Ingrid Goes West Review

Ingrid Goes West is by far the most complex yet hilarious film I've seen all year. Matt Spicer has created a perfect blend of satire and Hitchcockian thriller, to create an entertaining yet thought provoking film. Each performance is on point, including but not limited too Aubrey Plaza. This is easily Plaza's best role yet, in which she plays a disturbed stalker, who befriends an Instagram Influencer. Not to mention the supporting cast of Elizabeth Olsen, Billy Magnussen, and O'Shea Jackson Jr, in which they portray exaggerated, yet realistic portrayal of several different millennials. As well, the cinematography helped the performances by blending a neon-esque color pallet, to set up the tone. My only complaint with Ingrid Goes West is the redundancy of the score. At times, the musical score felt like it was on loop, and dragged the pacing of the film. Overall, Ingrid Goes West is a smartly written, well edited, star studded film with plenty of discussion worthy material after you view the film. Don't miss it!

Score:
8.4/10

The Big Sick Review

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan when it comes to Romance films. Usually, at least the ones that don't take any sort of artistic risks, feel generic and forced when it comes to the romantic leads chemistry. However, there are some exceptions. For example, the 2011 film Ruby Sparks uses genre cliches and turns them over  to create a unique look at gender roles in a relationship. Same can go towards Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, but with it's main focus on romantic relationship's of today's youth. With that said, I happy to announce that The Big Sick is one of those great romance features. Specifically, this is due to the terrific script, in which the audience and my self were both emotionally invested and laughing all the way. This, by far, is the most humorous film of 2017. Admittedly, the film does get a bit sappy near the end, and there isn't anything all the visually nor technically interesting in the direction of the film. But, with it's great script, The Big Sick is truly a film for the ages.

Rating:
8/10

Stalker (1979) Review

Stalker is quite a mind blower when it comes to the science fiction genre. The way how Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky takes thematic material of depression and longing, helps make an incredibly dense and thought provoking plot. The shear amount of character logic, and storytelling put into this near 3 hour masterpiece is a stunner too any cinephile. Not only that, the amount of tension and atmosphere in the film took my breath away to the point where my own environment felt damp, like the film. My only problem's with this piece of cinematic art, is how some of the dialogue felt a bit exposition, and how some scenes and transitions weren't so clear. At times, it just felt like the characters were spitting out what they thought, and the transitions felt off and unclear to the point where it was hard to understand what happened in the time frame between two specific points. This can include the sepia to color transfer, which was strangely used at the end of the film (but it could be implying a metaphor, in which I still haven't realized), and as well, the conversation by the lake near the second act. Overall, this is a thought provoking master piece in which it deserves more credit. It's truly a work of art.


Score:
8.1/10

It Comes At Night Review

Dear A24,
Keep on making films like these, get a better marketing team, and don't ever make films like The Blackcoat's Daughter and Barely Lethal Ever AGAIN. If you do this, you'll be my favorite!
From,
  David Cuevas

As hard as it may sound to say this, I believe It Comes At Night is not really much of a horror, but a drama with some gruesome moments. The way how writer and director Trey Edward Shults manipulates the sparse six character's in a confined location, is an interesting statement to say the least. It Comes at Night isn't a film which uses monsters and gore to it's advantage. It uses survival and human negotiations to start it's main conflict. The main thematic theme, in my opinion, is how we as humans act, when there's a state of crisis (specifically, an infection) turns the character's against each other. It's something odd and new which we haven't seen before. As Well, the dialogue and performances feel natural, to the point the film feels off putting in it's own way. Cinematography and short composition (which  foreshadows events in the plot) also helps with this off putting feeling. Although the music may be a little too sparse, and the jump scares were a little uneven and not really necessary, It Comes at Night is a great film. Check this one out, as long as you have the mindset that your watching a survival drama and not a full blown horror.

Rating: 8.2/10