Loveless

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I'm just going to be honest right off the bat here: some people just shouldn't be parents. Some people are just so cruel & heartless that if they had children, their children would be so scarred in more ways than one. But sadly, other people who are some of the nicest people in the world can't have children. Why they can't have children when other horrible people can, I won't ever know. But anyway, there are a select group of people who shouldn't be parents.

If there was ever a film that showcased this adage, Loveless would be it. It's so bleak & depressing, but so worth the depression. It's so excellently acted & tensely directed that it's worth walking out feeling cold & empty. Set in 2012, the film follows Zhenya (played by Maryana Spivak) & Boris (played by Aleksey Rozin), a couple in Moscow that is in the midst of a divorce.

They have nothing but hatred towards each other. Zhenya is in a relationship with Anton (played by Andris Keišs), while Boris is in a relationship with Masha (played by Marina Vasilyeva). In the midst of this, their 12-year-old son, Alexey (played by Matvey Novikov), is neglected & mistreated by both of them.

One day, Alexey disappears, but Zhenya didn't realize it until the school called & said he hasn't been to school in 2 days. The police see this as just another runaway child case, & expect him to return within a few days. However, this quickly passes, & he doesn't return. The police fail to search any further, so a volunteer group takes up the effort. But the longer Alexey is missing, the more loveless Zhenya & Boris ultimately become.

The cast is excellent. Spivak & Rozin fire off of each other so excellently that when they fight, it feels so painfully real. But Novikov is the star here. Although he doesn't have a lot of screen time, he does so much with that screen time as Spivak & Rozin do with much more screen time.

Andrey Zvyagintsev's direction is spectacular. Zvyagintsev manages to get so much powerful emotion out of his actors. His approach to the film is very reminiscent of the films of Ingmar Bergman, evident by the cold atmosphere & the bleak tone.

The screenplay by Andrey Zvyagintsev & Oleg Negin is amazing. The dialogue feels so powerful & is so brutally honest. But the plot is the real gem. At the surface, the film seems to be about Alexey's disappearance & Zhenya & Boris's lives. But if you look a bit deeper, some themes start to arise. The themes of human nature, the views of Russian society, the Russian occupation of Ukraine, & the sociopolitical climate are in the background, but are still dealt with excellently.

And Mikhail Krichman's cinematography is stunning. The color palette is very dark, with a beautiful mix of blues & grays, reflecting the bleak tone of the film.

This is one of the best foreign films of the decade. It's excellently acted & directed, & the themes at the whole of it are so well-explored that it's worth the depression this film will likely give you.

Loveless was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, March 16, 2018. It is no longer in theaters in the Detroit area. Its runtime is 127 minutes, & it is rated R for strong sexuality, graphic nudity, language & a brief disturbing image.

Love, Simon

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Representation matters. It matters for every minority &/or marginalized community in the world. We are making big strides in representation. Wonder Woman gave young girls a female superhero role model to look up to. A Fantastic Woman gave trans people the realistic & respectful depiction they so deserve. And Black Panther gave people of African descent a long-awaited superhero.

Love, Simon is a pivotal landmark for representation of LGBTQ+ people, especially LGBTQ+ teenagers. While providing an opportunity for LGBTQ+ teenagers to see themselves faithfully represented on screen, it is also an absolutely perfect film. Based on the 2015 novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, the film follows Simon Spier (played by Nick Robinson), a high school senior in the Atlanta suburbs. He lives with his mother, Emily (played by Jennifer Garner), a therapist; his father, Jack (played by Josh Duhamel); & his younger sister, Nora (played by Talitha Bateman), an aspiring chef.

Simon has three best friends: Leah Burke (played by Katherine Langford); Nick Eisner (played by Jorge Lendeborg Jr.); & Abby Suso (played by Alexandra Shipp). Simon has been friends with Leah & Nick since early childhood, & although he's only been friends with Abby since she moved from Washington D.C., he feels like he's been friends with her as long as Leah & Nick. For the most part, Simon is a pretty normal teenager. Except he has one huge secret: he's gay.

