IT FOLLOWS

We are living in a sweet sweet golden era of horror. What a freaking time to be alive. The Babadook haunted our bedrooms last year, The Witch comes around later this year, but right now, Robert David Mitchell's extremely well crafted It Follows stalks our suburban lives. This movie gained a lot of buzz at Fantastic Fest last year when it was awarded Best Picture in the "Next Wave"Competition category.

The film follows Jay Height (Maika Monroe), your average teenaged girl who is surrounded by friends, worried about school, and dating. She goes on a date with Hugh, a mysterious young man (Jake Weary) who chloroforms her then tires her up after a sexual encounter. She is told that something will begin to follow her. It will take the form of strangers, loved ones, family, friends, or some human form. Hugh tells her that the only way she will be able to get rid of it is to pass it along to someone else. But if Jay dies, it will go back to the person who had it prior.

This is the premise. It is simple yet at the same time, complex. The mechanics of it were a topic of discussion following the film on the ride home. Does the person who contracts the "disease" have to pass it along through genital contact? Who started it? Therein lies the super obvious moral of the story: it's a film about the spread of STD's, right? Maybe.

Director Robert David Mitchell has played the true meaning of the film pretty close to the chest not revealing what he is trying to say. At first, Jay, just as the audience, has no connection to the visions of those she sees following her. They are figures she doesn't recognize. Faces of past people who have fallen victim to "it" perhaps? Soon the faces become more familiar disorienting the audience and the characters on screen.

Maika Monroe leads one of the best ensemble casts in recent memory. Her performance is sincere and powerful as she needs to conjure virtually every emotion you can think of over the course of the film's runtime. Being an independent release, the unknown actors add to the overall experience. The actors never pull the audience out in a way that reminds us we're watching a film. Instead, they are part of the all out assault on the senses.

Adding to that assault is the electronic score by Disasterpeace. The music is so prominent and in your face at times, it seems as though the score itself is a character in the film. Pulsating electronic rhythms and sporadic tonalities create a dense pallet of sound for the ear to digest. The films' all out assault on the senses of the viewer never begin to overwhelm, but the film does become extremely heavy as act III approaches.

While horror films being churned out through the Hollywood studio system continue to prove that pop horror is in fact dead, no pun intended, indie films are offering a glimmer of hope to audiences. It Follows is a prime example of what can be achieved with a great script, top notch cast, and some vision. The major issue that puts major studio horror films to shame is a lack of vision. Directors for hire step in to direct traffic on a set, but often enough, don't have any real artistic vision. Thanks to director David Robert Mitchell, his vision has given us one of the best horror film of the last 15 years.

9/10

SELMA

Everyone recognizes the image of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivering the legacy defining “I Have A Dream” speech or the photos of him standing at the front of a church delivering a sermon. History has given us an almost god-like figure in the way that he is spoken of in schools and countless other memorials in his dedication.

The greatest accomplishment of Ava Duvernay’s powerful film Selma is not its triumphant acting, cinematography or heart felt score – but the “deconstruction” of the saint-like image of Dr. King. What makes him like you or I? The answer has been right in front of us all along. He was a man. And just like any other man, he felt fear, anxiety, and great passion for assembling what eventually became the Selma Marches.

David Oyelowo delivers the performance of his career as Martin Luther King, already having received the Nobel Peace Prize, yet coming back to a racially divided Southern America shows his work is far from over. Duvernay often times places Oyelowo right in the center of the frame, drawing the eye straight to him, whether it be from directly above looking down at his head or from the point of view of people sitting in church pews.

The film’s strong suit is it’s cast. Selma has the best ensemble performance from any movie made in the last year. Tom Wilkinson paints President Lyndon Johnson not as a hero or as a villain, but as a man caught in the middle of a great struggle who is trying to be a good diplomat for what he believes to be the US Government’s best interests. Tim Roth’s take on Alabama Governor George Wallace is slimy and every bit unlikable as he came across in reality.

