Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is a film that is in the genre of horror. The movie is a remake. The first version of the movie is geared on the communist influence. This version is the opposite of that subject matter. The film focuses on a strange epidemic that is unexplained, but in the suspense of time, the epidemic progresses to get worse. There are weird puzzles around some kind of spirits roaming free in the earth and that brainwashes people and eventually ends up killing them. The film’s incorporation of paranoia plays into the distrust it has on its viewers.

The film focuses primarily on regular society in the beginning of the film. There is rush hour traffic, people in their suits, people grabbing their morning coffee, and just moving along as if the setting is a regular work day. Later on, the credits role with cast members seeming suspicious, but they continue to look as if they are going to work. The opening with ghosts, shadows, and mountains sets the tone for a horror film. The strain of paranoia continues throughout the series of paranoia films through the stress of the characters. Viewers see the stress through the characters Matthew (played by Donald Sutherland), Jack (played by Jeff Goldblum), and Nancy (Veronica Cartwright). Like The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), which shows the main character Eddie Coyle (played by Robert Mitchum) paranoid of how people are out to get him, these three characters have a similar paranoia, but on terms of monsters. The characters are stressed about the monsters because they never know when they will make an appearance.

The events worsen as some people end up dead in the spur of the moment. The suspense of the invasion becomes odd as people encounter weird behaviors in public. As Jack goes to a spa where mud baths take place, one man goes into another room of the spa, and then later Jack finds him dead. As Jack is trying to figure out what to do with the body, the situation becomes haunting. What happens is the dead man’s eyes open and his nose begins to drizzle out blood. The change of events leads me to believe that the movie is about corruption on sci-fi terms. Director Philip Kaufman is trying to suggest that the invasion will become a war. He is trying to say that there is something about this odd epidemic that is a conspiracy. Unlike the original version, this one does not focus so much on communism, but it focuses more on conformity. The way this happens is when other people tell the scared victims to not worry and that is everything is ok, where really it is not.

The film may seem scary, but funny at moments which effects the audience to be laughing at times instead of being scared. An example of this is when a pedestrian runs to Matthew’s car and is scared saying something is out to get to get everyone. That moment is funny based on how the pedestrian looks like he is making a fool of himself because he is just running continuously trying to get everyone’s attention, but nobody believes him.

The ending is the epidemic taking over one of the characters. This throws viewers off guard because there is nothing else to sum up the ending. This ending connects with other films in this era because many of them contain endings that are generally putting the viewers out of place because there is little or no support for the ending. This ending connects to a film like The Graduate (1967) because it has an unexpected ending. The Graduate ended with the two main characters running away from a wedding leaving the viewers with questions. In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it leaves viewers with questions also. The main character gets infected, he did not fight off getting infected, and then the movie ends showing him in desperation. The suspense built so much tension, but that ending did not make the film that good.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers has tendencies to drag. What I mean by this, is that it is not that attention-grabbing when it opens. I see this as something intentional so viewers will have no idea how out of hand the conflicts get. Twenty minutes or so into the film, the intensity steps up a notch. As characters keep the issues a secret from the authorities, they end up putting so much more paranoia amongst themselves. The director’s choice of changing the era of paranoia films is probably to suggest a change of pace, that being not involving real life situations all the time.

For fans of rap music, “Straight Outta Compton” takes the cake for one of the best film adaptations I have seen. The film is amazing, destructive, and an honest story of the rise of the group NWA. The film has many moments that will blow viewers out of the water. The story is enticing, the characters are ruthless, and it is not afraid to go over the limits on terms of music content. Director F Gary Gray makes his mark on one of the best films I have seen this year.

The film is set in the mid 1980s. Artists from the streets of Compton are coming out of their shells and showing their talent through their music. The artists are Ice Cube (O’shea Jackson), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell). Cube is the poet, Dre is the one who makes the music, and Eazy-E is one of the singers. They collaborate their life events into spectacular music that holds tons of publicity. The popularity is vast where the more truthful they are to their lyrics, the more fans they get. But do they want to be that honest?

Their music tests authorities of California. This happens when subjects in regards to how they are treated is misinterpreted by the Federal Government. This basically goes for vulgar music towards police officers. However, they state, “Our art is a reflection of our reality.” Therefore, they believe they have the right to speak on terms of what goes on in their life because it is freedom of speech. However, this starts up numerous riots and lawsuits to name. I am not going to explain this because I want to elaborate more on what I enjoyed about this movie. I can probably talk all day about what I loved so much about the movie.

On terms of music, the scoring kept my attention. I’m not a fan of rap music really, but I found the music to be captivating. Joseph Trapanese is the man who did the music for “Straight Outta Compton.” I remember he did the music for “Tron: Legacy” (2010). “Tron: Legacy” had a really good soundtrack that I would listen to consistently day in and day out because of its beat track in its music. “Straight Outta Compton” beats is now what I’m listening too in my spare time. Just the rhythm puts you in the mood to want to feel like you are losing yourself into that rhythmic beat that is so intense where you can feel your chest beat.

The cinematography also was spellbinding. Just its color and all makes viewers feel like they are right in the 80s of this intense story. The cinematographer Matthew Libatique has a reputation for capturing great visuals with films he has been on. He does will with cinematography and photography in “Black Swan” (2010) “The Number 23” (2007) and “Everything is Illuminated” (2006). In all of these films including this one, viewers are really moved by the visual prints, however with “Straight Outta Compton” it is visually stunning where viewers will not believe their eyes.

Despite, the hard times these men go through in this movie, it is a brilliant one. I will even watch it again. I walked out of the theater with my mind blown by how spectacular the movie was. Four stars.

With me, I am not a person who is into fashion. I am a nerd. I collect tons of movies, I have everything in alphabetical order, fancy gadgets to make my life easier, and I have no taste for fashion. The movie “Iris” however is cleverly done. I did not find myself enthralled by the fashion portions of it, but by the moving documentary set on Iris Apfel who is a fascinating, elderly lady where fashion and art is her life.

Iris Apfel is someone who has been in the New York fashion scene for many years. However, the plot of the movie is not really fashion. The purpose of the movie (which I like) is set on creativity and how Iris remains to be inspired by her fashion and art at such an old age. She even states what motivates her as she says in her brilliant words, “If you’re lucky enough to do something you love, everything else follows.” Her followers, her life, her inspirations are what is the key to film’s positivity.

I liked how the movie had a variety of interviews and tours done by Iris. This gave us an idea of how certain portions of her life built upon her creativity. An example of this is a scene where matching jewelry plays an importance to her. Her vast and to-the-point knowledge of her life’s work immerses viewers to how important matching clothes can be in one’s life. I even am about matching my clothes, and watching “Iris” makes me curious now if my clothes always match before I get ready for the day.

The film is directed by Albert Maysles. He just passed away in March 2015. So sad, given this was an artistic movie he did well with. It would have been more positive if he can live to see more of his success. Anyway, most of his movies geared on arts. Examples are “Time Piece” (2006), and “The Gates” (2007). He made anything along the lines of art be a focus in his films. I feel he did this because art played a part in his life, especially among terms of directing; may he rest in peace.

Despite arts and crafts not being my thing, I enjoyed “Iris.” Learning about someone’s passion in a movie can move viewers positively for inspiration. That inspiration does not even have to be art; it can be many things. Just you got to start somewhere.