One day, Leah tells Simon that she saw someone anonymously post on the school's rumor blog that they were in the closet, calling themselves "Blue." Simon starts an email correspondence with Blue, giving himself the pseudonym "Jacques," from the French phrase for Simon Says, "Jacques a dit." Simon & Blue soon form a real connection. However, classmate Martin Addison (played by Logan Miller) screenshots the emails after Simon left the library computer without signing out of his Gmail account. Martin uses the emails to blackmail Simon to get him with Abby. Simon must now juggle trying to find out who Blue is, stop Martin from leaking the emails, & coming to terms with his sexuality. And it's also senior year, so that's hard enough.

The cast is fantastic. Nick Robinson is absolutely amazing here. He can show so many emotions with the look of his face, & portrays the life of a gay teenager trying to reveal who he really is so beautifully. Katherine Langford, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., & Alexandra Shipp also provide great support to Nick Robinson. Josh Duhamel gives one of his best performances in years. And Jennifer Garner gives her greatest performance yet. There's one scene between her & Nick Robinson that will definitely be my favorite scene of the year that has earned positive comparisons to Michael Stuhlbarg's amazing monologue to Timothée Chalamet in 2017's Call Me by Your Name. The scene here is just as amazing & beautiful as the one in Call Me by Your Name, & one of the main reasons for that is because of Garner's performance.

Greg Berlanti's direction is excellent. Berlanti directs the film with a perfect subtlety, allowing for a great amount of heart, & a non-exploitative portrayal of LGBTQ+ teenagers, which is nothing short of groundbreaking.

The screenplay by Elizabeth Berger & Isaac Aptaker is amazing. Berger & Aptaker, known for writing several episodes of the award-winning TV show This Is Us, wrote a faithful adaptation to Becky Albertalli's novel, & realistically depict the comings & goings of a gay teenager. Also, it subverts many of the romantic comedy tropes, & is also wildly funny at many moments.

Rob Simonsen's score is stellar. Simonsen's ambient score is driven by a piano & synths, & has the feel of a Brian Eno album. This will definitely still be one of my favorite scores at the end of the year.

And the soundtrack is spectacular. Led by alternative rock music from the 2010s, this is a soundtrack that has perfectly matched my music taste.

This is the best film of the year, & one of my all-time favorite films. It has some amazing performances, perfectly subdued direction, & a beautiful screenplay, & is a milestone for representation of the LGBTQ+ community.

Love, Simon was seen by me at the MJR Chesterfield Crossing Digital Cinema 16 in Chesterfield Township, MI on Saturday, March 10, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 109 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual references, language & teen partying.

Thoroughbreds

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

For some filmmakers, it takes them a very long time to get to a point where they can be considered a great director. For others, they become great right off the bat. Many famous directors, such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, the Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino & Wes Anderson are some great examples of established directors who have been great right from the minute the film started rolling in their debut film.

Thoroughbreds is a scathingly funny & thoroughly tense film that is one of the best directorial debuts in recent memory. The film follows Lily (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), a rich, smart & popular teenager in suburban Connecticut. She feels every emotion possible, & lives with her mother (played by Francie Swift) & her stepfather, Mark (played by Paul Sparks), whom she despises.

Her former best friend, Amanda (played by Olivia Cooke), who feels absolutely nothing, is at Lily's house to hang out & be tutored by Lily, but finds out her mother paid Lily to hang out with Amanda after an incident Amanda committed. Some time after this revelation, Lily & Amanda become friends again.

One night, after Lily tells her about Mark, Amanda asks her if she has ever thought of killing him. Lily denies this & asks Amanda to leave. However, after seeing Mark viciously berate her mother, Lily decides to plan with Amanda to kill him, proposing that Amanda do it, as she wouldn't feel remorse for it.

However, due to the incident Amanda committed, she feels that the prior incident would make her a prime suspect. As a result, Lily & Amanda hire Tim (played by Anton Yelchin), a drug dealer who is infamous for having sex with a 17-year-old when he was 23. But as the ball gets rolling, all of their plans start to crumble around them.

