Hearing the premise of Band Aid it's easy to imagine the film being a broad comedy. The film centers around a married couple who always find themselves at each other's throats. They are helpless to know how to resolve these fights, until one day when one of them decides to use their arguments as inspiration for songwriting. And so, the two of them, along with their kooky drumming neighbor, form a band and use it in getting their anger out at each other. With the people involved (Fred Armisen, Adam Pally and Zoe Lister-Jones,) I definitely expected it to be hilarious, but I found myself caught off guard by its realness in its more serious moments. The sweetness that underlies in some of the more dramatic instances in the film make it more rewarding and memorable than if it had just been a straight comedy. Band Aid is a very well rounded little film. It's light and funny when it needs to be, but it definitely can pull a dramatic punch. In some of the fights near the end, I was very stunned to see how real these fights were portrayed and how cutting their remarks were to each other. It certainly shows the power of words and how much they can destroy. Band Aid also makes a commentary of the differences between men and women with how they deal with conflict, stress, and grief. I found it all strangely comforting. I also, of course, must mention the musical aspects of the film. Lister-Jones amazingly was able to pen up lyrics and melodies that managed to be catchy, creative, and funny all at once. The songs are certainly one of the highlights of the film, and seeing how they come up with these songs. You definitely wish there were more of them. I'll definitely be looking for the soundtrack when it comes out. RATING: 8/10

The simplest way to summarize the plot of Thoroughbred is to say it's a film where two teenage girls strike up an unlikely friendship, then later plot to kill one of the girl's stepdad. The film stars teams up two former Sundance darlings Anya Taylor-Joy (star of The Witch) and Olivia Cooke (star of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,) and it also happens to be the very last performance of the late Anton Yelchin. Already excited by its cast, I soon saw that Thoroughbred was getting a lot of positive reviews and some modest hype. Many people labeled it a "twisty thriller" and I was surprised to find myself in disagreement to the type of film I thought Thoroughbred was, namely, a more straightforward dark comedy. Thoroughbred feels like it starts in the middle of a story, which is awesome because the characters feel lived in. Cooke's character, Amanda, doesn't have many friends because of her past, as well as the fact that she puts people off because of her inability to feel feelings. She claims she's never experienced fear, sadness or joy and her frankness is a welcome change of pace in the eyes of Taylor-Joy's very polite Lily. The two are almost polar opposites as Amanda always says what she thinks, while Lily is much more the type to want to appear that she's calm and collected. After Lily lets slip her negative feelings towards her stepdad, Amanda nonchalantly suggests to Lily that she try to murder him, and before too long the idea has taken hold in her mind. Amidst the planning, Anton Yelchin's lovable drug dealing character Tim gets shoehorned into the action. Yelchin isn't in the film nearly enough and I have to wonder if he died before all his scenes were shot. He feels set up to have a bigger role in the film, and then he pretty much disappears, and I have to say the film suffers because of it. Luckily though the two leads are terrific and carry the film. I'll be honest, from what I read prior to seeing the film, I was expecting a little more than what I got from Thoroughbred. That's not to say the film wasn't good or well-made, I just was expecting a very different film. What I got was one that was more simple, but very fun, and one that I wished had a lot more Anton Yelchin in it. RATING: 8/10.

