WILD WILD COUNTRY
How can this happen?
I certainly don’t remember reading about this in our history books. Starting in 1981, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a spiritual leader from India, brings his followers from around the world to create a community within a small town in Oregon. Over six episodes, we spin further and further down the rabbit hole in this crazy, fascinating, and unbelievable doc series about a controversial moment in the United States. The details are for you to discover, yet the line that separates good and evil is a very thin one. More so, the separation between church and state is put through the ringer on a national stage. But, quite a bit of the rhetoric you hear back then sounds all too familiar.
The truth can be a funny thing. And, there are a handful of individuals with such different feelings and an overall outlook on who they are and what they represent –the whole journey is mind-blowing. Some will see it as manipulation of a cult leader while others will resonate with that overwhelming feeling of a presence washing over you. There are no easy answers. Directors Chapman and Maclain Way will keep you repeatedly rethinking about how you feel about everyone and everything.
ROXANNE ROXANNE
Chante Adams is the highlight of this teenage tale of a hip-hop legend, focusing on her tumultuous relationships with her mother and her abusive husband. But, director Michael Larnell does it from a light, standard approach without letting her bask in her genius that a lot of us never knew and still don’t.
THE TITAN
Netflix just can’t seem to get a sci-fi movie worth watching. In this genetically mutated story, Sam Worthington becomes a Man-Bat in order to save mankind on Earth. You read that right. It’s way too tough to take any of this seriously. Still, kudos to Taylor Schilling for trying to keep us engaged, but the task is too much in this unbelievable waste of space.
FIRST MATCH
A teenage girl hoping to reconnect with her father becomes the only girl on her high school wrestling team in this trying yet tenderhearted drama. Director Olivia Newman can’t escape the familiarity of dysfunction and desperation; but, the terrific Elvire Emmanuel delicately portrays a hardened life where she’s become exceptional at struggling on the streets while conquering on the mat.
6 BALLOONS
A short, unsteady movie about addiction and the sacrifices made by an addict’s loyal family. Abbi Jacobson and Dave Franco are stellar as siblings trying to make it through 24 hours, drowning in suffering and sadness with a small salutary sign of recovery.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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