The cast is spectacular. Taylor-Joy & Cooke are 2 of the best rising stars in Hollywood, & they are both at the top of the game. And Yelchin, an actor who had the potential to be a star but went far too soon, is perfect. He is absolutely insane here. His performance is one of the best final performances I've ever seen.

Cory Finley's direction is excellent. Finley, a 28-year-old who had never even seen a film set before this film, directs this with the talent of a seasoned veteran. The film was originally planned to be a play, & that is evident here with the tense, claustrophobic feel in some parts.

Cory Finley's screenplay is brilliant. The dialogue is witty, dark & overall hilarious, & the characters are so well-written. Finley writes with the bravado of a young Paul Thomas Anderson.

Lyle Vincent's cinematography is amazing. Vincent uses a series of excellent long takes that are some of the best in a while.

Louise Ford's editing is excellent. Ford paces the film deliberately slow, allowing the intricacies of the plot to slowly unfold.

And Erik Friedlander's score is stellar. The cello-driven score adds another layer to the highly tense atmosphere of the film.

This is the best film of the year so far. Filled with amazing performances, a killer screenplay & stunning cinematography, I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up on my end-of-the-year list as one of the 10 best films of the year.

Thoroughbreds was seen by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Friday, March 9, 2018. It is currently in 4 theaters in the Detroit area: the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI; the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI; the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights, MI; & the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 92 minutes, & it is rated R for disturbing behavior, bloody images, language, sexual references, & some drug content.

A Wrinkle in Time

★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

A Wrinkle in Time could've been great. It could've been a visually groundbreaking masterpiece. With the performances & visuals, it's about halfway there.

However, everything else about this film is a complete mess. Based on the 1962 classic novel by Madeleine L'Engle, the film follows Meg Murry (played by Storm Reid), a 13-year-old that is wise beyond her years. After the disappearance of her astrophysicist father, Dr. Alex Murry (played by Chris Pine), Meg has become more withdrawn & arrogant. Her & her mother, Kate (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) believe that he went missing while looking for other worlds.

One night, Meg's younger brother, Charles Wallace (played by Deric McCabe), invites a woman named Mrs. Whatsit (played by Reese Witherspoon) into the house. She has information about Alex involving the tesseract, which he was working on for space travel. The next day, Meg, Charles Wallace, Mrs. Whatsit, & Meg's friend, Calvin (played by Levi Miller), travel to the house of Mrs. Who (played by Mindy Kaling), who only speaks in quotes.

Soon after, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, & Mrs. Which (played by Oprah Winfrey) appear in Meg's backyard, & "tesser" Meg, Charles Wallace, & Calvin onto the planet of Uriel, where Alex was seen. In Uriel's atmosphere, they find The IT, a dark entity representing all negative emotions that is set on world domination, guarded by Red (played by Michael Peña). Alex was captured by The IT. A meeting with The Happy Medium (played by Zach Galifianakis) reveals that Alex is trapped on the planet of Camazotz, The IT's homeworld. Now, Meg, Charles Wallace, Calvin, & the Mrs. Ws must save Alex before it's too late.

The cast is good. Reid is the best out of the cast, & I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes a big name someday. Winfrey, Pine, Witherspoon, & Kaling are good. Galifianakis seems out of place here, & McCabe's performance is what a child performance shouldn't be: clingy & annoying.

Ava DuVernay's direction is underwhelming. While DuVernay's ambition is great, & she does bring a great sense of wonder, the tone doesn't feel as powerful as it should be.

The screenplay by Jennifer Lee & Jeff Stockwell is a disaster. Although the novel has long been considered to be unfilmable, it doesn't excuse the fact that there are an absurd amount of plot holes that make the film so utterly confusing. However, it does have a good message.

Tobias A. Schliessler's cinematography is amazing. The color palette is very stunning & the camerawork is extremely grand.

Spencer Averick's editing is terrible. The film is horribly paced, making its 109-minute runtime feel like almost 3 hours. Also, there is some really frenetic editing here that is way overdoing it.

