Shorties #17: “Hereditary”, “The Florida Project”, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, “A Few Good Men”, and “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

This article will have short reviews of the following films in this order: Hereditary, The Florida Project, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., A Few Good Men, and We Need to Talk About Kevin.

---

---

This might’ve been the scariest film I’ve ever seen. Mind you, I haven’t seen every horror film, but of the ones I have, Hereditary is the most definite standout. It’s a brilliantly paced film that builds up to the terrifying third act, where all hell breaks loose. The first two thirds really take their time to foreshadow things that’ll happen later, build characters, and get the story going, while in the last act, the buildup finally pays off and you’re in the middle of something you won’t forget for a while, filled with creepy imagery that’ll haunt your dreams. The unsettling score, smart compositions, and eerie lighting all helped at giving the film an uneasy sense right from the start. It’s the first time I’ve wanted a good film to end, solely because I was so unnerved. Toni Collette performance was absolutely fantastic, but so were Alex Wolff’s and Milly Shapiro’s performances.

Grade: A

---

---

With dreamlike camera movements and lots of low angles, Sean Baker places us amongst these kids and shows us how they experience the world. And he does so brilliantly. The directing was absolutely stunning. He filled the story he wanted to tell with gorgeously colored and interestingly framed shots. In the beautiful scenes that these shots are a part of, fantastic performances can be found as well. William Dafoe might even give a career-best performance, but the kids too were phenomenal, which was very surprising, since they usually suck. The main girl especially was phenomenal.

Grade: A

---

---

Unfortunately, the excellent chemistry between Hammer and Cavill didn’t manage to save The Man From U.N.C.L.E. from being fairly boring at times. The story’s far from interesting, but the cast and director try to make it enjoyable, which it is… for the most part. The first action scene was incredibly fun to watch due to creative directing and an amazing soundtrack, but the ones that followed failed to live up to the standards set by the first one. They’re not necessarily bad, they just failed to surpass the first one in quality. Guy Ritchie’s directing was often placed ahead of the substance, but for the better, since the substance wasn’t particularly great. The film’s also quite funny and there was a hand full of intricate camera movements and editing choices. I also liked the way that Ritchie paid homage to famous films that took place around that time, and spy films in general. It was fun to spot these things and they were gorgeously put on film by John Mathieson.

Grade: B

---

---

Aaron Sorkin’s first feature film certainly proves what kind of genius we should’ve been expecting. He paces out his scenes wonderfully as he often slowly builds up to the climax of the scene via the dialogue. A film’s a team effort, so without Rob Reiner’s powerful ways to capture a scene, and without the wonderful performances by the star-studded cast, this wouldn’t’ve worked as well as it does now. As if that isn’t enough, there’s also a fantastic score. It combines army elements together with a modern sounding instrument to create an interesting soundtrack that is able to add more emotion to the already powerful courtroom scenes. Even though the soundtrack is really good, Rob Reiner wisely didn’t keep on using it and let the performances carry the scene, which could lead to some incredible moments. It’s a wonderful film that doesn’t drag for one second, and that says a lot, since it’s a nearly two and a half hour film. The ending does get a bit soapy, but all in all, I’d really recommend it.

Grade: A

---

---

Lynne Ramsay tells this unsettling story about a mom dealing with the aftermath of what her son has caused, by the use of incredible visual storytelling, an excellent soundtrack and two fantastic lead performances, who were both by the way perfectly cast. It’s a very subtle film that doesn’t spell things out for you, which makes it the more powerful. Its flaws are disputable, but they do keep the film from earning a perfect score. At times the film’s way of conveying its story could come across as messy and some of the sound effects, while they did generate an uneasy and spine-chilling feeling, didn’t always line up with the movements or actions.

Grade: A

---