Dream Scenario

Nic Cage plays Paul Matthews, a tenured professor of biology. He stands out as much as a zebra in a herd - a mostly bald, middle-aged man, whose wardrobe pallet is a mixture of brown, grey, and beige. Paul Mathews is your average Joe, married with two teenage daughters who has never stood out. Then, suddenly he does. Everyone in America starts to dream about him. At first he appears as an innocuous figure, just standing there, doing nothing. His sudden appearance in everyone's collective consciousness (or maybe unconsciousness) vaults Paul into going viral. PR firms want him to sell Sprite and everyone wants a photo with him. Paul seems to relish the attention, at first. However he wants to write an academic book, not sell soda. But then the dreams turn into nightmares and Paul becomes everyone's Freddy Krueger as he performs horrific acts in the minds of strangers. He becomes a persona non grata. People are traumatized by his very presence. "Dream Scenario" is a lucid, self-aware, wide-awake, dark comedy about contemporary societal norms and values. Nic Cage is brilliant, funny, and I hope he receives an Oscar nomination for this - one of his best roles to date. Catch this dreamy film in theatres now. 

She Came to Me

Peter Dinklage plays Steven, an opera composer who is blocked, can't seem to get his musical mojo on and his assistant just quit on him. He is married to his therapist, Patricia (Anne Hathaway), who he calls Doc. Patricia has a son, who is dating the daughter of their house cleaner. The house cleaner is married to a controlling man who likes to participate in American Civil War reenactments. Patricia also has a thing for cleanliness - close to godliness. Patricia has an affinity for nuns. So, if you can't follow all that, well it gets more confusing. Patricia kicks Steven out of the house to go find some musical inspiration. He ends up meeting sex and love addict, Katrina (Marisa Tomei) at a bar and they have an affair. Katrina is a tug boat captain. This accidental rendezvous gives Steven the inspiration he needs to finish his new opera. Does it all sound bananas? It does. And it is. That's the fun of it. It's chock-full of crazy characters and oddball situations - it's wonderful. As strange as these people are, they feel real, like somehow all this is possible and could actually happen. It's charming and funny and I loved spending time with oddball group of people. A film like this can often feel pretentious. This did not; it felt smart, funny, heartfelt, and earnest. "She Came to Me" - The movie won't come to you, you have to go find it - in rep theatres or catching it on streaming when available. 

The Holdovers

Let me begin by saying that "Sideways," directed by Alexander Payne and staring Paul Giamatti is one of my favourite films - easily in my top ten favourite moives of all time. "The Holdovers" sees Payne once again in the director's chair and Giamatti in front of the camera. If you were to take "Sideways" and smash it together with "Dead Poet's Society" you would have something which resembles, "The Holdovers." What's it all about? Set in 1970 at a boys private school, the students about to go on Christmas break, Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, senior history teacher, curmudgeon, and the chosen babysitter for all the boys who can't get home for the holidays. There is Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) who plays the school's cook, who has just lost her son in the Vietnam War. There is a handful of students who remain behind which dwindles down to only Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa). These three, with their suitcases of grief and pain make up the unlikely trio of this holiday story. It's good. I heard Payne wanted to make a film that felt like it was made in the 1970s. He did. It could be an hidden gem from that era. This is a funny and touching drama. If you are looking for something warm and personal for the holidays, then add "The Holdovers" to your holiday viewing list. In theatres now. 

The Killer

"The Killer" is David Fincher's newest film and it stars Michael Fassbender as The Killer - a hitman that follows a self imposed set of rules so he doesn't get caught. He is a man of cold precision and finesse. He doesn't allow emotion into plans, he sticks to them. Until one day, he doesn't. Okay, let's a take a pause here for a second. This sounds like a plot to your average Liam Neeson film, something pedestrian, the plot of an action thiller we have seen so many times before. Do we really need to see this story again? I'm convinced after watching "The Killer" that David Fincher could make watching paint dry a riveting experience. In fact, Liam Neeson could have done this role, well maybe 20 year ago, so Fassbender is an excellent choice. And I'm saying nothing disparaging about either actor - I love them both. What I'm trying to say is, Fincher has elevated the source material from B thriller to an A+ Hitchcock masterpiece by simply being a superior director. Take his 2002 thriller, "Panic Room" for example. This is a B home invasion plot but Fincher elevates it to make it cinematic art the way Hitchcock or De Palma or Scorsese have. "The Killer" had me glued for it's entire two hour run time - felt like 90 minutes or less. I haven't had so much fun since I watched "The Accountant." "The Killer" is simply killer. Catch it in theatres now or streaming on Netflix in November.  

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

"Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person" - The title alone is great. This is Quebec writer/director Ariane Louis-Seize first feature length film and it's lovely. The film has a sensibility of somewhere between Jim Jarmusch's "Only Lovers Left Alive" and Ana Lily Amirpour's "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night." What's it all about? It's about a vampire family, the youngest of which is Sasah. She has empathy towards humans. As a result, she can't seem to muster up the fangs to kill anyone. Her parents give her IV bags of blood to suck on and she wanders about drinking them like they were juice boxes. When she hits her vampire teenage years (something like 68 years old) her parents cut her off. They send Sasah (Sara Montpetit) off to live with her aunt - it's about time Sasah learned to hunt on her own. A chance encounter with suicidal teen Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard) leads to something of a teen romance. I found myself captivated by this film, charmed by it. And it's French Canadian, so there are great shots of people eating poutine. I smiled, with fangs, from beginning to end. Catch this one in your local rep cinema or on streaming services when it becomes available. 

Fair Play

I was glued to it. It had the sensibility of "Fatal Attraction," and "Wall Street;" an adult thriller, the kind they made in the 1980s. What's it all about?  Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are lovers, secretly, for they are also coworkers as market analysts in an investment firm (run by Campbell and play by the Eddie Marsan (Ray Donavan)). Campbell promotes Emily to portfolio manager over Luke and then their relationship begins to take a turn. The performances of Dvnevor and Ehrenreich are outstanding. I would love to see either of them get a nomination for this. But it wasn't just their acting, it was the twists and turns of the script - it went places I didn't expect it to go. The story is about power relations, sexual relations, work relations; it's about money, ambition, and self worth. It's polished and riveting - sex, booze, and money; sign me up. It's a wild ride and you can catch it now streaming on Netflix. 

The Creator

When "Blade Runner" hit theatres back in 1982, the reviews weren't great. Roger Ebert gave it three stars. I feel like the lukewarm reception critics have given "The Creator" is very similar. I'm here to tell you, this is a five star film. It will be landing on my top ten list of the year. I don't think I've seen a science fiction vision as interesting since Neill Blomkamp's  "District 9" or his underrated "Chappie," George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road," or last year's overlooked film, "Vesper." Get your ass out to the theatre and see this on the big screen before it's gone. What's it all about? Artificial Intelligence has nuked L.A. and A.I. is now banned in the U.S. America is now involved in hunting down A.I.'s latest weapon produced somewhere in Asia. It's also a love story, a philosophical exploration on what it means to be a thinking and feeling being, an action film, and one of the most visually stunning sci-fi films I've seen in the last twenty years. Directed by Gareth Edwards, the man who gave us "Rouge One" and 2014's "Godzilla." He has created a masterpiece and I suspect "The Creator" will, like "Blade Runner" only be recognized in the future as one of the great science fiction films of our time. Catch this in theatres now.