A BLUEBIRD IN MY HEART (2018)

 

Written & Directed By: Jeremie Guez Based on the novel “THE DISHWASHER” By: Dannie M. Martin  

Cinematography: Dimitri Karakatsanis  

Editor: Dieter Diependaele 

Cast: Roland Moller, Veerle Baetens, Lola Lelann, Luba Azabel 

Attempting to lead a quiet reformed life, an ex-con finds refuge in a motel run by a single mother and her daughter Clara. The peace and freedom he has found in this safe haven disappears when Clara is assaulted, forcing him to face his old demons

The predictable this film manages to make you care and stay interested throughout. As it maintains an intensity as much as the main character seems to have who we never quite learned about when it comes to his past, but we are given enough to interpret.

It’s simmering mostly, but there are two scenes. The film truly lets loose with action, though low scenes are short and one quite torturous.

This is a movie more about characters and emotions. It’s actually quite plain and simple, It sticks to the point at under 90 minutes and gets started in no time. 

In the beginning, you can feel the uncomfortable nature that eases up as the walls the main character does 

As well, as you can see the symbolic relationships and placeholder that he becomes for the people around him, mostly female.

He has a  rough, dangerous nature, but a gentle side, when it comes to them. That stays very simple and small scale.

The film is a revenge tale in the end as he takes revenge and in doing so sets up a situation where the victim of his revenge has people who need to take revenge for him especially when their first attempt goes awry 

This is a well-acted hidden gem of a movie that while might be predictable in some aspects feels like an introduction, not necessarily to buy the story, but more through characters that you care about 

It stays small scale but packs a lot of heart and you know it’s a French Film because every character seems to smoke. 

Grade: B-

THE LIE (2018)

 

Written & Directed By: Veena Sud Based On the Film “WIR MONSTER” Written By: Marcus Seibert & Sebastian Ko Cinematography: Peter Wurstorf Editor: Phil Fowler

Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Mireille Enos, Joey King, Cas Anvar, Patti Kim, Nicholas Lea, Devery Jacobs, Dani Kind 

A father and daughter are on their way to dance camp when they spot the girl's best friend on the side of the road. When they stop to offer the friend a ride, their good intentions soon result in terrible consequences.

GALVESTON (2018)

 

Directed By: Melanie Laurent  Written by: Nic Pizzolatto  Based On The Novel By: Nic Pizzolatto Cinematography: Arnaud Potier  Editor: Joseph Krings 

Cast: Ben Foster, Elle Fanning, Beau Bridges, Maria Valverde, Lili Reinhart, Jeffrey Grover, Christopher Amitrano

Debt collector Roy is a heavy-drinking criminal enforcer and mob hitman whose boss set him up in a double-cross scheme. After killing his would-be assassins, Roy discovers Rocky, a young woman being held captive, and reluctantly takes her with him on his escape. Determined to find safety and sanctuary in Galveston, Roy must find a way to stop his boss from pursuing them while trying to outrun the demons from his and Rocky's pasts.

DUCK BUTTER (2018)

 

Directed By: Miguel Arteta Written By: Miguel Arteta & Alia Shawkat Cinematography: Hillary Spera Editor: Christopher Donlon

Cast: Alia Shawkat, Laia Costa, Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, Kumail Nanjiani, Lindsay Burdge, Mae Whitman, Hong Chau, Kate Berlant, Jenny O’Hara 

Two women, who are dissatisfied with the dishonesty they see in dating and relationships, decide to make a pact to spend 24 hours together hoping to find a new way to create intimacy.

GANGSTA (2018)

 

Directed by: Adil Elarbi & Bilall Fallah  Written by: Adil Elarbi, Bilall Fallah, Nabil Ben Yadir, Bram Renders, Kobe Van Steenberghe & Handrik Verthe  Cinematography: Robrecht Heyvaert Editor: Adil Elarbi, Bilall Fallah, Kobe Van Steenberghe & Thijs Van Nuffel 

Cast: Matteo Simoni, Junes Lazaar, Nora Gharib, Said Boumazoughe, Nabil Mallat, Paloma Aguilera valdebenito, Werner Kolf 

Antwerp. The lives of four dealer friends, who want to become real-life swaggers, spin out of control when they steal a shipment of cocaine. They trigger a full-out war between them, an Amsterdam drug lord and the ruthless Colombian cartels.

THE WEEKEND (2018)

Written & Directed By: Stella Meghie Cinematography: Kris Belchevski Editor: Shannon Baker Davis 

Cast: Sasheer Zamata, Tone Bell, Dewanda Wise, Kym Whitley, Y’Lan Noel, Josefina Landeros 

A comedian goes away for the weekend with an ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.

