Movies, Film, and Chili

  Barbarian is about a woman staying at an AirBnB and discovers that there is more to the house she has rented than what was expected. Written and Directed by Zach Cregger, Barbarian is the third film behind Miss March and The Civil War on Drugs. Both were forgettable and both were before Cregger knew really how to direct. This change is night and day, almost like how Ben Affleck made the switch over from doing Gili in 2003 to The Town in 2010. The writing is just shy of great. A great horror film will keep you wondering just how things will end. There certainly were moments I was wondering just how Cregger would end this film. There are some predictable scenes and certain directorial choices make you believe for a second that something else is happening entirely. There is one scene of exposition I despised and didn't help the storyline at all except pander to audiences that aren't intelligent. Georgina Campbell plays Tess, the main character. She is expressive and carries the

  Emily the Criminal is about the downward spiral of a woman with nowhere else to turn but a life of crime. John Patton Ford first film for which he has both writing and directing credits.   I was genuinely surprised by this film. I didn't know what to expect from Ford and I only saw the film because of the lead. It's got really good pacing and camera choices. Also how he wrote Emily was perfect. The story sort of dragged a bit towards the end and the ending was predictable. Emily is played by Aubrey Plaza  for whom I have glowing regard. I'll watch pretty much anything she comes out with as long as she keeps putting out movies like this. She plays the character really well. She does what she can with the dialogue that has her on one note the entire time. You'd expect a negative character arch with a title like this and yet you'll still end up rooting for her. Empathy goes a long way. You might know Plaza from  Safety Not Guaranteed, and  Parks and Recreation . Theo

  Pearl is written, edited, and directed by Ti West . Pearl is a prequel to X which came out earlier this year.  Ti West  had some bold choices when he wrote this movie with Mia Goth . It's certainly fresh when it comes to ideas and difficult to compare it to other movies when it's so unique. How many movies are a prequel set sixty years before the first one about the origin story of a psychopath? There were so many details that were very specific that it's a shame West won't receive an oscar nomination for either of these movies as horror gets snubbed stereotypically. I also had no idea that West did a segment in V/H/S, and his direction makes me want to go watch The House of the Devil, which is still on my list. Mia Goth has so many moments that will remain in my memory. Her performance is an instant classic and will be a reference material for future film majors. Since she was in both X and Pearl the parallelism between the two characters is just perfect, almost like