Bacurau Uses Blood, Suspense and Social Commentary All to Great Effect

There is so much confidence surging through the bloodstream of Bacurau. There are countless moments I could reference to demonstrate the immense level of confidence found in the new film from the directorial duo of Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles. However, my personal favorite has to be the sudden appearance of a UFO around the half-hour mark of Bacurau. Up to now, there hasn't even been a hint of science-fiction material in Bacurau and they provide no explanation for where this UFO came from. Filho and Dornelles (who also penned the screenplay) trust the audience enough to not need an explanation that would undercut the sense of uncertainty this memorable image is trying to convey.

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot Is Erratic And Messy But Also Frequently Affecting

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot, the newest motion picture from director Gus Van Sant, looks to separate itself from conventional biopic dramas in a number of ways, most notably in its adoption of a non-linear form of storytelling to tell the tale of John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix), a man dealing with alcoholism who loses the ability to walk after a horrific car accident. We flash forward and backward throughout Callahan's adult life as the feature covers numerous events in the man's adult life, most notably him adapting to the process of regularly attending an AA group led by Donnie Green (Jonah Hill) as well as Callahan discovering his talent for drawing humorous though frequently controversial cartoons.

The Fun Vampire Action Film Blade Proved That Marvel Comics Characters Could Headline Enjoyable Movies

Though it may sound like total poppycock to in a day and age where Rocket Raccoon, Korg and M'Baku are beloved household names, there was a point in time where movies based on Marvel Comics characters were thought of as box office poison. Movies based on Howard the Duck, The Punisher and Captain America had been received with ridicule and dismal box office, the latter element occuring if such films received any kind of domestic theatrical release at all. Meanwhile, attempts to turn characters like Spider-Man into major motion pictures had been fraught with endless problems. In the mid-1990's, it looked like that Marvel Comics character may be doomed to never get proper theatrical movie adaptations.

Then Blade came along.

I Can Handle The Nastiness In Brawl In Cell Block 99 But Did It Have To Be So Meandering?

Brawl In Cell Block 99 is a grimy nasty movie, one that finds human beings as simply vehicles to experiment new forms of torment on and I can guarantee you that the features writer/director S. Craig Zahler would take that as a major compliment. He's made a film that's just stacked with depravity, which isn't a bad thing at all inherently, there are movies I absolutely love that are way more grim than this prison-set action film (Au Hasard Balthazar would eat this thing up for breakfast and then go back for seconds). But could it at least be depraved in an interesting way? Could its warped worldview manifest in ways that are actually entertaining instead of frequently meandering?