The daily struggle that comes with Dr. King’s work takes its toll on his marriage with Coretta (played by Carmen Ejogo), showing us a side of the man, not often discussed publicly. Paul Webb’s script does an incredible job of publicly showing us a man, who was as strong as a rock, but would turn right around and take frantic action as people coming from all over the country to participate in the Selma protests were targeted by attackers of the opposing side.


Without a doubt, this year’s Academy Award nominations were full of surprises, but Selma’s overall lack of presence among the nominees is downright shocking. Its serious subject matter begins to feel like “too much” for a film with little to no comedy by its third act. It is possible for a script to be too rich in its subject matter and as the film draws to a close, it shows. Perhaps the most important film made this side of the year 2010, Selma looks past the glorified images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and examines what makes him like you and I: his humanity and the triumph, pain and passion that came with it.
10/10

AMERICAN SNIPER

The following review attempts to leave out any bias for Chris Kyle, the US Military, the Left, the Right, and focus purely on the cinematic aspects of this film. You can read my personal thoughts on the controversy surrounding the film here. 

The controversy surrounding American Sniper made me extremely curious to check out Clint Eastwood’s latest film. The 84-year-old director scored the biggest box office opening of his directorial career telling the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in American Military history with 160 confirmed kills. He was tragically killed at a gun range helping a fellow veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The film is based on his book of the same name.

Alfred Hitchcock once said that if you wanted to create suspense, an imperfect way to do so would be to have men sitting around a table and then suddenly, the blast of a bomb having been hidden beneath the table goes off. Instead, one must first see the bomb, then have the men enter the room, proceed to talk for a while, then have the explosion.

Eastwood employs the latter method in the opening of his film, showing us the moral dilemma of Chris Kyle’s first potential kill he is viewing from a perch above the action below: a child being handed a grenade to use against oncoming American troops. The film never goes any further than what is mentioned above to create true tension between Kyle and a man known as Mustafa (played by Sammy Sheik), the Iraqi equivalent of the titular American Sniper.  He is a silent killing machine that exists in the context of the film only to play spin the bullet (I’m not kidding) and conveniently kill characters necessary for the plot to move forward. 

Mustafa is a prime example of the two dimensionality of the film’s Middle Eastern protagonists. At this point in the film, I questioned whether this was done on purpose. I will never know what it's like to experience combat from the perspective of a Navy SEAL, but for those guys, it was probably a kill or be killed mentality that returned many to their families. It's rumored that when Steven Spielberg was attached to direct the project, he wanted to explore the psychological aspects of both the Chris Kyle and Mustafa, but this was unable to come to fruition due to time and budget constraints.

Sienna Miller delivers a great performance as Taya, Kyle’s wife, with the amount of material she is given to deal with. The only memorable moments in her performance are questioning why the father of her children chooses to go off to Iraq and fight an enemy thousands of miles away instead of building a relationship with his newborn children. All attention is focused on Kyle himself; after all it is his film. I found myself getting my hopes up for a psychological exploration behind the moral questions raised by killing people for his country. 

Instead, a great performance from Bradley Cooper attempted to compensate for very bland characters. There is no question about Cooper owning this film from start to finish. For those who know what the true life Chris Kyle looked and sounded like (the man appeared on a few talk shows to promote his book when it was released in 2012), it’s a no brainer why the Academy gave him his 3^rd consecutive Oscar nomination for this performance. His voice is pitched differently, the characterized Texan accent is pretty darn good, and his usual trim physique is hidden beneath 225 pounds of bulk Cooper put on for the role.

One of the most striking scenes comes as a sandstorm looms on the horizon and Chris Kyle finally reaches the breaking point of servitude. Eastwood manages to cleverly sneak in a nod to the flashback within the opening of the film as he leaves behind one life for another. An impending storm means impending doom, not only because Kyle and his team are surrounded by hostile enemies, but because it is in this inescapable fate that he realizes that he didn't have to put himself through this. It is the closest we get to a look into the man's psyche, something I was dying to see instead of an Iraqi fighting against, then helping, then turning back against US soldiers. 