THE CANNIBAL CLUB (2018)

Written & Directed By: Guto Parente

Cinematography: Lucas Barbi

Editor: Ricardo Pretti & Luiz Pretti 

Cast: Tavinho Teixeira, Ana Luisa Rios, Pedro Domingues, Jose Maria Alves, Wallen Abreu 

Otavio and Gilda are a very wealthy couple of the Brazilian elite who have the habit of eating their employees. Otavio owns a private security company and is a notable member of The Cannibal Club. When Gilda accidentally discovers a secret from Borges, a powerful congressman and the Club's leader, her and her husband's lives are in danger.

WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE! (2018)

 

Written, Directed & Edited By: Kirill Sokolov

Cinematography: Dimitry Ulyikaev

Cast: Aleksandr Kiznetsov, Vitaliy Khaev, Evgenia Kregzhde, Milhail Gorevoy, Elena Scevchenko

Andrei, a detective and the world's most horrible father, brings together a terrible group of people in his apartment: his resentful actress daughter, an angry thug, and a cheated cop. Each one of them has a reason to want revenge..

HOLIDAY (2018)

 

Directed by: Isabella Eklof  Written by: Johanne Algren & Isabella Eklof  Cinematography: Nadim Carlsen Editor: Olivia Neergaard-Holm

Cast: Victoria Carmen Sonne, Lai Yde, Thjis Romer, Yuval Segal, Adam lld Rohweder, Morten Hemmingsen

Young and beautiful Sascha discovers her dream life of luxury, recklessness and fun comes at a price when she is welcomed into the "family" of her drug lord boyfriend at his holiday villa in the port city of Bodrum on the Turkish Riveria. Physical and psychological violence are a way of life for this gangster family, but when the velvet veneer is stripped raw to the bone, Sascha's eye drifts towards the "normal" life she is leaving behind--is it possible she could still be accepted by polite society?

TALES FROM THE HOOD 2 (2018)

Written & Directed By: Rusty Cundief & Darin Scott 
Cinematography: Keith L. Smith 
Editor: Miriam L. Preissel & John Quinn 


Cast: Keith David, Bryan Batt, Lou Beatty Jr, Alexandra Deberry, Kendrick Cross, Bill Martin Williams, Andy Cohen 


Horror is back in the hood! The sequel to the ground-breaking original film Tales From the Hood reunites Executive Producer Spike Lee and Writers/Directors/Producers Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott for an all-new gripping, horrifying and oftentimes devilishly comical anthology. Keith David stars as a contemporary Mr. Simms to tell bloodcurdling stories about lust, greed, pride and politics through tales with demonic dolls, possessed psychics, vengeful vixens and historical ghosts. Mr. Simms's haunting stories will make you laugh...while you scream.

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (2018)

Written & Directed By: Barry Jenkins 
Based on the Novel By: James Baldwin 
Cinematography: James Laxton 
Editor: Joi McMillon & Nat Sanders 
Music By: Nicholas Britell 


Cast: Stephen James, KiKi Layne, Regina King, Michael Beach, Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Aunjaune Ellis, Diego Luna, Dave Franco, Brian Tyree Henry, Ed Skrein, Emily Rios, Finn Wittrock, Ebony Obsidian 


African-American teen sweethearts Fonny and Tish are ripped apart when Fonny is wrongly arrested for the rape of a Puerto Rican woman because of the machinations of a racist cop. While seeking justice for Fonny, a pregnant Tish relies on her Harlem community, including her sister, mother Sharon and future mother-in-law.

HOLD THE DARK (2018)

Directed By: Jeremy Saulnier 
Written By: Macon Blair 
Based On The Book By: William Giraldi 
Cinematography: Magnus Nordenhof Jonck 
Editor: Julia Bloch 


Cast: Jeffrey Wright, James Badge Dale, Alexander Skarsgard, Riley Keough, Beckham crawford, Anabel Kutay, Julian Black Antelope 


Retired naturalist and wolf expert Russell Core journeys to the edge of civilization in northern Alaska at the pleading of Medora Slone, a young mother whose son was killed by a pack of wolves. As Core attempts to help Medora track down the wolves who took her son, a strange and dangerous relationship develops between the two lonely souls. But when Medora's husband Vernon returns home from the Iraq War, the news of his child's death ignites a violent chain of events. As local cop Donald Marium races to stop Vernon's vengeful rampage, Core is forced on a perilous odyssey into the heart of darkness.

TRUTH OR DARE (2018)

Directed By: Jeff Wadlow 
Written By: Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach & Jeff Wadlow 
Story By: Michael Reisz 
Cinematography: Jacques Jouffret 
Editor: Sean Albertson 


Cast: Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Sophia Ali, Violett Beane, Hayden Szeto, Nolan Gerard Funk, Aurora Perrineau, Sam Lerner, Thom Choi 

Olivia Barron, her best friend Markie Cameron, Markie's boyfriend Lucas Moreno, along with Penelope Amari and her boyfriend Tyson Curran, and Brad Chang go on a trip to Rosarito, Mexico. In Mexico, Olivia runs into fellow student Ronnie who proceeds to harass her until a man intervenes on her behalf. The man introduces himself as Carter and eventually convinces her and her friends to join him for drinks at the ruins of a mission. There, Carter initiates a game of Truth or Dare with Olivia and her friends, plus Ronnie, who followed the group. Eventually, the game ends when Carter reveals that he deceived Olivia as a means of tricking her and her friends to the mission to offer them in his place in the supernatural game of Truth or Dare. As Carter leaves, he explains to Olivia that the game will follow them and they must not refuse it.

