Hi everyone, I have given this tons of thought and I have come to these titles which grabbed my attention the most this year and I will explain why.

1. Green Book

In the beginning, I had somewhat low expectations of Green Book because of its director Peter Farrelly. A variety of Farrelly’s films have not really appealed to me given he has been doing mostly slapstick comedies that have been somewhat ridiculous. Green Book on the other hand is clever, funny, and heartfelt. Why I find it to be at the top of my list is because of its brilliant adaptation, and its witty humor. I knew Viggo Mortensen for a while after doing The Lord of the Rings movies and other action movies, and I felt that was all he would do. However, he can definitely play someone who is satirical, opinionated (in a funny way), and of course charming. This is one that Mortensen will be remembered for for a while. Also, Mahershala Ali is awesome in this as well. Mortensen is the driver and Ali is his passenger for a music tour that had me laughing until I cried. Not just because of its humor, but because of the connections and conflicts that Mortensen and Ali come to realize together in its time period being the 1960s. It is a faithful friendship movie that I will always look up to.

2. Bohemian Rhapsody

I was definitely in for Bohemian Rhapsody because of I knew I was going to have a fun time with the music (which I did). I know that some people had mixed emotions about this film, however many loved it. It really grasped my attention because of its background story to how some of the songs by Queen were such a success. However, the lead Rami Malek (as Freddie Mercury) knocks his performance out of the ballpark, and I believe he definitely deserves the award for Best actor in the Oscars. Bohemian Rhapsody is a vivid, musical masterpiece that I was having a fun time with. Many of the moments in the movie with the certain concerts was a dazzling experience. On top of that, I love how it incorporates how band managers and other production companies doubted Queen in terms of their music’s length of time and lyrics, but now everyone listens to those songs. The moments of the songs We Will Rock You and We are The Champions will Rock your world and no one plays the part better than Malek as Freddie Mercury.

3. A Star is Born

I had high hopes for this one for quite a while given it was Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut. A Star is Born has great music and a great storyline that will leave viewers in tears. Also, Lady Gaga cannot only sing, she can definitely act, and Bradley Cooper cannot only act, he can definitely sing. Both are top-notch with the singing and the acting that it moves its viewers to want to see both of them be successful in this musical masterpiece. Cooper plays a man that is a high profile singer who struggles with fame and alcoholism as his career is going slightly downhill. Gaga is the girl he helps to find her path to fame, but also struggles with his mental health. It is a film that shows how music and talent can bring people together in terms of talent and connection.

4. BlacKkKlansman

I am a fan of director Spike Lee, but was losing my faith in him for a while as a director as it has gone for a couple of years without having a successful movie, but BlacKkKlansman is definitely what I am talking about. Denzel Washington’s son John David Washington is definitely on his way to a bright future after his sharp and witty performance in BlacKKlansman. It is a film that takes place in the 1970s and around the civil rights movement, and Ron Stallworth (Washington) is the first black detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department. With the help of his friend and colleague Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) they go on a mission insinuate Ku Klux Klan branch. The film has great writing, humor, and scenarios that had my attention. Lee also does a very good job at being descriptive of the type of dialogue that was used in the time period when the film is set. Also, it is based on actual events and I feel Lee is faithful to this movie, it is funny at moments, but actually quite serious. I will say though, Lee has definitely redeemed himself as a director with BlacKkKlansman. I found it to be one of his best since Inside Man (2006).

5. Roma

For director Alfonso Cuaron, I am a fan of many of his films and when I found out that Roma was going to be available on Netflix right away, I told myself I want to see this on the big screen. Therefore, I saw it in 70 millimeter projection at Music Box in downtown Chicago. I just felt that given it was black and white that it would feel like a noir experience in that format in an old-school cinema. Roma follows the life of a maid of a middle-class family in the 1970s in Mexico. The film is psychologically inviting with its tension between its characters, which I found it to be quite similar to Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien because that takes place in Mexico also but in the early 21st century where as Roma is in the late 20th century. Both take place in Mexico and the conflicts are in regards to people’s decisions that impact them. Roma incorporates its cinematography to fade at moments of negativity or suspense and light up at moments where it is not so dark with problems. I loved it because it had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know the judgment of particular conflicts with the characters associated with each other in the film.

