Get Out

Director: Jordan Peele Writers: Jordan Peele Stars: Daniel Kaluuya (Chris), Alison Williams (Rose), Catherine Keener (Missy), Bradley Whitford (Dean), LilRel Howery (Rod) Get Out is the directorial debut of Jordan Peele. The movie is a horror film with some lighter comedic moments and extensive social commentary. Daniel Kaluuya stars as Chris, a black man, meeting his white girlfriend's family for the first time. In the racially homogenous town in which they reside, a conspiracy against black visitors quickly becomes evident. Chris seeks to get to the bottom of it and avoid the same fate. First off, this was a spectacular film. It presents an extreme scenario, but reflects back a certain reality in our society: the so-called "allies" who do more harm than good. I would point out a secondary theme that at least spoke to me, the expectations that whites have of blacks in our society. Despite speaking more directly to the black audience, the movie successfully reached a broader audience. My white boyfriend enjoyed the film just as much as I did. It's exciting to see good films being made by black creators and telling uniquely black stories...and doing well at the box office. This should be a hint to Hollywood, make more films like this one!

Mini soundtrack:

Flanagan & Allen - "Run Rabbit Run"
Childish Gambino - "Redbone"
Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"

The Hateful Eight

Director: Quentin Tarantino Writers: Quentin Tarantino Stars: Samuel L. Jackson (Major Marquis Warren), Kurt Russell (John Ruth), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Daisy Domergue), Walton Goggins (Sheriff Chris Mannix), Channing Tatum (Jody) The Hateful Eight is Quentin Tarantino's latest gore-filled, violent, ensemble film. It's a western that largely takes place in one location, a stagecoach lodge in which the characters have taken refuge during a snowstorm. Warren and Ruth are bounty hunters, Domergue is Ruth's bounty, who he intends to chaperone his charge to see her hanged. At the lodge, they encounter a group of men and set out to determine their true motives. I like Tarantino's films and this one hit his usual touchpoints: heavy dialog, intense violence, Samuel L. Jackson. But, for some reason, I didn't really like the film as a whole as much as some of his past work. I haven't yet figured out why exactly, but I do agree with Leigh's Oscar nomination!

Mini soundtrack:

The White Stripes - "Apple Blossom"
Crystal Gayle - "Ready for the Times to Get Better"
Roy Orbison - "There Won't Be Many Coming Home"

Joy

Director: David O. Russell Writers: David O. Russell, Annie Mumolo Stars: Jennifer Lawrence (Joy), Robert De Niro (Rudy), Bradley Cooper (Neil Walker), Édgar Ramírez (Tony), Susan Lucci (Danica) Joy is the story of my life. Okay, not really, it actually tells the story of Joy Mangano, an entrepreneur best known for the invention of the self-wringing Miracle Mop. It focuses on the period of time before the invention, where Mangano is a divorced mother of two stuck with caring for her parents, grandmother, and her ex-husband. She's an inventor, but struggles to devote time to her passion between her daily responsibilities and a dead-end job. She finally gets a chance to bring her idea to market, but still must deal with the doubts from her family and their constant attempts to sabotage her. The film is a very loose, and fictionalized interpretation of the real Joy's life. It has a fantastical feel that makes it easy to lose the story at times. However, it's anchored by an unsurprisingly solid performance from Lawrence.

Mini soundtrack:

Cream - "I Feel Free"
Alabama Shakes - "Gimme All Your Love"
Elvis Presley - "A Little Less Conversation"

Room

Director: Lenny Abrahamson Writers: Emma Donoghue Stars: Brie Larson (Ma/Joy), Jacob Tremblay (Jack), Sean Bridgers (Old Nick), Joan Allen (Nancy), William H. Macy (Robert) Room tells the story of a young woman, Ma, and her son, Jack. Ma, real name Joy, has been a captive of Old Nick for seven years, and locked in a single 10x10 room the entire time. While imprisoned, she is impregnated and gives birth to a boy, who lives in the room with her. Ma does her best to keep Jack active and healthy despite their predicament. She has encouraged a certain myth about the scope of the world to her son, but reveals the realities of the world to him after his fifth birthday in order to bring him into her plan for escape. For subject matter that can quickly turn depressing, Donoghue and Abrahamson succeed in making this a hopeful and uplifting film. It was also a well-acted film; one that completely changed my view of the lead actress.

