-determinism. However, once again, the "DJ" finds that the human condition does not accord with such simplistic definition.He thus realizes that he must take into a great many factors, including what amounts to all of human history; and even still he must invest himself completely, in what can only be termed "divine providence", to insure the harmonious solution to the city scene.A complete analysis of this deep film can be found at: www.divreinavon.com/spin.htm

This is a very smart and clever short film that is included in a DVD set entitled "Toofy Shorts: Volume 1"--a very nice collection of short films shown at Colorado's Toofy Film Festival. It's going to be a bit hard to describe the film, but I was really impressed by the film because of its style and because it was so darn original.A hip-hop guy with a portable turntable and mixer is shown setting up his equipment on the sidewalk. In front of him is a tragedy--some poor guy got hit by a car and is either dead or severely injured. Oddly, however, when the hip-hop guy turns on his equipment, it's a time machine of sorts. As he moves the turntable backwards, time reverses and when it goes forward, time goes forth. Using this equipment, he is actually able to reverse the accident AND even change the outcome. However, in a clever twist, repeatedly the outcome was also a tragedy and it took him quite a while to set things right.How all this is told without words and so effectively is beyond me. Very good job.