Naomi Shohan's production design is excellent. The places that the characters "tesser" to are so stunning & awe-inspiring.

And the visual effects are a mixed bag. Some of the effects are great, while some aren't so great. Also, the CGI tends to be way overused throughout the film.

This is a real disappointment. Although the performances & visuals are good, the direction, editing & screenplay really bog the film down. From a great director like Ava DuVernay, this feels like even more of a disappointment than it usually would.

A Wrinkle in Time was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Friday, March 9, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 109 minutes, & it is rated PG for thematic elements & some peril.

The Party

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Since I started my love for film, I've had a fascination with dark comedies. Making light of things that wouldn't be considered funny seemed to rise a lot of laughs out of me. There are some limits, but for the most part, dark humor is my type of humor.

The Party is one of the funniest dark comedies of the decade. The film follows Janet (played by Kristin Scott Thomas), a newly-appointed Shadow Minister for Health for the opposition party in the UK. To celebrate, she throws a dinner party. She invites 6 people: her cynical best friend, April (played by Patricia Clarkson); April's estranged German husband, Gottfried (played by Bruno Ganz), a spiritual healer; women's studies professor Martha (played by Cherry Jones); her partner, Jinny (played by Emily Mortimer), a chef; Janet's colleague, Marianne; & Marianne's banker husband, Tom (played by Cillian Murphy).

The guests arrive, except for Marianne, who Tom says will be coming late. In the living room, Janet's husband, Bill (played by Timothy Spall), stares blankly into space, drinking wine, & talking quietly.

As the drinks flow, revelations start to come to the surface. April & Gottfried are divorcing, Martha & Jinny are having triplets, & Bill is leaving Janet for Marianne. But that's only just the start of this eventful evening.

The cast is spectacular. Kristin Scott Thomas's performance is a more-than-welcome return to the silver screen. After a few years playing in very small films, she's starting to make a comeback. Cillian Murphy is perfect as a neurotic cokehead. But Patricia Clarkson is absolutely fantastic. Clarkson hasn't had this big of a role in years. And when she gets a big role, she shows that she is not to be messed with, & that is evident here. She is absolutely brilliant as a cynical, bitter realist.

Sally Potter's direction is excellent. The direction is subdued, maintaining a tense atmosphere while having a humorous undertone.

Sally Potter's screenplay is brilliant. The dialogue is some of the funniest in years, & is perfectly cynical & mean-spirited.

And Aleksei Rodionov's cinematography is amazing. Shot in black-&-white, this gives the film a darker & more bitter effect, matching the tone of the film.

This is one of the best films of the year. Sally Potter's writing is top-notch, & Patricia Clarkson absolutely steals the show.

The Party was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, March 2, 2018. It is no longer in theaters in the Detroit area. Its runtime is 71 minutes, & it is rated R for language & drug use.

A Fantastic Woman

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

For many years, the portrayal of transgender characters in film has been less than satisfactory, to say the least. Some are more respectful, while some are downright offensive, but none of them have hit the mark, as many films do not have actual transgender actors or actresses portraying the roles. Some may say it's all about talent, but there are some talented transgender actors & actresses out there.

A Fantastic Woman treats the film's subject with such care & tenderness, & is one of the most beautiful films of 2017. The film follows Marina Vidal (played by Daniela Vega), a singer & waitress in Santiago, Chile. She has just moved in with her older boyfriend, Orlando (played by Francisco Reyes), a divorcée.

One night, after going out for Marina's birthday, Orlando wakes up in the middle of the night with a brain aneurysm. Marina takes him to the hospital, but he dies from his aneurysm.

After his death, Marina is brutally victimized. She is victimized because she is a trans woman. A police officer purposefully calls her by her old name. An investigator from the sexual assault unit oversees a traumatic inspection of her. And Orlando's family shuts her out, banning her from coming to Orlando's funeral.

But Marina will not be silenced. She will not be deterred. She will stop at nothing to mourn the loss of her boyfriend & to be known for what she is: a fantastic woman.