Mini soundtrack:

Harry McClintock - "Big Rock Candy Mountain"
Jon Hopkins - "Campfire"
This Will Destroy You - "The Mighty Rio Grande"

Chi-Raq

Director: Spike Lee Writers: Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee, Aristophanes Stars: Teyonah Parris (Lysistrata), Nick Cannon (Chi-Raq), Wesley Snipes (Cyclops), John Cusack (Father Mike Corridan), Angela Bassett (Miss Helen), Samuel L. Jackson (Dolmedes), Jennifer Hudson (Irene) With Chi-Raq, Spike Lee takes Aristophane's classic comedy, Lysistrata, and sets it in modern-day Chicago. In the play, Lysistrata organizes a sex boycott to bring the end of the Peloponnesian War. In the movie, she is the girlfriend of gangster and local rap star Chi-Raq. The sex boycott is to bring about the end of gun violence in the city. Lee manages to combine the classic Greek style with elements from modern hip hop culture. Much of the dialog is in verse, which takes a bit to get used to. The overall result is colorful and sometimes absurd, but a strong message on the gun violence in America; from gang violence to mass shootings.

Mini soundtrack:

Nick Cannon - "Pray for My City"
Mali Music - "Contradiction" (featuring Jhené Aiko)
Jennifer Hudson - "I Run"

Straight Outta Compton

Director: F. Gary Gray Writers: Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus Stars: O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Ice Cube), Corey Hawkins (Dr. Dre), Jason Mitchell (Easy E), Neil Brown Jr. (Yella), Aldis Hodge (MC Ren), Paul Giamatti (Jerry Heller) Straight Outta Compton follows the members of the L.A. rap group N.W.A., focusing primarily on its three most influential members, Ice Cube, Easy-E, and Dr. Dre, exploring the band members' relationships with each other and with their manager, Jerry Heller. We watch the group form, fight, dissolve, reunite, and we experience the untimely death of Easy-E from AIDS in 1995. As with any film exploring the lives of real people (documentary or biopic), there is some controversy regarding the representation of some subjects, in this case, manager Jerry Heller. He is certainly presented as callous and greedy. Regardless, it is a spectacular film with surprisingly excellent performances from all of the young actors, especially Jackson playing his own father.

Mini soundtrack:

Easy-E - "Boyz-N-The-Hood"
N.W.A. - "Fuck tha Police"
Tupac - "California Love"

The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott Writers: Andy Weir, Drew Goddard Stars: Matt Damon (Mark Watney), Jessica Chastain (Melissa Lewis), Kristen Wiig (Annie Montrose), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Vincent Kapoor) We seem to be in a golden age of space films, with a new set of, mostly excellent, films coming every year. The latest comes from a genre veteran, Ridley Scott. The Martian tells the story of Mark Watney, an astronaut on a manned mission to Mars who is presumed dead and left by his fellow astronauts following a freak storm on the planet. Turns out, he survives and spends the following months trying to grow his own food to supplement his rations, reestablishing communications with NASA, and generally avoiding dying. Back on Earth, NASA officials try to determine the best way to either keep him alive until the next mission or mount a rescue mission to bring him back.

Mini soundtrack:

Donna Summer - "Hot Stuff"
David Bowie - "Starman"
Gloria Gaynor - "I Will Survive"

Escobar: Paradise Lost

Director: Andrea De Stefano Writers: Andrea De Stefano, Francesca Marciano Stars: Benicio Del Toro (Pablo Escobar), Josh Hutcherson (Nick), Claudia Traisic (Maria), Brady Corbet (Dylan) This movie accurately references many events leading up to Pablo Escobar's incarceration, but does so through the lens of fictional characters. While this movie's name references the infamous drug dealer, it focuses much more closely on the character of Nick and his relationship with Escobar and his family. Nick is a Canadian man who has moved to Colombia with his brother to start a surfing business. There, he meets and falls in love with Maria, who just happens to be the niece of Escobar. Escobar takes a liking to Nick and begins to consider him a part of the family, but both Nick and Maria come to realize how dangerous it can be to be close to El Patrón. While, for me, the story fell a bit flat, it was lead by an absolutely incredible performance from Del Toro and a better-than-expected showing from Hutcherson!

Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller Writers: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris Stars: Tom Hardy (Max Rockatansky), Charlize Theron (Imperator Furiosa), Nicolas Hoult (Nux), Zoë Kravitz (Toast the Knowing), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (The Splendid Angharad) Almost exactly thirty years after the last Mad Max film, the franchise came roaring back earlier this year with a new installment. The latest film follows Max as he meets the Imperator Furiosa, a lieutenant for powerful warlord Immortan Joe. Furiosa has taken several of Joe's "wives," attractive young women that he has set aside for the purpose of carrying his children. Together, they must outrun Joe and his gang of warboys and make their way to Furiosa's childhood home. And yes, the movie is incredibly feminist, and that is a great thing! It was refreshing to see movie led by such a powerful female character and to see female characters interact without bickering. It made what would still be an incredibly entertaining action film seem more significant.

Ex Machina

Director: Alex Garland Writer: Alex Garland Stars: Domhnall Gleeson (Caleb), Oscar Isaac (Nathan), Alicia Vikander (Ava), Sonoya Mizuno (Kyoko) Often, it seems that modern science fiction films are so focused on non-stop action that they fail to explore the human implications of the technology that is being presented. That is far from the case in Ex Machina. In the film, Caleb, an employee for a large internet company wins a lottery to spend a week with the company's elusive founder, Nathan, at his remote estate. When he arrives, he discovers that Nathan has built a very advanced and human-seeming android; his job for the week is to test the machine and determine whether it passes the Turing test (does the machine converse and act as a human would). Over the course of the week, Caleb begins to learn some uncomfortable truths about Nathan's relationship with his creation and the true depth of his research and development.

Mini soundtrack:

Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - "Enola Gay"
Oliver Cheatham - "Get Down Saturday Night"
Savages - "Husbands"

It Follows

Director: David Robert Mitchell Writer: David Robert Mitchell Stars: Maika Monroe (Jay), Lili Sepe (Kelly), Jake Weary (Hugh), Daniel Zovatto (Greg), Keir Gilchrist (Paul), Olivia Luccardi (Yara) While I love horror films, it's rare that I actually bother to see any in theaters. It seems, at times, to be a genre that few are interested in trying to do well. Reviews and trailers for this film really intrigued me; I knew that I had to see it. The movie follows Jay as she contracts a sexually-transmitted haunting. After a night with a new love, Hugh, she is rudely informed that he has passed "it" onto her. It is a figure, taking any human form, which slowly stalks its prey. Once it gets to the victim, it kills them violently. The only way to get rid of it is to have sex with another person. Following this, Jay, her sister, and their friends set out to make sure that the fate does not befall her. They try hiding from it, outrunning it, even entrapping it. But perhaps the only solution is to just pass it on.

Her

Director: Spike Jonze Writer: Spike Jonze Stars: Joaquin Phoenix (Theodore), Scarlett Johansson (Samantha), Amy Adams (Amy), Chris Pratt (Paul), Rooney Mara (Catherine) In the not-so-distant future, computer operating systems have progressed to a point where they are intelligent, sentient, and actually helpful. Theodore, an emotionally awkward man going through a divorce from Catherine, decides to purchase the latest operating system. He sets up the system, selects a female voice, then starts using it...the OS soon decides to name herself Samantha. Samantha expertly learns Theodore's personality and, soon enough, he is able to interact with her as he would a close friend and, eventually falls in love with her. This connection isn't so strange; even his best friend, Amy, forms a close relationship with her OS following her own divorce. In addition to acquiescing to the personalities of their owners, though, the OSs possess a broader capacity and desire to learn. As Samantha builds her own knowledge, she begins to drift further and further from Theodore. Eventually, humans have to relearn how to interact with humans.

