“It’s closing time.”

Steve McQueen has gifted us with a social drama miniseries that takes place in London’s West Indian community that is set between 1969 and 1982. The first episode is titled Mangrove. It tells the real life story of The Mangrove Nine, who clashed with the Metropolitan Police force, after which sparked a trial which revealed the actions of the police force, of which were motivated by racial prejudice.

A film came out earlier this year, a Netflix feature that was similar to Mangrove, it was similar because it too was a courtroom drama. I am not a fan of comparing, but in this case I will say that Mangrove is much better than the other feature.

The first half of the film shows us the life and culture of the black immigrants living in Notting Hill. The Mangrove restaurant is within the community of Notting Hill, and is a popular place where black immigrants hang out, it is also owned by black immigrants. There is a strong sense of unity, love, and passion at the restaurant, this warm feeling is strengthened be it through the music, food, and people conveyed on screen. But this place of refuge soon becomes a nightmare as the Police officers relentlessly attack and harass the inhabitants, with unlawful cause or reason. It is blatantly clear from the start, the utter discrimination these officers hold towards these residents.

The last half of this film depicts the arduous and infuriating trial that took place after the events of a riot in Notting Hill. The severe lack of justice and due process that took place is staggering.

Why does Mangrove succeed despite it being a legal drama? Let me emphasize, that the notion of this film being a simple legal drama, is but a mere surface level statement. In actuality, Mangrove is a blistering depiction of humanity, inhumanity, prejudice, long suffering, pain, and discrimination. The list goes on. Steve McQueen is also a director of great skill and precision. He lets certain painful moments linger, and thus those scenes stick with us and cause us to reflect. In contrast, he shows us the beauty of unity, of togetherness and community. The cast gives us nothing but raw and authentic performances through out. Don’t miss this one.

“If you look in the face of evil, evil’s gonna look right back at you.”

The second installment of American Horror Story opens with an attractive couple exploring the abandoned asylum. As they go through each room, the couple explains the history of the asylum and the serial killer that was sent there known as, Bloody Face. Not soon after, the man is attacked by a killer that is lurking in the shadows, this opening is both terrifying and bloody. A startling beginning to a season that is more so psychologically disturbing than its predecessor.

There is a sequence in the first episode where Lana Winters(Sarah Paulson) is getting a tour of the facility by the very intimidating Sister Jude(Jessica Lange). As Lana follows Sister Jude there is an upward shot of the staircase they are walking up, that slowly ascends as they get higher.

This slow and methodical technique is something that would be reflected with the development of the many eccentric and sinister inhabitants of Briarcliff. The characters in this season are truly riveting, and each one of them are unique in their own way. That is probably my favorite aspect of this season, and what I have come to learn is the real driving force of the show. Because it does have a rich atmosphere, showing us the scale and detail of this horrible place and it’s residents, but without interesting characters, than there is not much else to show for. Luckily, the ensemble cast is truly remarkable, and quiet memorable. My personal favorite being Sister Jude(Jessica Lange), Dr. Arden(James Cromwell), Sister Mary Eunice(Lilly Rabe), and Lana Winters(Sarah Paulson).

There are truly horrifyingly stories and sequences within this season, some of which are very unsettling. Asylum juggles a variety of themes such as religion, science, morality, purity, and much more.

Reflecting on the finale, I do feel as sense of satisfaction. Each key character had a pretty good arc by the end of it, which was shown, and not cast aside as being unimportant.

When this film came out, people were complaining about having to pay 30 dollars to see and being severely disappointed but the film itself. But I just waited a couple of months and now it is available on disney+.

The IMDB synopsis for this film is as follows: “A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father.” I honestly feel like it is pointless to explain the plot of this film, seeing as though the original film is so widely known. This is the first live action Disney film I’ve seen, despite the fact that Alladin and The Lion King are on Disney+.

I love the original. I acknowledge that it is far from Disney’s best, but the music is great, the characters memorable, and the message is impactful.

Some of the action sequences are fun, and you can tell that this is a big budget film by the look and cinematography. Aside from that, there is not much that is salvageable. The initial story is different from it’s original source material, and I appreciate when a reboot attempts to go in a different direction. But the direction here is completely ludicrous. The slight change here is that there is a witch. Does she bring a new dimension to the character and story? No. The characters that we knew and loved in the original, have no interesting personality and are extremely disposable. I mentioned that the action scenes were fun, but truth be told they are horribly executed. Some really bad editing involved which makes for some boring fight sequences.

