Hereditary

First Hit: A rather complex or complicated horror film that worked reasonably well.

This is a dark film and attempts, in its own way, to pose question about evil being hereditary. The story revolves around the horrible death of Charlie (Milly Shapiro). She is killed in an accident (or is it) when her brother Peter (Alex Wolff) is driving her to the hospital.

Although this scene is early in the film, the strangeness of the family and their dynamics are shown because Annie (Toni Collette), the mother, makes models of the house and other things in her work studio. Charlie sleeps outside in a tree house that's very cold. The main house itself is way out in the country and is given the feeling of being a bit dark. Peter is shown to be somewhat ambivalent about life, school, and spends a lot of time high on pot.

We learn later that this Annie’s accurate models are her art and livelihood. Her husband, Steve (Gabriel Byrne) is rather stoic about the family’s oddness and acts as the solid foundation of the family.

After Charlie’s death Peter and Annie have fights blaming each other for Charlie’s death while Steve tries to referee these fights.

Annie meets Joan (Ann Dowd) who speaks with her about losing a child and quickly becomes Annie’s confidant. But things become more bizarre and sinister when Joan teaches Annie about how to conjure up the spirit of her deceased Charlie.

From here the film takes some bizarre turns and outside of the strong performances, the story is not believable or, in the end, horrifying.

Collette is amazingly and bizarrely strong in this role. She’s required to portray a wide range of feelings and emotions and she does this very well. Wolff is the other prime role and his lack of outward rage was either script driven, or he didn’t have the ability to share this. His actions after the accident didn’t seem to fit the event and that was disconcerting to me. Byrne was OK as the stoic father who rarely ventured out of this role’s comfort zone. Shapiro was good in her short-lived part. Dowd was excellent as the friendly helpful person who also had a dark side. Ari Aster wrote and directed this film. I trust he got what he wanted but for me, the horror in the film was the shocking accident that killed Charlie, the rest was just oddly bizarre.

Overall: This film was unique in its storytelling that had strong performances.

American Animals

First Hit: Interesting in that it shows, how many under 25-year-old men think and act. 

Friendships among young men can be very influential. As childhood friends Warren Lipka (Evan Peters) Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) are still friends as they enter college. Warren was the more wild, entertaining, and reckless of the two. Together they had a symbiotic bond.

With Warren supposedly going to college on an athletic scholarship and Spencer being drawn towards art, they still hang out, smoke pot and try things together. When Spencer goes into the special collection book room at the Transylvania College Library, he’s struck by the amazing paintings in the displayed Audubon books. Thinking they are valuable, along with others in the collection, including one by Charles Darwin, kiddingly he wonders outloud to Spencer about their value and what he'd do with the money.

Hatching a plan to steal and fence the books, the plan starts a life of its own. Throughout the planning process, Spencer thinks that they will come across an obstacle that will require them to quit thinking they can pull off the job. They don’t. For each obstacle, they find a solution including bringing on two others to help them; brainiac Eric Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson) and rich boy Chas Allen (Blake Jenner).

The film follows them as the plot and work their way through the obstructions from making this robbery work. One of those items was who was going to neutralize the woman guarding the special collections, Betty Jean Gooch (Ann Dowd).

All their planning, partially induced by watching robbery films, turns out to be not as through as they had hoped, which resulted in poorly executed robbery.

One of the better things in this film were the occasional interviews with the real thieves, Gooch, and parents of the boys. What made this even more interesting was that I thought the real young men might have made a better film as they were all personable and film friendly, especially Warren.

Peters was good as Warren. He didn’t quite have the wild-eyed look of the real Warren, but it worked. Keoghan was strong as the conscious one of the group. His hesitating nature make his role work. Abrahamson was strong as the quiet, smart, and a slightly dark brooding Borsuk. The real Borsuk ended up becoming a writer. Jenner as the amped up Allen was intense and supercharged. I thought he did a good job in this role. Dowd was very good as the special collections librarian. Bart Layton wrote an effective and interesting script. He also directed the film. Although I liked the use of having interviews with the real young men, it didn’t help the film because they might have been good in their own roles.

Overall: This was an interesting film especially because it was a true story.

Captain Fantastic

First Hit:  This is an amazing film about family, love, and the belief in doing something different.

This film stayed with me for days after watching it. The strength of the film is in the characters.

