Moonlight: Movie Review

Thrives in the unevenness of life.

Beautiful and brilliant at times, brutal and uncomfortably real at others, Moonlight is a tough watch. Thought-provoking for sure, but it’s entirely up to you to find a connection to these characters – or this character, only one is actually explored. The film is a three-part story. The first part is Little (young Chiron), a small African American kid bullied on a daily basis and raised by his crack-addicted mother, and even at that young age is searching for a better way of life.		2016 Directed by: Barry Jenkins Screenplay by: Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney Starring: Mahershala Ali, Trevante Rhodes

The Phenom: Movie Review

Interesting character study with unclear intentions.

The Phenom is not a baseball movie; that fact should make it more universal, but its disorienting structure and unclear journey do make this otherwise sound character study a difficult watch. Hopper Gibson (Johnny Simmons) is a young man who believes (and is told) that he is destined for greatness; however, to actually achieve that greatness, he must overcome personal demons from his past – mainly his abusive father. The story is an interesting and affecting one.		2016 Directed by: Noah Buschel Screenplay by: Noah Buschel Starring: Johnny Simmons, Ethan Hawke

Other People: Movie Review

Sweetly funny and insightfully dramatic.

Other People is sweetly funny, insightfully dramatic and an all-around crowd pleaser despite the tragic elements of the plot. David (Jesse Plemons) has returned home to be with his dying mother. He’s desperate to be the successful son, but he’s a comedy writer with no big gigs on the horizon and was recently dumped by his ex-boyfriend Paul (Zach Woods), so he’s content to just pretend that Paul is still his current boyfriend.		2016 Directed by: Chris Kelly Screenplay by: Chris Kelly Starring: Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon, Bradley Whitford