6. The Favourite

Director Yorgos Lanthimos is becoming one of my all time favorite directors. His films have gotten darker and darker. The Lobster (2015) was funny but somewhat disturbing, The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) more disturbing, and The Favourite very disturbing. Lanthimos steps up his psychological horror each time he directs a new movie, but The Favourite was haunting in terms of jealousy and tension with queens and royalties. What I think makes it brilliant is its incorporation of jealousy and politics that play into who has authority over one another. The acting is also attention grabbing. Olivia Colman is nominated for actress in a leading role and both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are nominated for actress in a supporting role. The Favourite is worth a viewing.

7. First Reformed

I am fan of director Paul Schrader and actor Ethan Hawke. First Reformed focuses on a minister (Hawke) who is part of a small congregation in Upstate New York and he deals with issues in regards to despair and his haunted past. First Reformed takes political and religious beliefs seriously that it makes viewers wonder how much people’s past can haunt them. Hawke is not nominated for anything for this movie (however he was brilliant in it), but it is nominated for Original Screenplay and I think it should definitely win that. It is an original idea that will is inviting for its viewers. It labels Schrader’s trait of filmmaking well. Schrader generally likes to incorporate men who fall into dramatic scenarios and have their world crash around them. In this one, the minister’s world falls apart, but the question is how? First Reformed I will definitely watch again because I still wonder what other pieces of the conflict I can put together to understand what the film’s ending meant.

8. Shoplifters

Winner of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Shoplifters is destined to be remembered for years. The film focuses on a family who are all crooks but then decide to take a child they find deserted. This decision leaves them to realize they have bigger responsibilities than stealing items to get by. Shoplifters is a coming of age tale of what it is like to come to terms when one decides to bring someone into their life. It is nominated for Best Foreign language film and I hope this one wins.

9. Mid90s

Directed by Jonah Hill, Mid90s is a heavy film full of language, drug use, and mayhem. The crazy part is it is all done by minors, but it is definitely a faithful movie. It gears on a kid who wants to fit in and be cool in the 1990s. However, he does this because he feels his home life is crazy and he has an abusive brother. Mid90s was dark and hard to watch at times, but I felt it was honest about peer pressure and wanting to be cool at that age,  especially since the main character is a thirteen-year-old boy. I would say it is basically a lighter and slightly more funny version of Catherine Hardwicke’s Thirteen (2003).

10. Beautiful Boy

Now this was definitely hard to watch, but it is by far one of the best performances by Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet. Beautiful Boy follows one father’s Journey to help his son recover from his numerous addictions to many drugs. The film is faithful to what is going on in the real world and that sometimes only one program is not enough. There are moments where Nic Sheff (Chalamet) relapse and his father David Sheff (Carell) starts to run out of options to help him, but he does not give up. It is a movie with a heavy theme and that is disturbing at moments, but what I love about Beautiful Boy is it shows how far people will go to save and protect the ones they love in this world.

 

Thanks and I hope you check these titles out. More reviews will come along definitely!

I have seen Nicole Kidman do a variety of different roles, and a majority of them have been serious, but not to the extend of her performance in in Karyn Kusama’s “Destroyer.” Kidman is definitely transformed in this film which is psychological, suspense thriller. She has the glassy eyes, the faded skin, the dirty hair, and she is not the cop to mess with. I feel like she is going the Jodie Foster route in terms of acting, because “Destroyer” seems almost like she is playing Foster’s character in Neil Jordan’s “The Brave One” (2007). Both are vindictive and have similar traits but in different terms of conflict. In “The Brave One” Foster seeks revenge for the gangster thats murdered her boyfriend, and in “Destroyer” Kidman tries to make peace with her enemies from the past.

Erin Bell (Kidman) is an LAPD detective who deals with harsh cases that start to impact her personal life. There is a point in her life where she once was set to be part of a gang undercover in the deserts of California. The results of her of job went wrong when she was in that position. However, years go by, and one of the leaders of that gang comes back to haunt her. With this happening, this leads Bell down a dangerous path where she has to start speaking to negative influences again to get her issues resolved. However the hard aspect of this for Bell is that messed with her mental health and her past, and it is a door she has to open back up.

The film as a whole I will say is good, but not great. Kidman delivers a stellar performance and the film has moments of action, but the trailer for the movie was somewhat false. The trailer makes its audience assume immediately that there is going to be consistent shooting scenes, car chases, and tons of violence. Now the violence is fairly strong, but there is not a lot of that. The more suspense in the movie is the dialogue between Bell and the gang members. Also, I would say that Kidman’s attitude was also the suspense. In this film she is not soft, she is hardcore with tons of pervasive language that leaves viewers to wonder what else she is capable of as the film progresses.