Manifesto isn't so much a film as it is a piece of art. And come to find out, that's exactly what it was to begin with. Manifesto wasn't conceived as a feature length film, but rather thirteen separate mini films that artist Julian Rosefeldt created as an art exhibit. The films all featured Cate Blanchett playing different fictional people all reciting various real life manifestos on art that were given throughout history. But it's the settings and situations these people are put in that makes the words they're saying pop and whether the speech fits the situation that it truly makes an impact. Each of these videos were places as separate installations, all unified in theme playing at the same time. Somewhere along the way, someone must have felt that Cate's performance should be seen by a bigger audience and so the footage was re-edited into a feature film. Knowing Manifesto's history is crucial in being able to appreciate the film on any level besides admiring Cate's versatile performances. It would be easy for most people who saw the film to come away being awed by Cate, but not appreciating the film for its own merits....namely because the film doesn't really act like a normal film. For one thing, there is no storyline in Manifesto, rather we as an audience merely witness several different situations. Also it should be said that while Cate plays every part amazingly, not all of the situations or manifestos recited in the film are created equally. Nor is Cate really playing well-developed characters, but rather character types. Some scenes work better than others, but when Manifesto works it's wonderful. Manifesto succeeds if you view it more as an art piece than a film. I found much of its experiment to be incredibly fascinating and mostly pretty well done. It was especially interesting to see how these words transformed when recited by these character types and said in their various situations. From drunken rants, to funeral speeches and dinner table prayers, it was truly impressive to see how each manifesto fit. However, if you go into Manifesto expecting to find an incredible narrative where Cate Blanchett morphs into thirteen different characters, you will very much be disappointed. RATING: 8/10 as a film and 8.5/10 as an art piece.

In To The Bone, Lily Collins plays Ellen, a girl struggling to overcome her anorexia. Apart from her half-sister, her family seems helpless to try to understand her or see her as anything more than a problem to be solved. Ellen has a lot of unresolved issues with her broken family, which makes her feel like her anorexia is the one thing she has control over. Her mother left her father and became a lesbian, marrying her best friend. Her father is too busy to ever bother seeing her but did have the time to remarry a woman she has no connection with. Her stepmom, whom she can't stand, is left with the task of watching Ellen and her only solace is her half-sister. Fed up with Ellen's inability to change, her step-mother seeks the help of a renowned new doctor (Keanu Reeves) to enroll Ellen in a different kind of therapy in hopes of curing her anorexia once and for all. Some of the structure of To The Bone feels somewhat familiar, while other parts feel fresh. The movie follows Ellen as she struggles to feel at home with the new system she's entered, yet is able to bond with some of the people around her...which feels like something I've seen before in many an indie film. However, I don't feel like I do see many films that tackle anorexia so I appreciated having a window to look through and learn more about the mindset of someone who struggles with that. What makes the movie work though is the wit of the script combined with Lily Collins wonderful performance. She gives her all to the role, including dangerously transforming her body for it. The family aspect of the film I enjoyed, but for some reason I never really felt much of a connection to the other girls (and guy) that were also in the program with Ellen. One storyline includes a romance that the film kinda hinges on, and I just couldn't buy it. While not everything in this film works for me, Collins' performance makes the film worthwhile. To The Bone is a nice dramedy, but didn't exactly break new ground for me. If some of the supporting parts had had either a different person cast or more depth to them, I probably would have liked the film more as a whole, because I would have bought how much these relationships affected her. Still, there's plenty here that's worthwhile to see from Collins' performance to the insights of anorexia as well as the extreme harm of unresolved family stress. RATING: 8/10

Mudbound is the story of two families whose lives we see moments of before, during and immediately after World War II. These families face many differences in privilege because one family is white and owns a farm, while the other is black and works hard on that farm for their means of living. The film is set in Mississippi where racial tensions were beyond high. On my Twitter feed after seeing Mudbound, I saw someone describe the film as captivating. I found it to be completely the opposite, that is until the last 15 minutes or so. Most of the film is a quiet ponderous drama, until some crazy stuff goes down near the end. I'll be honest, sometimes viewing conditions can really taint how you experience a film. In this case, I saw Mudbound late at night and was pretty tired. I needed something gripping to pull me in, and that didn't happen early on. Also, I ended up in the balcony seating area of the theater I was in, which happens to have the most uncomfortable seats known to man. I wanted to focus on the film, but my discomfort and lack of leg room was more prevalent. As a result, I really felt the slow pace of the film, and it was hard to watch. However, taking a step back and looking at it, I realize that I'm not being very fair to the film. Mudbound was based on a book and you can tell. There's so many characters and so much story to tell, the film picks and chooses what to focus on and some things are spread a little thin. It would be interesting to read the book to fill in the missing gaps and see things from a deeper perspective of the characters. The film just grazes the surface, but still manages to do a pretty strong job at that. Mudbound benefits from a solid cast, and I really can't think of a weak link within it. The characters are all very interesting and we get to see them against a backdrop of a time and place that together has seldom been explored in film. Mudbound is a solid film, but not as riveting all throughout as I hoped. RATING: 7.5/10. (But could possibly raise after a second viewing.)