Instead of showing us a potentially heart breaking battle to return to normalcy once back in the US, writer Jason Hall writes off Kyle’s PTSD as a passing thought late in the third act. Again, I'm not kidding. Eastwood’s film strives for greatness, but never truly achieves or clearly gets across its Pro-Veteran, anti-war statement due to its flimsy script.

 6/10

My Thoughts on AMERICAN SNIPER

This is not a review of Clint Eastwood's latest film, American Sniper, but instead my thoughts on the controversy ensuing as a result of people viewing the film. 

Early on in American Sniper, Chris Kyle (played by Bradley Cooper in an amazing performance) walks in on one of his fellow soldiers, Biggles (Jake McDorman), reading a Punisher comic book and talks about Kyle's first two kills as a sniper: a young boy and his mother attempting to throw a grenade at an oncoming convoy of soldiers. The two men discuss the evils amongst them are unlike anything they've seen. Evil. That word that comes up a few times in this film. Many have taken to twitter calling Muslims evil or expressing hatred towards them as a result of American Sniper.

I do not believe Mr. Eastwood's film makes out the people of the Muslim faith to be evil and anyone having that impression certainly misinterpreted what they saw on screen. The true tragedy of the war and of Kyle's four tours of duty was the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder. One scene finds him sitting at home reading a magazine and is alarmed at the sound of a lawn mower somewhere on his street starting up. At an auto shop, an auto technician's equipment causes him to flinch. Combat in the Middle East caused Kyle to be lost for a number of years, not truly returning to a stable state of mind until after he began to work with other Veterans suffering from PTSD.

Eastwood did not give us a film about heroism, patriotism, or defending our country. American Sniper is about a war that makes no sense and the media motivating blind anger that drives a man to continue serving in the military until in the face of impending death, decides he's had enough. Ironically, Chris Kyle was killed not on the battlefield or by enemy fire, but by a fellow Veteran at a shooting range. Why he would take someone with severe post-traumatic stress to a shooting range is beyond me, but the man lost his life trying to help others in his situation.

The opening of the film shows us a good ol' boy interested in serving in the military, picking the Navy Seals after seeing coverage of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings. Again, the media pushes him to take his hatred out through serving in the military. Later in the movie, images of 9/11 precede his return to action. The war in Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on New York City in 2001, so this leads me to believe that Kyle's misplaced anger was purposefully done to show how misleading what we see on television can be. At least I hope so. Clint Eastwood is not a stupid man and has been challenging himself and his audiences the last few years with some great directorial material.

Another element that I initially took issues with was that the film is very black and white in terms of the portrayal of the enemy. Again, another creative decision? I can't imagine what experiencing combat is like, but in the film, the enemies and very black and white. There is good, there is bad. Not too much in between. To those who have been those situations, I have been told that it is kill or be killed. I really really want to believe that Clint Eastwood took this into consideration when portraying the enemy combatants as one sided. My greatest critical issue with the film comes at this point. A friend of mine has said that when Steven Spielberg was initially attached to direct, he was met with resistance from the producers when he wanted to alter the story to include segments showing Mustafa's humanity and home life.

Is American Sniper propaganda? I personally think the film's right wing elements are packed on thick (Eastwood is a republican), causing the right to think the film is pro-war. But how can it be pro-war when Chris Kyle repeatedly picks serving in the military over his wife? Terrorism destroyed lives on both the USA and Iraqi fronts, but to say that this film disregards one over the other is preposterous. If American Sniper tells us anything it is that PTSD took Chris Kyle from his family for years, mentally, for years, blinded his thinking, and then ultimately, another Vet suffering far more severely than he did killed him.

I am not criticizing Chris Kyle, his beliefs, or his family, but the twisted notions having been taken on by the public about Clint Eastwood's film. If anything, it tells us that a man in an already very specific good ol' boy Christianized upbringing let's what he sees on TV influence him. If you would like to discuss my thoughts on Kyle, his untimely death, his portrayal on film, get in touch with me on Twitter, Facebook, or any other means on social media (@eduardovictory).