For Kusama, I am finding it quite common of her to direct films that focus on tension. She used a heavy amount of tension in “The Invitation” (2015) which was slightly more gruesome than “Destroyer.” Kusama likes to build tension with conversations and have the violence be a result of that, or kick in later based on information that was found out. “Destroyer” has many scenes where Bell visits bars and discusses with people where certain criminal activity will take place, and she acts on it with violence. I like how Kusama sets up her climax moments with a majority of her films. “Destroyer” though, I just felt the trailer was not faithful to the movie very much.

Now this film is not an Oscar contender or anything, but it is still fairly decent, but requires patience. I was amazed with Kidman’s performance, it was just the film itself that tended to drag at some moments. However, a majority of the scenes served a purpose for its conflicts. I will say that Kidman is capable of playing vindictive characters, and I believe she can do many more roles in that category. I will give “Destroyer” a solid two and a half stars.

Lars von Trier has always had the guts to make a film both psychologically and artistically disturbing. I felt “Nymphomaniac Vol. 1” and “Nymphomaniac Vol. 2” (both released in 2013) already went overboard with consistent scenes of graphic content and haunting elements that left audience members in shock. “The House that Jack Built”  also leaves audience members to feel that way, but more in terms of the main character’s structure, his violent background, and his rituals of being a killer. This is definitely a much heavier role for Matt Dillon. Even though he has starred in many serious films around heavy subjects ranging from “Wild Things (1998), “Deuces Wild” (2002), and “Crash” (2004), “The House that Jack Built” is one where he is not the Matt Dillon we know. Dillon has the shady looks that definitely makes him look to be a serial killer in this mind-boggling, horrific horror flick.

The film takes place in the 1970s and follows our main character Jack (Dillon) through a time frame of twelve years and there is a structure to how Jack builds up over time being a serial killer. In the murder scenarios, he treats them all as in they are his art and that, he is developing something artistic for himself. The more killings he does, the authorities get closer to him. Given it is the 1970s, the benefit that Jack has over the police is that they do not have the advance resources to solve he is the murder quickly, where as now most crimes are solved faster than people expect. The does not stop Jack from being obsessed with killing people, because he feels the deeper he goes with this very bad element of himself, the more he feels he is going to create an ultimate form of art with his killings. The different murder scenarios get even more gruesome as the film continues.

There is a moment where Uma Thurman is in the film, but she is not the violent actress as we remember from Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” (2003). She is one of Jack’s victims and she starts to feel not safe with Jack based on his negative attitude, him being opinionated, and very self-absorbed to a concerning extent. I did like seeing Thurman playing someone who is afraid for a change, and that is because in a majority of her films she is quite vicious (especially in “Kill Bill”). For many of her roles when it comes to violence and suspense, Thurman is the one who is all for doing the dirty work. In “The House that Jack Built” the only one doing the “dirty work” is Dillon, so do not expect Thurman to be the one fighting for revenge.

“The House that Jack Built” is poetic in the same sense as “Nymphomaniac Vol.” and “Nymphomaniac Vol. 2.” Lars von Trier has the same aspect as he does with these two films in “The House that Jack Built” and that is the film being told and shown more through our main character’s inner mind. However, as the story is being told (there are some narrations), that is when the grotesque fragments of Jack’s murder scenarios do happen. The director is not afraid to push the elements of what can scare his viewers. There is also allusions that are historical that he adds and this is what also makes “The House that Jack Built” a movie that will grasp viewers attention.

I found the film to be slightly like the showtime series “Dexter” (2006-2013). Dexter though only targeted murders to kill, Jack targets anyone he finds to be an easy kill or that is vulnerable. Jack also does not play nice guy during the day, he intentionally shows his negative sides to people, Dexter plays very nice guy during the day, but at night time he is the killer that is talked about but is good at hiding that he is the killer. From this, I mean that many films now gearing on the subject of serial killers have the killers have a target of the type of people they go after. Jack goes after everyone practically. As soon as viewers realize he comes to a new conversation with someone in the movie, they quickly wonder if that person is the next victim to be the unlucky one to suffer.

In terms of cinematic factors, I felt the lighting was set to a tone where it was faded in the moments of violence. That would create Jack’s world to make his viewers feel they are deeply in his mind and his inner world. Overall, it is a treat that will definitely be one to not to be missed. “The House that Jack Built” has all of the elements of a perfect horror movie, and one that is actually good and not made for Hollywood. The artistic value of Lars Von Trier will grasp viewers to want to follow Jack into the underworld of his art and his obsessions that are dark and haunting. Four stars.