I’m not sure where they got the name for the film, but to let you know it has nothing to do with a fantasy comic book character and all to do with an amazing man brave enough to raise his children in a way that makes them fully responsible for their actions, by giving the skills to make good choices, and allowing them the freedom to discover.

Viggo Mortensen (as the father Ben) has a daily regimen for his six children that includes, hunting, climbing, running, exercise, reading, cooking, cleaning, and helping their siblings. They are living somewhere deep in the woods in the Pacific Northwest far away from any city and the noise of urban and suburban America.

The children all speak at least four languages and the truth when they talk. They have been home-schooled, are resilient, and each have their unique personal strengths that come out in the film. We learn that their mother Leslie (Trin Miller) has been in the hospital for 3 months for her struggles of being bipolar.

Ben then learns on a trip to town to get mail and supplies, that she has committed suicide. He tells the children in a very straightforward manner and their grieving process is touchingly shown. They want to go to the funeral but Leslie’s father Jack (Frank Langella) forbids it and threatens Ben with being arrested. He blames Ben for Leslie’s life choices and for making his daughter ill.

Of course the audience and Abigail, (Ann Dowd) Leslie’s mom, knows different; but it makes for some riveting scenes between Ben and Jack. During the trip to the funeral, they visit Leslie’s sister Harper (Kathryn Hahn), brother-in-law Dave (Steve Zahn), and their two boys. The scenes during this visit are interesting as well as hilarious.

Mortensen again reminds me here about how good an actor he is. He is fantastic (maybe why the film was named this) and clearly shows why he’s a great actor. George McKay (as Bo) was amazing as the oldest son. Samantha Isler (as Kielyr) was so present and strong as the oldest daughter. Annaliese Basso (as Vespyr) was sublime as the second oldest daughter. Nicholas Hamilton (as Rellian) was the second oldest son was wonderful in his pivotal role. Shree Crooks and Charlie Shotwell (as Zaja and Nai respectively) played the two youngest children and they brought so much humor and joy to the film that it would have been far less without them. Langella was perfect as the conservative, wealthy father of Leslie who stressed about the path his daughter took. Dowd was great as the slightly oppressed wife of Langella while being understanding of her son-in-law Ben and her daughter’s wishes. Matt Ross wrote and directed this film. The writing was outstanding, sharp, pointed and elegant all at the same time. His direction was spot on, leaving the audience to engage and learn more about this family.

Overall:  One of the very best films I’ve seen all year.

Our Brand Is Crisis

First Hit:  With our own elections on the horizon, Sandra Bullock carries this film with an air believability and truth although, at times, it is a lackluster film.

This story is about political strategists and how they ply their wares. I’ve no idea whether how much truth there is in the underhanded way they operate but given what gets displayed in our US elections, it isn’t too far of a stretch to imagine people behind the candidates doing battle in this way.

Here Jane (Calamity Jane) as played by Bullock has been through the ringer. She has had some wins but had one huge loss because of the meanness of one of her opponents’ strategist, Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton). Candy is running a Bolivian presidential campaign for Rivera (Louis Arcella) and Ben (Anthony Mackie) and Nell (Ann Dowd) bring Jane out of retirement to beat Candy at his own game.

They want her to be the strategist for his opponent Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) who has numerous flaws – including integrity. There are lots of scenes where the brooding Jane is thinking about the next thing to do, but when she coalesces the idea, she barks it out and everyone pays attention. It is in those scenes that had Bullock make the film interesting.

The film’s other fireworks (about 5 of them) are when Candy drops in, unscheduled, to speak with Jane. Bullock’s slow seething on Candy’s words are great. The other part of the film I was drawn to were the scenes of Sucre (capital of Bolivia). Not sure if they actually shot there, but the feel of the street scenes were very strong.

Bullock is the strongest part of the film. She makes her scenes interesting and compelling. Thornton is very good as the protagonist strategist. His snarky nature mixed with intelligence makes his character perfect for the role. Mackie is OK as is Dowd. Almeida is strong as marginally caring for the people and mostly caring that he wins the Presidency. Zoe Kazan as LeBlanc the ultimate information finder was wonderful. Peter Straughan wrote a good screen play. David Gordon Green had some directing highlights, (the debate, protest rallies, and scenes with Jane in the campaign headquarters room), but overall it didn’t feel held together as a strong story of which this could have been.

Overall:  This was less than the sum of its parts, but worthy of watching.