Ingrid Goes West is like All About Eve crossed with Fatal Attraction for the social media age. The film is all about a girl named Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza), who we learn right from the start takes her obsessions with people a little too far. After burning a bridge with her last Instagram idol, Ingrid needs something or someone else to occupy her time. Soon she discovers a new candidate worth stalking: Taylor (Elizabeth Olsen,) a lifestyle photographer with a perfect life. In hopes of becoming Taylor's new best friend, Ingrid takes her inheritance money from her mother's recent passing and moves out west, determined to cross paths with her new fixation. Director Matt Spicer achieves the nearly impossible task of being able to both balance, as well as rapidly shift between tones that are as different as day and night. Ingrid does hairpin turns from laugh out loud funny and riotous to downright disturbing, creepy and dark with incredible ease for a first time director. These abrupt turns wouldn't work without the fantastic performances of the two leads. They completely transform into their roles and really sell this story as something you could really see happening. Plus, you can tell they're having a great time, which always makes things delightful. O'Shea Jackson Jr, who plays Ingrid's Batman-loving-landlord and admirer may be having the greatest time of all and really steals every scene he's in. He's definitely the most likable character and gives the film its heart when all of the characters around him are pretty much shallow and terrible. Ingrid Goes West is so messed up, yet so much fun. It's witty and clever, but most importantly it's timely. Even though we've seen this story told countless times before, this time it feels fresh and it feels important-- especially considering how much time we spend on our devices looking at social media. The fact that Ingrid can surprise us at all is a real triumph, the fact that it happens to be a solid hilarious film is just icing on the cake. RATING: 9/10

The premise of Killing Ground is a simple one. A young couple camping in the woods of Australia discovers an abandoned tent near their campsite. When no one comes back to it, they become increasingly concerned, especially when a toddler wanders onto their campground with no parents in sight. With such a simple story, it would be easy for Killing Ground to be generic. Fortunately, the film doesn't tell the story in typical fashion and leave what happened to the other tent a mystery to the end. Instead, the film cuts back and forth between the couple who stumbles onto the scene and the story of the inhabitants of the tent who went missing. In doing so, it ramps up the tension to an almost unbearingly degree as you begin to piece together the danger that the protagonists face. Killing Ground was a difficult film to watch in its raw, brutal depictions of the utterly hideous side of humanity. It made me feel incredibly uneasy throughout, but the level of tension it creates during the final third of the film was almost excruciating. I was so invested in the characters' fates that I found myself anticipating not being able to enjoy the experience as a whole if certain things didn't happen the way I wanted them too. Fortunately, I walked away satisfied with the film, though deeply disturbed by it. The film works so well because of how it's told, but also how haunting some of the shots are. It also owes a lot to the performances of some of the darker characters (though I won't get into specifics since I don't want to spoil anything.) If any of the performances had been two-dimensional the film wouldn't have worked, and this is especially true of the film's villains. Killing Ground is basically my worst nightmare and at times deeply disturbing to watch, but is incredibly well made as the type of horror film that it is. RATING: 8/10

