mote99

I saw this one recently and enjoyed it...

Get Out is a very clever horror film that also contains some thought-provoking subtext about race relations, just below its surface. It also has a number of good laughs in it, so it's bending a few genre conventions here, methinks. It's an entertaining genre film, but it also has some social commentary in it too, so it works on more than one level.

All the performances are strong, but Daniel Kaluuya is particularly effective playing a boyfriend caught up in a scenario that isn't entirely what it appears to be on the surface. Catherine Keener is also very memorable in this one, playing a mom who might be more than just a typical nurturing mother. But there's more than one memorable performance in this movie; the entire cast is very good.

Anyway, thumbs up from me. Get Out is one of the best horror flicks I've seen this year, and it's definitely worth checking out. This is Jordan Peele's first film as a director, and it will be interesting to see what he does next.

Set in Texas, "Hell or High Water" is a crime drama about two brothers who resort to robbing banks in an attempt to save their family's ranch from foreclosure. It works very well as a straightforward crime story, but there's much more to it than that. There's also lots of sociopolitical subtext here about the current economic conditions of working class people in the US, as well as the financial system that's exploiting them.

And the performances here are top notch: Ben Foster, Chris Pine, and Jeff Bridges completely nail their performances in this one. But the same could be said of everyone who appears in this film.

Anyway, thumbs up from me. A number of critics have called this film "one of the best of the year." I tend to agree with that. It will probably make my personal "top ten" list for 2016. It's a really solid crime-drama with plenty of things in it to recommend.

Grand Unified Theory follows the story of an unusual weekend experienced by Albert, an astrophysics professor, and his family of four. So many strange and wacky things happen on this particular weekend that some might call it a "family meltdown." A full nuclear meltdown wouldn't produce many more sparks than this one! LOL!

Intercut with the family's personal dilemmas and misadventures are Albert's lectures at an unnamed university. In this way, the film draws parallels between the forces at work in the universe and the forces at work on human behaviour. Director Ray's film is always fun, but it's never afraid to ask some big questions about life and our place in the universe.

Everything works here: from the crisp cinematography to the terrific ensemble cast. All of the actors are very good, but the performance of Scott Bellis as Albert really stands out in my mind. He seems to have been born to play this role. The same could be said for Kendall Cross, who plays Albert's wife. There is more than one terrific performance in this film.

Anyway, Grand Unified Theory gets a big "thumbs up" from me! If you enjoy quirky indie comedies, you'll probably enjoy this one as much as I did. And hopefully it will get some kind of theatrical release in the future, because this movie's excellent cinematography deserves to be seen on the big screen.