BLINDSPOTTING
Writers/stars Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal let their voices be heard loud and clear in a film where absurdity and aggression make a crackerjack combo. It’s a stupefying story of racial politics, a changing culture, and an overall nervousness of being in your own skin. That’s a lot to say for this incautious buddy comedy, but director Carlos Lopez Estrada’s vision is potent and has the perfect two guys to give it to us straight. They are double trouble, and while Casal is fantastic, it’s Diggs that turns each written word on its head, exercising intensity and empathy that stems from the prejudice streets he walks on.
NEVER GOIN’ BACK
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Maia Mitchell and Camila Morrone own this movie. These two fantastic female stars get down and dirty, throwing caution in the wind while giving it the finger. Their crackling chemistry kicks their hijinks in to high gear. But as much as they are willing to dish out, it’s not enough to shock and awe an audience. The audacious attitude and total mischief is what this teenage tale wants to give you. Though, it’s stupidity that rubs off the most. First time director/writer Augustine Frizzell is content on showing a free-style female friendship that never pushes the boundaries of being rowdy, raunchy, and reckless.
HOT SUMMER NIGHTS
This drug-dealing love story is electric, full of innocence, violence and cockiness. Director Elijah Bynum’s coming-of-age film is set in a sweltering, seductive summer that reaps discovery, humor, and suspense. Set in 1991, it sizzles in its atmosphere, dripping vivid, vibrant vibes of being young and rabid. Timothee Chalamet is dynamite as a teen who’s too smart for his own good, and Maika Monroe is perfect as one helluva a heartbreaker.
LEAVE NO TRACE
A slow-pace, wandering drama of a father and daughter hiding from society while living in the woods. And no matter where they wind up, it’s never for too long. Director Debra Granik gives us a genuine story of an unconventional family who are forever in search of a home that may not exist. She leaves plenty of footprints in this narrative, but some are more drudging than others. However, Ben Foster delivers one of his best, most gentle performances of his career, and Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie stuns as a child who suffers from her dad’s suffering. It’s in these quiet, delicate moments between the two when the film becomes most absorbing and alive.
OTHER VERSIONS OF YOU
A ridiculous romantic comedy that opens new doors to new parallel universes in order to find one’s true love. Director/writer Motke Dapp seems to be more concerned about his movie looking hip and stylish than being sensible and thoughtful. There’s not a lack of good ideas about what could’ve been in a relationship and the exceeding expectation of just one that’s meant to be. But Dapp and the cast aren’t up for turning these topics into anything more than a stagy soap opera.
FIRST REFORMED
Doing what’s righteous can take you down a depraved path in Paul Schrader’s profound story about a reverend who has an awakening. Schrader constructs many fascinating conversations, some that are extremely difficult to have. And, while quietly haunting, this scouring soul-searcher takes great pleasure in banishing you from your comfort zone. Ethan Hawke is tremendous as he strives for salvation in this beautifully tangled battle between religion and creation. An exacting eco-thriller that will make your head spin.
THUNDER ROAD
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Writer, director, and star Jim Cummings puts on an extraordinary one-man show that travels in a lot of directions, each turn feeling unexpected but never out of place. The switch he is able to flip from one sentence to the next isn’t easy to execute and enthralling to watch. From the dancing in the opening scene at his mother’s funeral, tragedy and comedy are a match made in heaven when Cummings is taking the lead.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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