TYREL (2018)

Written & Directed By: Sebastian Silva 
Cinematography: Alexis Zabe 
Editor: Jennifer Lame & Sofia Subercaseaux 

Cast: Jason Mitchell, Christopher Abbott, Caleb Landry Jones, Michael Cera, Michael Zegen, Reg E. Cathey, Ann Dowd, Roddy Bottum, Nicolas Arze 


Tyler, a sole black man, attends an otherwise all-white weekend of drunken bro debauchery on a birthday trip to a cabin in the Catskills.

LORO (2018)

Story & Directed By: Paolo Sorrentino 
Written By: Paolo Sorrentino & Umberto Contarello 
Cinematography: Luca Bigazzi 
Editor: Cristiano Travaglioli 


Cast: Tom Servillo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Riccardo Scamarico, Kasia Smutniak, Euridice Axen, Alice Pagani, Fabrizio Bentivoglio 


During a tumultuous period in the career of Silvio Berlusconi, as his marriage to second wife Veronica Lario fractures, LORO speculates on what may or may not have taken place behind closed doors, depicting a wide variety of characters from multiple levels of society and their attempts to either ingratiate or distance themselves from him.

PLEDGE (2018)

Directed By: Daniel Robbins 
Written By: Zachary Weiner 
Cinematography: William Babcock 
Editor: Nik Voytas 


Cast: Zachery Byrd, Philip Andre Botello, Zack Weiner, Aaron Dalla Villa, Cameron Cowperthwaite, Joe Gallagher, Melanie Rothman, Erica Boozer 


A group of college freshmen pledge an exclusive fraternity but soon realize there's more at stake than they could have ever imagined. A film that feels like it could and should have been made in the 1980’s as that was when that culture was big especially in the movies. Not to mention it carries that tradition and vibe.

DEATH WISH (2018)

Directed By: Eli Roth 
Written By: Joe Carnahan 
Based On The Novel By: Brian Garfield 
Based On the original Motion Picture Screenplay By: Wendell Mayes 
Cinematography: Rogier Stoffers 
Editor: Mark Goldblatt & Yvonne Valdez 


Cast: Bruce Willis, Elisabeth Shue, Vincent D’Onofrio, Camilla Morrone, Dean Norris, Beau Knapp, Kimberly Elise, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Len Cariou, Jack Kesy, Stephen McHattie, Jaslene Gonzalez 


Dr. Paul Kersey is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city's violence as it's rushed into his ER -until his wife and college-age daughter are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family's assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media's attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel...or a grim reaper.

PEPPERMINT (2018)

Directed By: Pierre Norel 
Written By: Chad St. John 
Cinematography By: David Lanzenberg 
Editor: Frederic Thoraval 


Cast: Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Juan Pablo Raba, Annie Ilonzeh, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Tyson Ritter, Richard Cabral 


An unidentified woman is engaged in a brutal fight with a man in a car and finally dispatches him with a shot to the head. Five years earlier, the same woman, Riley North, is working as a bank teller in Los Angeles struggling to make ends meet. Her husband Chris owns a failing mechanic shop. They have a ten-year-old daughter, Carly. Chris' friend tries to talk him into robbing Diego Garcia, a powerful drug lord. Chris turns him down, but not before Garcia has already discovered his involvement and ordered his men to make an example of him. Riley and Chris take Carly out for pizza and to a carnival for her birthday since no one showed up to her party. At the carnival, Carly orders peppermint ice cream. As the family walks to the car, Diego's men gun down her husband and daughter in a drive-by shooting. She is wounded, but survives.

ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (2018)

Written, Edited & Directed By: Shin’ichiro Ueda 
Based on a Play By: Ryoichi Wada 
Cinematography: Takeshi Sone 


Cast: Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama, Hariuma Shuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Hiroshi Ichihara 


A low-budget film about zombies soon features the best cast money could not buy, but the problem is that the new actors are not exactly getting along with the crew. Everyone involved is soon receiving a lesson in the merits of perseverance, the preciousness of family bonds and of course the dangers of the living dead.

PIERCING (2018)

Written & Directed By: Nicolas Pesce 
Story By: Ryu Murakami 
Cinematography: Zack Galler 
Editor: Sofia Subercaseaux 

Cast: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa, Marin Ireland, Maria Dizzia, Wendell Pierce 

 A man kisses his wife and baby goodbye and seemingly heads away on business, with a plan to check into a hotel, call an escort service, and kill an unsuspecting prostitute.