The acting isn’t awful, it is mediocre at best. None of the performances have any sustaining quality. What I was hoping for, for a live action Mulan movie is more of an awareness for Chinese culture and history. This film does so little for the culture, nothing new is to be learned or gained or even respected.

At this point in time I am ranting, these short paragraphs that I have written still don’t express my true feelings for this film. Needless to say, Mulan is a complete misfire. There is no sense of nuance given to the already good source material. Just plain bad.

6 years. It has been 6 years since one of the best working director’s today has come out with a feature. I have always had a love for Fincher. Ever since I truly gained an appreciation for film, David Fincher was the first director to give my a different perspective on the art form.

Mank tells the story of film critic and screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, and how he co-wrote the script for Citizen Kane. The film also shows us 1930’s Hollywood from the perspective of Herman. Let it be known that I haven’t seen Citizen Kane, nor any work from Mankiewicz and Orson Welles. I was hoping to watch the critically acclaimed picture before Mank came out, but I never found time.

The veteran director has returned in stylish fashion, with another finely crafted film. It is well shot, edited, snappy dialogue. It has everything that one can expect from Fincher. He certainly hasn’t lost his technical touch, and this cements film that statement. At the very least, this film is frequently engaging. Gary Oldman turns in another stellar performance as the man himself, Herman Mankiewicz. The supporting cast is also a nice addition, with great work coming from Amanda Seyfried.

Last year we had Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a love letter to cinema directed by Quentin Tarrantino. Here Fincher is aiming for a similar approach but with a vasty different result. One that is a lot more cynical, showing things like greed, corruption, and the politics of cinema.

David Fincher has always had impressive skill with his characters. Taking persons who are either fictional or real life individuals and exposing them for the flawed creatures they are, and sometimes even the villain’s that they are. I read up on Herman Mankiewicz, and one of the most interesting things that I found out about him was his struggle with alcoholism, especially during the later years in his career. I feel like that aspect wasn’t taken to it’s fullest potential here, it was cast aside and felt unimportant. Not only that, but I feel like I don’t know much about the man coming out of the film, not as much as I would like.

The timeline itself wasn’t handled that well either. In The Social Network, Fincher effortlessly glides over the timeline of Zuckerberg’s lawsuit, as well as his time at Harvard creating Facebook. In Mank, the combination of past and present isn’t so seamless, and feels disjointed.

Mank is certainly a well crafted film, made by a true auteur. But this feels like more of an exercise, and one that is far from the director’s best work.

It is way past October, and watching a horror anthology series won’t exactly invite the Christmas spirit. However it is nice to sink my teeth into a series I haven’t watched entirely. I became familiar with Ryan Murphy as a Director, when he filmed a couple of episodes for the series OJ Simpson Vs. The People which is the first season of a different anthology series titled American Crime Story.

As I mentioned before, this is an anthology series, so it doesn’t matter in what order you watch the seasons. However, I imagine watching it from the first season to the most recent, linearly, will make the show as a whole, easier to understand.

The plot follows Therapist Ben Harmon, his wife, Vivian and their daughter moving across the country to escape their past. As it goes along we discover more about this family, as well as the inhabitants of the house and the dark history that took place there.

The series does a good job at introducing our main characters, and their many personalities and problems. When the family moves in the house, we meet the maid Moira, who is played by Frances Conroy of Six Feet Under fame. Then we meet Tate (Evan Peters), and the lovely neighbor Constance (Jessica Lange), with her daughter Adelaide (Jamie Brewer). There are definitely some scary sequences, but I was more so impressed with some clever visuals and well executed editing. In a few episodes it does borrow from a couple of iconic horror films, but luckily it doesn’t become a spoof of those movies.

My personal favorite characters were Moira, Constance, and Tate. Unfortunately the first stipulation I have with the show, lies with the main family it is centered around. The performances given by Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott were a bit questionable, sometimes to the point of being low-grade. I feel a little bad for calling out flaws like that on the spot, but their performances as well as a few other supporting ones, were just poor at times.

