HEREDITARY (2018)

"...the characters had no hope. They never had hope..."

HEREDITARY is fucking dope.  If you haven't seen it, fuck this shitty review and just go watch it.  Twice.  The first time to be disturbed and the second time to enjoy how masterfully director/writer Ari Aster unfolds the story.  The story itself, once you figure it out, isn't all that original (Remember Mary Young Cheney Greeley from your history classes?), but the way the story is presented on the screen is goddamn amazing.  I love it!  I wish there were more movies like this.  Hell, I wish I could live in a movie like this.  Especially the last act.

The home life of the Graham family ain't all that great.  Sure, they might live in an awesome house on a nice quiet neighborhood, but instead of living the good life, the daughter is cutting the heads off of small animals, the son is bashing his face into a desk, the father is bursting into flames and the mother, well, you don't even wanna know what she's up to!  Shit will give you fucking nightmares.

I could go on about HEREDITARY for a long time (the symbols, the stuff in the classrooms, the dude at the funeral, etc.), but I don't want to ruin it too much for anybody who hasn't seen it.  Just watch it.  Pay attention to the small details.  Put your goddamn phone down and pay attention.  Watch it alone.  At night.  With the lights down low.

If you need me, I'll be in my treehouse praying to Paimon for Hereditary 2: Electric Boogaloo. 

P.S. Bring your dick!

MILLER'S CROSSING (1990)

I've seen a number of films based (sometimes uncredited) on the writings of Dashiell Hammett, but only MILLER'S CROSSING comes close to what I see in my head when reading one of his wonderful stories.

Set in the United States during the Prohibition-era, two rival gangsters run the unnamed city.  Albert Finney is the older, more established of the two, but the other, Jon Polito, is gaining power.  Theirs is an uneasy relationship, but when Polito requests permission to kill a protected bookie (Turturro), Finney says no...cause he's boinking Turturro's sister, Marsha Gay Harden.  Finney's right hand man, Gabriel Byrne, tries to convince Finney that he should give up Turturro because he knows he's gonna lead to an all out war, but Finney is defiant.  Things happen and Byrne finds himself on the receiving end of Finney's wrath, so he switches his loyalty over to Polito, but this is only a ruse to intensify the war and cause the two gangs to destroy each other.

If you look it up, MILLER'S CROSSING it didn't get shit for awards when it was released and actually bombed at the box office making back less than half of its budget.  Which is a real shame. I guess audiences back in 1990 weren't interested in an intricately written, superbly acted and expertly directed film about the Prohibition filled with awesome violence and murder.

Highly, highly recommended.  If you need me I'll be in my room reading "The Glass Key".