danieljfarthing

In 2017's 1996-set slow-burn dramatic thriller "Super Dark Times" Owen Campbell, Charlie Tahan, Sawyer Barth, & Max Talisman are average high-schoolers doing typical teen boy stuff (like discussing girls like Elizabeth Cappuccino) around their small upstate NY town... 'til a tragic accident plunges them into 'super dark times' when guilt, paranoia, and even madness grip. Co-writers Luke Piotrowski & Ben Collins (in their second of now many collaborations) nail the screenplay by balancing age & period details with the plot's growing tension, all of which Kevin Phillips brings home perfectly (in still the only full-length film he's directed). An excellent & original movie.

In stylish but pretentiously artsy drama "The Uninvited" Hollywood agent Walton Goggins (always good) & ex-actress wife Elizabeth Reaser (outstanding) host a party for guests including actors Pedro Pascal (Reaser's first love who supposedly oozes charm - tho Pascal doesn't convey that) & Goggins' main client Rufus Sewell (with actress gf Eva Di Dominici). As domestic issues unfold (particularly between Goggins & Reaser) elderly Lois Smith pitches up with her dementia apparently convincing her she lives there. What writer / director Nadia Conners intended with it all in her second film is unclear even after the credits roll. It's quite nice to look at, but ultimately meh.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins tragically died shooting long, cheap-feeling, 1800s-set western "Rust" in which 13yr old Patrick Scott McDermott is to hang for an accidental slaying... til Alec Baldwin, the outlaw gramps he never knew, busts him outta jail and they make for Mexico - chased by the law (led by Josh Hopkins) and various bounty hunters (inc Travis Fimmel (good again)). Director Joel Souza fails to evoke a true gritty western feel, and while his screenplay has memorable lines it's relatively flat. It is a shame that this wasn't a better film for Hutchins' sake, but for those desperate for a western it'll still work... there are just so many so much better movies in the genre.