The main story at hand was very interesting in the beginning and as well as at the half way mark. But with the numerous characters being brought in, as well as their backstories and connection to the house, it becomes very messy. I found the latter half of the season to be pretty confusing.

At the end of the day though, American Horror Story reveals itself to be something very unique. With nice atmosphere, good craftsmanship, and interesting characters, it has a lot of potential.

I’ve been noticing recently that Hulu has a decent amount of films that have came out this year that are available for streaming. So if you are looking for new movies than Hulu is a great place to watch them.

The film I chose to watch is Bad Hair. A horror comedy set in 1989 about a driven young women who gets a new weave to help further her career in the world of musical television. As she gains success and superiority in her position, she begins to suspect something evil about her new hair.

Writer/Director Justin Simien has two feature films under his belt, and I have not seen Dear White People yet, but Bad Hair feels very unique. First and foremost the production design in this film is very well executed. It genuinely feels retro, and that you are in a different time period. The music, dialogue, set pieces, and camera angels make it immersive, and bring the audience into this distinct world.

No time is wasted, and we jump right into the plot, right into the mind of our main protagonist. Simien does an adequate job at establishing our main character, her wants and desires, and most importantly her hardships. When she first makes her transition with getting her weave, there is some quick editing, graphic visuals, and scary imagery, that act as the birth of this evil entity. Now with that being said it is a horror comedy, and the hair itself acts as serial killer from a slasher movie. So there are some over the top kills, cheesy acting, and bizarre sequences. I’m putting it out there, that I didn’t find this film in the least bit scary or frightening. However I believe it still worked simply because of how baffling and eccentric it is. I understand that people may take issue with this, if they themselves do not like the ludicrous nature of the film as a whole, but within its confines, it succeeded.

A flaw I had with the film is the pace. At times there was some nice build up, and it is admittedly nice to look at. But there were moments where you could feel the weight of the runtime, despite the length being an hour and 42 minutes.

Bad Hair is a fun, campy, entertaining horror comedy flick, with a dash of competently framed retro atmosphere. It suffers from flaws that any average movie goer might take issue with, but it you are a horror comedy fan, that this is for you.

Writer/Director Aneesh Chaganty has returned to the screen with another feature length film, which is now available on Hulu to stream.

Run tells the story of Chloe Sherman, a young wheelchair bound girl who is homeschooled by her mother, when she starts to uncover secrets about her mother and herself.

Chaganty’s last film Searching, which was indeed a well made film, that was filmed solely from the camera’s electronic devices. In Run he is going in a different direction that is more traditional for the thriller genre, but he proves himself to be a worthy director nonetheless. Chaganty’s films thus far have aimed to depict and illustrate the relationship between parent and child, whether that be through father and daughter or mother and daughter. He also shows how, between the two, they conceal and hide things from one another.

There is a montage sequence at the beginning of this film, that shows the mundane process of being someone who has a physical disability, but also the range of someone with multiple disorders. We are right along side the young protagonist for a majority of the time, and we not only feel for them, but we also stress for them. Each scene where Chloe is putting each piece of the puzzle together, we as the audience are brimming with anxiety and fear. With slick editing, and a suspenseful score that surges as every minute goes by, you are gripping your seat wishing it would all be over.

Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen do an excellent job in their respective roles, and when they have scenes together, it is truly a joy to watch. People that have seen this film can’t stop talking about Paulson’s performance, which is great. But lets not discredit Allen’s portrayal as Chloe, because without that performance, that drama and suspense wouldn’t have worked nearly as well.

It’s a nice looking film that is very clear, and well shot. Close up zoom’s and long takes that are executed very well, which only strengthen the character’s onscreen.

Run is a common genre thriller, that does have a predictable ending. That is a flaw that you can’t really avoid. However with the craftsmanship on display, I would not consider it just another throwaway concept. Let me also acknowledge that it’s a 90 minute thriller on the dot, and it does not waste a second.

When asking the average film lover regarding Luc Besson’s work and their favorite movie of his, a common answer would be Léon: The Professional. I am personally not too familiar with his work, but I know in the last decade he has come out with widely accessible films, that have ranged between action and sci-fi flicks.