I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore follows the story of Ruth (Melanie Lynskey), a woman who is constantly losing faith in humanity and wonders if there's really a purpose to life. These feelings only escalate when her house gets robbed and local law enforcement doesn't seem too concerned in solving her case and helping her find justice. She ends up finding an unlikely partner in her neighbor (Elijah Wood) and the two decide to take the law into their own hands and teach the people responsible a lesson. From reading the synopsis of the film, there is no way I could have predicted how funny it would be. There were moments in this film where I laughed harder and louder than I can even remember (well until I saw another movie I'll be reviewing later in the next few days.) Both Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood shine in their roles and make a wonderfully hilarious unlikely duo. Wood, in particular had some really great comic timing that got the better of me more than a few times. Once the story really got rolling, I was 100% invested in their crazy journey. I Don't Feel At Home is an outrageous riot. Much of the humor comes from pure shock value, but because of our connection to the characters, it elevates it from a one-time watch. Luckily for everyone reading this that won't get the chance to see the movie at the festival, they won't have to wait too long to see it before it debuts on Netflix next month. For fans of the rare combination of crime thriller comedies, I definitely recommend it. RATING: 8.5/10

With four movies now under my belt at this year's Sundance Film Festival, it's time I start sharing my reviews of them. The first film I saw at the festival was Colossal, a film starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis that I previously previewed HERE. Colossal revolves around the ridiculous but intriguing premise of a party girl named Gloria (Anne Hathaway,) discovering she has the insanely implausible power to conjure a giant monster over Seoul, South Korea. That's the simplest way to sum up the film without revealing the many avenues that writer/director Nacho Vigalondo takes the film from there. The first half of Colossal is so much fun as it revels and delights in the absurdity of Gloria's new found power. As a spectator watching the proceedings, I was so excited at all the possibilities of where this movie was going. Unfortunately, though, all the potential of the first half is pretty much completely ruined by the direction the story takes in the second half. The film gets really messy as it tries to shove as many possible commentaries as it can in trying to transform the film into some sort of a sloppy allegory. The tone shifts so abruptly from scene to scene it becomes incredibly jarring to the viewer and really takes you out of the film because of your discomfort. Sadly there's no way around it than to label Colossal a disappointment. It would be one thing if the movie had been bad from start to finish, but what makes it so disappointing is that the movie of the second half lets down and betrays what the movie of the first half could have been: a hilariously bizarre cult classic. Instead, it tries to be a commentary think-piece with too much to say and not enough focus to say it well. RATING: 5.5/10

For the last ten years or so, every time a Shyamalan film is released there is much trepidation from fans and critics alike. Not all people root for him, but those who loved his early work (myself included,) always hold out hope for a return to his former greatness. Some people saw glimmers of that with The Visit, while others remained unconvinced. Now he has decided to follow up that horror comedy with another horror film called Split, this time letting his film rely almost completely upon a dynamic performance by the very talented James McAvoy. Split is all about the abduction of three high school girls by James McAvoy's Kevin, a man who suffers from dissociative identity disorder (also known as multiple personality disorder.) Each of Kevin's 23 personalities are always fighting for control in the spotlight, and each has varying levels of dangerousness. The girls must use their intellect to outsmart the personalities if they have any hope of escape. Unlike The Visit which took its time to get going, Split had my attention right away and kept it the whole way through. The biggest reason for that is the aforementioned performance by James McAvoy. You can tell he's having an absolute blast with the role and the movie is worth watching for his performance alone. Besides that, Shyamalan is having fun too. He's up to a lot of his same storytelling tricks, but they're mostly working pretty well. But if there's one thing Shyamalan knows it's how to create tension and he does so expertly here. Another thing Shyamalan is known for is his endings, but I refuse to go into detail here. The only thing I will say is that somewhat more fantastical elements are brought in during the final third which I wasn't really okay with... that is, until the final seconds of the film made everything click on what Shyamalan actually was attempting with his film. While some may not like what Shyamalan is doing here with his ending, I have to say I really liked it and got pretty excited. Two steps in the right direction and I gotta say, the man is well on his way to being "back." I can't wait to see what he does next. RATING: 8/10