The cast is fantastic. Daniela Vega's performance is a complete revelation. She can show so much emotion with just the look on her face. This performance shows that transgender actors & actresses are out there, & that they need to be faithfully represented. And Francisco Reyes also has some excellent chemistry with Daniela Vega. But this belongs to Vega's fantastic performance.

Sebastián Lelio's direction is excellent. Lelio's direction is subdued, & treats such a heavy & thought-provoking subject with the care & tenderness that it deserves.

And the screenplay by Sebastián Lelio & Gonzalo Maza is amazing. The dialogue feels natural, & the plot & story are so intriguing, & give the lead transgender character the respect she deserves.

This is one of the best foreign films of the decade. Led by a fantastic performance from Daniela Vega, this beautiful film finally gives trans people the representation they deserve. Hopefully, this film will lead the way for more trans actors & actresses to play roles meant for trans people in film, & lead to wider acceptance of trans people throughout the world.

A Fantastic Woman was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, March 2, 2018. It is currently in 2 theaters in the Detroit area: the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI & the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 100 minutes, & it is rated R for language, sexual content, nudity & a disturbing assault.

Game Night

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

There hasn't been a great dark comedy made by a major studio since 2011's Horrible Bosses. Many attempts at this have failed in recent years, not devoting enough time to plot development & devoting too much time to jokes, which mostly fall flat.

Game Night is the first great, studio-made dark comedy since Horrible Bosses. There's almost a laugh every 30 seconds, & it's extremely well-made. The film follows Max (played by Jason Bateman), an avid gamer. He meets Annie (played by Rachel McAdams) at a bar trivia night, & they eventually get married. They are trying to conceive, but to no avail, probably due to Max's stress & insecurity because of his more handsome & successful brother, Brooks (played by Kyle Chandler), who is arriving in town for a while. Max & Annie have regular game nights at their house, but try to keep it secret from their creepy neighbor, Gary Kingsbury (played by Jesse Plemons), a police officer & ex-wife of a friend of Max & Annie.

After a game night at Max & Annie's house, Brooks invites Max, Annie, & their friends: Ryan (played by Billy Magnussen); Kevin (played by Lamorne Morris); & Michelle (played by Kylie Bunbury). At the game night, Ryan brings his date, Sarah (played by Sharon Horgan) along. Brooks's game night plan is a murder mystery, & they must all find clues to solve it. Brooks hires an actor playing an FBI Agent (played by Jeffrey Wright) to inform them how the mystery goes, but two goons break in, knock the FBI Agent unconscious, & kidnap Brooks, while everyone else is oblivious, believing this is part of the game.

Eventually, they come to realize that this is not a game, & the group of friends get themselves into some dirty situations, leading to a man known as The Bulgarian (played by Michael C. Hall).

The cast is spectacular. Bateman & McAdams are hilarious, & Chandler shows he can be funny as well as being dramatic. But Plemons is the real star here. He is so creepy, so awkward, & so deadpan. He is the "Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda" of this film. He's a true scene-stealer.

The direction by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein is excellent. Daley & Goldstein, known for writing Horrible Bosses, bring more of the darkly comedic flair from that film & bring it to new heights here.

Mark Perez's screenplay is brilliant. The plot is intricate, the story is intriguing, & the dialogue is absolutely hilarious. It has more humor that lands than most comedies in the past few years.

Barry Peterson's cinematography is stellar. There are a lot of excellent wide shots (that brilliantly use game pieces to represent the characters & their surroundings), & there is one excellent long-take sequence that is one of the best in recent memory.

The editing by Jamie Gross, Gregory Plotkin & David Egan is amazing. They keep the film fast-paced & tightly controlled.

And Cliff Martinez's score is outstanding. Martinez, known for his scores from Traffic & Drive, once again composes an excellent synth-driven score.

This is one of the best films of the year, & is one of the best comedies of the decade. It's twisty, tense, & gut-bustingly hilarious, like all dark comedies should be.

Game Night was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Friday, February 23, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 100 minutes, & it is rated R for language, sexual references & some violence.