This last week I watched Angel-A, which is a french black & white film directed by Besson. Although I have not seen the entirety of his discography, I have seen titled like Léon, The fifth Element, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

The film tells the story of André, a scam artists who has many debts to pay to different people. As he anxiously evades these men of whom he owes money, he meets Angela. A strikingly beautiful who helps the man gets him game back together.

The beginning of the film does seem a little nerve racking, as we see André get approached by these dangerous men who he owes money. André life seems very scattered at this present moment. It isn’t until Angela who arrives when the tone of the film takes a bit of a u-turn. It goes from a nervous brooding drama, to a lighter more thoughtful melodrama. It is not a complete contrast from the first act of the film, but it is visibly different.

I found this to be a very enthralling viewing experience. For starters, our two leads have great chemistry and they bounce very well off of each other. The black and white look of the film, makes for a visually arresting watch.

Sappy, overdramatic films or ones that have kind of tone aren’t really my thing, but I really liked the sweet, tender nature of this film. None of it is ham-fisted, and that is part of the reason why I tolerate here.

Unfortunately it does descend into a very foreseeable and predictable ending, that pretty much undermines itself as a whole. However I believe it is still worth a watch.

Over the last few days, a certain film has resurfaced that has taken Tik Tok by storm. First people were tweeting about it, and now people are watching it. Literally the entire film is available on youtube. Viewers have shared their disdain and disgust with the film.

It’s about a teenager that goes missing after meeting a man online. The director uses food footage for majority of the scenes. Let me get straight to the point, this movie is NOT good. The first half of the movie is us peering into the lives of Megan and Amy, but mostly Amy. There is a sequence in the beginning where Amy goes to a party, and you see and get a sense of what is yet to come. It is a sleazy party where everyone gets drunk and the guys take advantage of the girls and harass them. Granted it is pretty sleazy, but not nearly as bad as what is yet to come. The first hour gets repetitive and is just plain bad. There is some fake news in there, that is just horribly cheesy.

Than we reach the point of no return, the 1 hour mark, where the next 25 minutes AKA last half of the film descends into the very pits of hell. The footage film aspect combined with the environment, performances, and bleakness really make for a truly sickening experience. Not only is it the slowest part of the film, but most excruciating part to get through. Now, I’ve seen my fair share of disturbing films, and I would consider myself versed in the torture-porn genre. However, this was still a challenge to watch. For any newcomer to the genre or anyone who claims to like horror films, this is sure to scar them.

Films that are of the torture-porn genre can be good, when they tackle urgent themes and when the film is executed well, it can be very impactful. Megan Is Missing is not an example of one of those films.

The acting is terrible, found footage is disorienting and annoying, it’s just really boring and uneventful until the hour mark. I am in no way saying that after the hour mark it gets good, because its just a nightmare. This is just a complete misfire, and a gratuitous addition to the genre.

I have seen two films this year with stars from Stranger Things, the first one being Spree, with Joe Keery, and now Yes, God, Yes, with Natalia Dyer.

Yes, God, Yes is a coming of age, comedy/drama, that is about a devoutly catholic school girl who begins to have sexual desires after a AOL chat becomes very steamy.

Natalia Dyer’s performance as Alice is obviously one of the best aspects of this film. The way she depicts a young catholic woman who is completely unaware of acts of lasciviousness, is very engaging and quiet funny. Her facial cues, and subtle movements accurately portray most people in that. situation. The script is tight and clever, adding to the humor of the film, but also the seriousness. It is directed adequately, and the look of the film competently represents a real life scenario.

With this specific subject matter, despite the setting being in a earlier decade, I do still believe this plot is a bit dated. Now if they were to add a different perspective, or really challenge it’s characters, than this would be something else entirely. I admit to this film bringing up some important issues, and themes, but it also left me pretty underwhelmed. If they went the extra mile, and maybe went for a darker and surreal approach, than it would be significantly more impactful. The runtime clocks in at about 78 minutes, which I actually thought was shorter than it should’ve been. If it had been longer to flesh out our main character, that would’ve been nice. The film is also victim to being formulaic. However, most of the critiques I have brought up are fairly minimal, and are more personal to my own taste.

In all honesty, Yes, God, Yes is a funny wholesome coming of age film with irreverent undertones. It has a charming lead performance, and a quick witted script. It’s on Netflix, and I recommend it.