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High Rise isn't just a movie about insane people; it also seems to be a movie created by insane people. This is the kind of feeling you get when you watch the first montage in the film, which comes at about the 30 minute mark and sits in place of the actual drama of the story, leaving you with a movie that's less about the destruction of the High Rise and more about the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the High Rise. It's an incredibly strange narrative choice, though I imagine it was made by Ballard and not Wheatley/Jump, the husband/wife director/writer collaborators, and I imagine it's the exact reason, along with the rest of the strange narrative and visual directions this film takes, why so many people have been giving it bad reviews. The movie is incredibly loose by design. Someone else on here used the term, "a series of vignettes," and that's quite accurate. It feels like you're watching a series of vignettes, as the whole film slowly achieves perfect nightmare status, ending with a Brian De Palma- esque kaleidoscope shot. What I'm trying to say is, this isn't your typical dystopian film, but that doesn't mean it's a bad film. I actually quite enjoyed it. I spent most of the time smiling with brief intermissions for the really horrifying stuff. It's just an original, fun, movie that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. If I went back in time and wanted to shock someone from the past by showing them how crazy movies have gotten, I would probably choose High Rise.

Everybody Wants Some!! was a perfect film for this moment: it consists of little more than a bunch of overly-competitive jocks joking with each other, partying, and trying to get laid over the course of three days before school even starts. It's intelligently written, fun, well-acted, and well-shot. What more could you ask for? Linklater, of course, does it all in a slice of life fashion: the opening of the film doesn't even attempt to describe what's going to happen and the end of the film barely describes what happened beforehand. The movie is almost meditative, and yet continually looking for stimulus in the largest and tiniest things... really whatever kind of stimulus they can get their hands on. Story-wise, it unfolds over almost every part of the era, which is, as far as I could tell, undefined yet seemingly somewhere during the 80s. Each night takes us to a different flavor of the time: disco, punk, you name it... but the genius of the script is that you don't really realize you've been given a tasting menu until you've already eaten everything. It just seems natural when it happens. Everything in this film seems natural, and that's a credit to the director, but also the actors. I imagine casting was the most important part of putting this film together and it seems to have been a success: every actor kills their part. Were they even acting? I have a feeling they were just being themselves. If you want to watch some kids mess around and laugh with them or at them, Everybody Wants Some!! not only is your movie, but probably will be your movie for a long time coming.

The best part about The Witch, besides the acting, is the dichotomy between drama and what is actually a surprisingly fast paced and accessible horror movie (with few genre clichés.) The film could be looked at as two separate stories heavily intertwined: the supernatural horror of the woods vs the very real terror of violence erupting within the family, and amazingly this is all done seamlessly, missing no beats and never seeming to give up one for the other. In that way, The Witch has the elegance of a clever children's story (A New England Folk Tale to be precise) with the intensity of a melodrama. This would never have worked if the cast didn't kill every role, but luckily for us they did; they murdered those roles.

I don't think I've ever actually seen a movie during which people, in the middle of a crowd, screamed. The Witch did that. The Witch made people scream and gasp so loud the whole room heard and it did other things too: it told an engrossing, intelligent story. There are minor "complaints" I may have that keep it from being 10/10 (the shots don't carry the film as much as the writing,) but really this is a horror film that could easily make a top ten list. It's just good fun (and the ending is great... don't bash the ending... people are bashing the ending but I don't know why... it's really a perfect ending...)