Top 10 Films of 2014

If you are one of those people who believe that modern cinema has lost its originality, you should stop reading this right now. For the first time in my life, I saw more new release films than ever before and I tried to watch as much as I possibly could. Even this year’s comic book adaptations seemed to be new hybrid films infusing new elements not attempted before within their genres. This is a ranking of the films that I liked best, not necessarily the highest rated, so you will find that some films that are rated higher than others will appear lower on the list.

10. The LEGO Movie

From its trailers, Chris Miller and Phil Lord looked like they were about to drop a grade A bomb on the world in an explosion of animated LEGO bricks, voices of top list actors, and characters from all over the world of pop culture (Batman? BATMAN!?). Instead, they delivered what is probably the biggest surprise of the year. Their story is a modernized take on Orwellian society a la “1984” and makes great usage out of the vocal talents of the cast. Liam Neeson’s happy voice to this day makes me laugh uncontrollably. 7/10

9. Nymphomaniac

Lars Von Trier certainly has a lot to say about love, loss, and sex. Joe, a woman who is driven to the lowest lows in life due to her addiction to having sex, recounts her story to Seligman, played by a very subdued Stellan Skarsgård.  I decided to include the film’s both halves as one as they really are one film, divided into two parts due to length. The film is really brought down in its second half, but its opening two hours are a powerful exploration at the destruction that sex (without love) can have on one’s personal life. I really do believe that Von Trier hates women and this film certainly hammered this point into my mind. 7/10

8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 Marvel Studios is in the business of pleasing its fans (and it’s financial backers), not caring what critics have to say. This is a great move for a major studio but unfortunately has produced some pretty lack luster stuff since the studio got off the ground in 2008. With The Winter Soldier, Marvel not only brought Captain America into the present day, but also created their best work to date. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo create a film with action so intense, it rivals anything done in The Avengers (and in my opinion is far better). Chris Evans channels the internal conflict of a man with the morals of yesteryear trapped in a time in which no one cares for them anymore. Does preventing a crime before it even happens justify trampling on people’s freedoms? Marvel delivers a sharp political thriller for modern audiences. 8/10

 7. Nightcrawler

 Dan Gilroy proves himself a force to be reckoned with as he proved himself with this, his first film! Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a flat out disturbing performance as Lou Bloom, a small time thief with a big business approach to his newfound career. Nightcrawling finds him and his partner Rick (Riz Ahmed delivers a great performance) glued to a police scanner, waiting for grizzly accidents and murders that the two can photograph. Lou is willing to go farther, drive faster, and push people harder than most – but how far will he go to be the best? The final 20 minutes culminates in a pulse pounding car chase that rivals anything done by Marvel or any action movie of recent memory. 7/10

6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

It blows my mind that the Planet of the Apes franchise still has steam in it 46 years after the first film. Director Matt Reeves steps in as director, taking over from Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt. Reeves took out the references and Easter eggs from the past films and crafted a smart and beautiful story about Caesar and his colony of apes living in the wilderness around San Francisco. Jason Clarke brings earnestness to his role as Malcom, a man who wishes that both groups could work together. In a role that gives J.K. Simmons’ a run for his money as villain of the year, Caesar’s ally Koba turns on him. I can’t remember the last time I saw film in which I sympathized so deeply with a villain. The way I saw it, this movie doesn’t have a villain. Caesar is our main character, so we side with him naturally, but Koba is pretty damn convincing. 8/10

 5. Under the Skin

Scarlett Johansson plays a femme fatale in this picture, luring horny men to their deaths. The film features what are easily the most bizarre sequences of any of the films I’ve ranked on this list and is definitely the heaviest this side of the top spot. The backdrop of Scotland proves to be an aesthetically beautiful decision as director Jonathan Glazer films primarily on location, outdoors. When the film enters its second half Johansson’s Female character begins to go on a journey of self-discovery, we are forced to rely entirely on her subtly beautiful performance. But why she goes on this journey and pretty much every other aspect of the plot is open for interpretation, something that no other film I’ve this year has achieved. Scarlett is one of my favorite actresses and this role really gets to show off her acting skill and prowess. 8/10