Mini soundtrack:

Arcade Fire - "Supersymmetry"
The Chantels - "Sure of Love"
Karen O - "The Moon Song"

Lucy

Director: Luc Besson Writers: Luc Besson Stars: Scarlett Johansson (Lucy), Morgan Freeman (Professor Norman), Min-sik Choi (Mr. Jang), Amr Waked (Pierre Del Rio) Ah, a movie that depends on and promotes a pervasive myth about the human body! The movie relies on the premise that we only use 10% of our brains (which, by the way is absolutely not true). After becoming an unwitting drug mule, Lucy, an American student studying in Taiwan, becomes able to unlock the remaining 90% when a captor kicks her in the stomach, breaking open bags of a new superdrug inside of her. She soon develops super-intelligence, greater mental acuity, and even the ability to defy physics. Using her newly-acquired skills, she goes after the drug dealers and the other drug mules. With her hands on every ounce of the drug, she gets in touch with Professor Norman in order to insure that the knowledge she has acquired is able to be passed on.

Mini soundtrack:

Beck - "Back to You"
The Crystal Method - "Single Barrel (Sling the Decks)"
Raury - "God's Whisper"

The East

Director: Zal Batmanglij Writers: Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling Stars: Brit Marling (Sarah), Alexander Skarsgård (Benji), Ellen Page (Izzy), Patricia Clarkson (Sharon) The East, directed by Zal Batmanglij, the brother of Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, is a story of infiltration. Brit Marling stars as Sarah, a private intelligence agent charged with gaining access into a domestic terrorist organization called The East. The organization, led by Benji, pulls off attacks against major corporations in order to expose their corruptness. While she joins them in order to expose their activities, she also begins to feel a kinship and accompanies them on several of their "jams," or their acts of terrorism. She clashes, though, with another member of the group, Izzy. During a jam involving Izzy's father, the head of a corporation, Sarah is forced to prove her allegiance to the group. She is shocked to later discover that Benji has suspected her of being an agent all along and asks her to perform one last act against her own organization.

Mini soundtrack:

Civil Twilight - "Letters from the Sky"
Rostam Batmanglij - "Doc's Song"
The National - "About Today"

Palo Alto

Director: Gia Coppola Writers: Gia Coppola, James Franco Stars: Emma Roberts (April), Nat Wolff (Fred), Jack Kilmer (Teddy), Val Kilmer (Stewart), Chris Messina (Mitch) Palo Alto is based on a book of the same name written by James Franco and released in 2010. Whereas the book was a collection of separate short stories, the movie tells a more cohesive story of a group of teens as they interact with one another. The main focus of the film is April, a shy and virginal soccer star. There's a mutual interest between her and Teddy, but both are too shy to do anything. Instead, she receives advances from her older soccer coach and teacher, Mr. B (Franco). Teddy, meanwhile, spends much of his time with Fred, who is impulsive and dangerous; though Teddy has to deal with his own legal issues. Fred spends his own time away from Teddy cavorting with, and ultimately embarrassing Emily (Zoe Levin), the girl who's become the school slut. While neither is great, the film greatly improves upon some of the weaknesses in the book. It tones down the shock value (a bit) and feels more cohesive.

Mini soundtrack:

Devonté Hynes - "Palo Alto"
Blood Orange - "You're Not Good Enough"

Dallas Buyers Club

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée Writers: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack Stars: Matthew McConaughey (Ron Woodroof), Jennifer Garner (Eve), Jared Leto (Rayon), Bradford Cox (Sunny) Dallas Buyers Club follows the real-life story of Ron Woodroof, a hard-living hustler whose life is turned upside-down after being diagnosed with AIDS. At the time of his diagnosis in the late 1980s, the disease was poorly understood and still strongly assumed to be a gay-only disease. After losing friends who assume that he himself is homosexual and becoming frustrated at the lack of drugs available for the treatment of his disease, he travels out of the country for medication. Soon, he begins smuggling experimental drugs into the US and sets up a "buyer's club" for other sufferers of the disease. Though at first unwittingly, he becomes friends and business partner with Rayon, a fellow AIDS patient and transvestite. Coming to believe in the value of the service he's providing, he fights the FDA to approve the medications and to be able to sell them.

