“It was a secret that they had that made them different from everyone else. I don’t think they thought that they were going to go through with it. They just were enjoying the role play and then it went way too far.”
– Bart Layton

American Animals looks at this jolt of criminal lunacy and discovers universal truths viewers should take note of, this group’s failure revealing more about the human condition than initially meets the eye.

This is high-octane nightmare fuel that had me shivering all the way home with my stomach twisted into a series of painful knots I had trouble believing I was ever going to be able to unwind, Hereditary a go-for-broke stunner overflowing in a myriad of petrifying mysteries many will be attempting to decipher for a number of years to come.

The last 20 minutes of Hotel Artemis is the payoff all of the slow-burn build has been promising, and for the most part the freshman director pulls it off.

Ocean’s Eight stole my heart, and the theft of it has me grinning ear-to-ear.

Coupled with Woodley’s superlative performance, even with a small handful of reservations I still think Adrift is worth seeing, and it’s additionally quite possible my appreciation for it will only grow as time goes by.

Feral is too by-the-numbers to generate a consistent feeling of suspense or dread, and by the time the film reaches its rather foregone conclusion I’d already emotionally checked out long before this climax.

Nothing happens here that doesn’t feel as if Schrader is in completely control of the outcome, the inherent emotional complexities of First Reformed revealing themselves with a pointed didacticism that’s frequently compelling.

Writer/director Dominic Savage refuses to shower his characters with pity, making zero apologies for their actions no matter how heinous they might be. Yet his affection and respect for them is equally palpable, Tara a fiercely complex figure whose innate goodness is slowly being devastated by this growing cloud of despair.