4. Whiplash

How far are you willing to go to get what you want? Andrew wants to be one of the great jazz drummers, even if it means great harm or self-injury. Scenes of bloody blisters, and people who want the same thing you do. J.K. Simmons steals the show as Terence Fletcher, the music professor from hell who insults, slaps, and tortures his students to push them to be the best musicians possible. The heart of the entire film though lies with Miles Teller’s performance as Andrew. His face is so beautifully expressive that we can feel everything he does. At times, no dialogue is needed to get the audience to a certain feeling. I am a musician myself and found the film to be the best and worst of an academic experience studying music. 8/10

3. The Babadook

 As a horror fan, I will be the first to say that modern, big studio horror films suck. They flat out suck. It pains me to think that studios like Fox, Universal, and MGM were producing the best horror films ever made have been reduced to remakes. The Babadook proves that there is still hope in the world of cinematic terror and holy crap is it frightening. The film doesn’t rely on a single jump scare to frighten its audience and instead chooses to toy with them psychologically, just as it does with its protagonists. Beyond that terror, the film is about living with a memory that can haunt us every single day of our lives. Jennifer Kent’s film is dark, expressionist, and at times downright weird. It blurs the line between reality and fantasy to create not only one of the best films of the year, but one of the best horror films ever made.  9/10

2. Birdman

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu takes us behind the scenes of the most important dramatic production of Riggin Thompson’s life. A man who is typecast as the superhero he played in a film decades ago attempts to prove he is not a washed up hack living in the past, but an actor who cares deeply about his craft. Where Tim Burton’s Big Eyes failed in its commentary about art criticism, Birdman succeeds. What does it mean to be dedicated to your craft and (just as it is explored in Whiplash) how far are you willing to go to prove your dedication? Edward Norton’s character Mike supplies many laughs as Norton is essentially playing a dramatized version of himself (a dedicated character actor). Not only does Birdman give us the best performance of Michael Keaton’s career but is also the funniest movie to play in cinemas this year. Iñarritu creates an eccentric take on what it really means to be an actor. 9/10

1. Interstellar/Wetlands

Don’t make me pick. Please don’t make me pick which of these two was my favorite film of the year. I couldn’t decide which, so I picked both. Interstellar is Christopher Nolan’s biggest and most heartfelt film to date. An enormous spectacle to behold, the film explores a new galaxy in which to save mankind from a dying Earth. Thrilling action sequences in this movie really are an essential part of the story. The film does not stop to have a chase sequence; every set piece is necessary to move the story forward. The scenes involving a wormhole, a black hole named Gargantua, and anything scored by Hans Zimmer’s use of a pipe organ created an experience unlike any other this year. Deep into the film’s third act, there is a docking sequence so intense, my heart raced all 4 times I saw it. The final 20 minutes of the film contains a scene so radical, it’s out there, it’s miraculous Paramount and Warner Brothers didn’t interfere in its production. The film is deeply philosophical, exploring the relationship between Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and his daughter Murph (played by Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain). 9/10

Wetlands came out of nowhere. Having drawn quite a bit of buzz on the festival circuit for its graphic content, the film lives up to the buzz. Carla Juri stole my heart and has yet to give it back. Her interpretation of Helen Memel is so punk that it makes me sad that I could never be anywhere on her level. As a matter of fact, the entire film is punk. It’s gritty, dirty, grimy, and never afraid to challenge a social taboo. Masturbation? No problem. Public toilets? There is a scene for you (and it will traumatize you). I really wish this film could have had a wider release for more people to experience. The friendship between Helen and her best friend Corinna (Marlen Kruse) is wonderful as the two young actresses bring a sincerity that can’t be faked. They are in the roles as deep as they could go and it shows. Helen longs for reconciliation between her separated parents and the way she attempts it (after a shaving accident involving hemorrhoids) will stay with you for a very long time. Go bold or go home, indeed. 8/10