Mini soundtrack:

Shuggie Otis - "Purple"
Amanda Lear - "Follow Me"
T. Rex - "Life Is Strange"

Kill Your Darlings

Director: John Krokidas Writers: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas Stars: Daniel Radcliffe (Allen Ginsberg), Dane DeHaan (Lucien Carr), Michael C. Hall (David Kammerer), Elizabeth Olsen (Edie Parker) Kill Your Darlings is a film following the early college years of beat poet Allen Ginsberg, plated by Radcliffe. He enters as a naive freshman and struggles with his professors' definition of art and poetry. Soon in, he meets Lucien Carr (DeHaan), an enigmatic, but lazy, upperclassman who only manages to stay at Columbia due to a writer, and former lover, David Kammerer, who writes his term papers for him. Ginsberg gradually becomes more and more infatuated with his friend, who is still struggling Kammerer's own infatuation with him, which leads him to commit a terrible crime. Carr asks Ginsberg to help him by writing his deposition, but he instead writes a story of Carr's and Kammerer's sordid relationship, spurring his writing career.

Mini soundtrack:

Billie Holiday - "On the Sunny Side of the Street"
TV on the Radio - "Wolf Like Me"
Bloc Party - "Pioneers"

12 Years a Slave

Director: Steve McQueen Writers: John Ridley, Solomon Northup Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor (Solomon Northup), Michael Fassbender (Edwin Epps), Lupita Nyong'o (Patsey), Benedict Cumberbatch (Ford) 12 Years a Slave was the heavy-hitting drama of 2013. The movie was based on the true story and memoir of Solomon Northup, a free-man who was forcibly sold into slavery in 1841. Northup spent the next 12 years moving between owners, asserting his freedom, and trying to get back to his family in New York. The movie featured some amazing performances all-around. Ejiofor, Fassbender and Cumberbatch are all expectedly incredible; Paul Dano further shows his rise as an actor; and Lupito Nyong'o not only turned out a great break-out performance, she also earned herself an Academy Award. The movie also won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Adapted screenplay.

Mini soundtrack:

David Hughey & Roosevelt Credit - "My Lord, Sunshine"
Tim Fain - "Money Musk"
Colin Stetson - "Awake on Foreign Shores"

Mistaken for Strangers

Director: Tom Berninger Stars: The National, Tom Berninger On its face, Mistaken for Strangers, seems like it will be your standard rock documentary. The film, filmed and directed by lead singer Matt Berninger's younger brother Tom, follows the band on their 2010 tour for the album High Violet, on which he was hired as a roadie. It soon becomes clear that the movie is more about Tom himself than it is about his brother's band. Although he's hired as a roadie, he devotes his time while on the tour to filming and partying, eventually leading to him getting fired. He returns to his parents' home in Cincinnati, intent on discovering himself and finishing the film. The film was, naturally, screened in the band's hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio at the Esquire Theatre. I had a chance to attend a showing last night, which included a Q&A with Tom and Matt Berninger, and Bryan Devendorf, drummer for the band. The session was, of course, very enlightening and offered some perspective on the film and the circumstances surrounding it.

Mini soundtrack:

The National - "Mr. November"
The National - "I Should Live in Salt"
Rob Halford - "O Holy Night"

The Spectacular Now

Director: James Ponsoldt Writer: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, Tim Tharp Stars: Miles Teller (Sutter), Shailene Woodley (Aimee), Brie Larson (Cassidy), Kyle Chandler (Tommy), Bob Odenkirk (Dan) The Spectacular Now is a coming-of-age story that follows the course of the unexpected relationship between two teenagers, Sutter and Aimee. Sutter is the popular class clown with a volatile on-again off-again girlfriend, Cassidy. Aimee is quiet and shy, with one close friend at school and too many responsibilities at home for extracurricular activities. Aimee teaches Sutter to take like more seriously, think about how he treats others and slow down a bit. Sutter brings Aimee out of her shell and encourages her to stop feeling responsible for her mother so she can attend her preferred college. Sutter's continued recklessness, however, puts Aimee in danger and tests their relationship.

Mini soundtrack:

Washed Out - "New Theory"
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Baby"
Kishi Bashi - "Bright Whites"