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This film only boasts 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I'd highly suggest the faux documentary style. Choppy film clips and raw seemingly unscripted dialog place the audience immediately in the film. The Sacrament follows the plot of Jonestown fairly closely, and viewers can't help but find themselves invested in the plight of those held at the encampment. Reviewers found it slow moving, however I found the pace to only feed into the anxieties the film creates, and allows time for viewers to grow invested and begin to care about the characters. Watch The Sacrament if you're a fan of documentaries, like vice-style writing, or don't mind the grittier side. 
Race to Nowhere is a documentary focusing on the pressures of the American education system, and how damaging it is to the American youth. This film combines interviews, statistics, and testimonials to create an all encompassing call to action to reduce the stress we put on our children and teens. I found this film to only reiterate things I already knew from growing up in the American school system, however I still found it very meaningful. Especially, with school back in session in the next few weeks, I highly suggest this film as a wake up call to all students, educators, parents, and school administrators. Race to Nowhere is available on Netflix now. 
***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*** I recently saw the movie “Paper Towns,” the film adaption of the 2008 John Green novel of the same title. The film starred Nat Wolff as Quentin Jacobsen, Cara Delevingne as Margo Roth Spiegelman, Austin Abrams as Ben Starling, Justice Smith as Marcus Lincoln, Halston Sage as Lacey Pemberton, and Jaz Sinclair as Angela (found here on IMDB) The movie follows Quentin “Q” (Wolff) as he and his friends Ben (Abrams) and Marcus “Radar” (Smith) navigate through their senior year of high school in Orlando, Florida. Q never spoke to his neighbor Margo (Delevingne) much, not after he refused to help her sneak out to Seaworld when they were 8-years old. He regretted the decision ever since, and believed he would get a second chance to spend time with the love of his life. And one night, he does. Margo asks for his help in extracting a revenge plot against her ex-boyfriend and former best friends, one of whom was sleeping with her boyfriend at the time. Margo wants to right all the wrongs (and wrong a few rights) in her life. And, best of all, Q finally has his chance at redemption. He believes that things will change for him and Margo after that night, because she was his miracle, his chance at true love. But when Margo disappears (again), Q believes she wants him to find her after finding as series of clues she leaves behind. He and his two friends Ben and Radar, along with Radar’s girlfriend Angela (Sinclair) and Margo’s [former] best friend who knew nothing about the cheating incident Lacey (Sage), travel thousands of miles from Orlando, Florida to the paper town of Agloe, New York. This is where Q hopes to find Margo, waiting for them. Except she isn’t there, no matter how hard the five high schoolers search. Believing that Margo was waiting for him somewhere, Q volunteers himself to stay behind in New York as his friends returned to Florida for their senior prom. While purchasing bus tickets at a station in a nearby town, Q catches a glimpse of Margo outside the window (such convenient timing). He runs to her, calls her name, and sure enough, it’s her. This is my favorite part of the movie (and book), when Q confronts Margo, telling her that he found the clues she left for him and travelled all the way to New York to find her. I love this, because Margo didn’t want to be found. She didn’t expect Q to drive all the way to New York, she left the clues to let him (but not just him, everyone) know that she was alive and well somewhere in the world. And that’s when Q realizes that Margo is just a person, she isn’t a miracle and she isn’t anyone special. He was idealizing her as his savior, the love of his life even though he barely knew her (as she points out at the end of the movie). That was the main reason I enjoyed this movie. While full of clichés, I found it refreshing that in the end, the boy didn’t get the girl. He got something much more valuable; his friends. After confronting Margo for the last time, Q returns to Florida and rushes to prom to dance with his friends. He realizes that they were his miracle all along, that he didn’t need Margo Roth Spiegelman to find adventure in his life. The casting for this movie was very well done, as each actor/actress fit their role perfectly. I especially liked Wolff as Q, Delevingne as Margo, and the small cameo of Ansel Elgort as the convenience store clerk (Elgort held a lead role in Green’s other book-to-movie adaptation, “The Fault in Our Stars”). Each actor did a very believable job within their role, especially Delevingne, having very little prior acting experience. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys John Green books/movies, and doesn’t mind cliché teen movies. This movie definitely isn’t for everyone, and I wouldn’t call it a piece of cinematic brilliance, but it did offer some of that John Green charm that made it enjoyable to watch.    Note: any and all images are very definitely not our own, all from the official Facebook page.
Dogtooth is a gem I found on Netflix a few years ago. I've only seen it once, and it has since been removed from Netflix, but it deeply resonated with me. It can be found for free on Hulu (for mature audiences only, please) Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Dogtooth is the very best kind of bad trip. A pair of hyper-protective parents keep three children locked down on a compound until their 'dogtooth' falls out. The parents are attempting to protect their young from the sins of the outside world, but end up creating a new kind of sinner. This film is not for the squeamish, but I highly recommend it. It's definitely in my top 5. A tiny kitten does get killed, so if you don't want to watch that, maybe fast forward 5 minutes once you see the kitten? Regardless, Dogtooth is a massively important statement on raising children in this world. For fans of The Virgin Suicides and Melancholia, you should definitely check it out.   I’ve always loved the animated Disney and Pixar movies, especially the classic ones (and the ones from the 90’s, being a 90’s kid and all). But it’s hard to pick just one or two favorites, when each decade of movies has its own personality. So the only way to truly pick your favorites is to choose several from each decade, and here are mine. Maybe we even share some in common.
The Beginning (1930s): “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” (1937) Honorable mentions: N/A The Named-After-the-Protagonist Era (1940s): “Bambi” (1942) Honorable mentions: “Fantasia” (1940) The Well-Known Classics I (1950s): “Alice in Wonderland” (1951) Honorable mentions: “Lady and the Tramp” (1955), “Peter Pan” (1953) The Well-Known Classics II (1960s): “The Sword in the Stone” (1963) Honorable mentions: “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (1961) The Era of Talking Animals (1970s): “Robin Hood” (1973) Honorable mentions: “The Aristocats” (1970) The Depression Era (1980s): “Oliver & Company” (1988) Honorable mentions: “The Little Mermaid” (1989), “The Great Mouse Detective” (1986), “The Fox and the Hound” (1981) The Renaissance Era (1990s): “The Lion King” (1994) Honorable mentions: “Aladdin” (1992), “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride” (1998), “Hercules” (1997), “Pocahontas” (1995), “Tarzan” (1999), “A Goofy Movie” (1995), “Toy Story” (1995), “Mulan” (1998) “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) The New Era (2000s): “Lilo & Stitch” (2002) Honorable mentions: “Dinosaur” (2000), “The Emperor’s New Groove” (2000), “Monsters, Inc.” (2001), “Finding Nemo” (2003), “The Incredibles” (2004), “Cars” (2006), “The Princess and the Frog” (2009) The Revamped Era (2010s): “Tangled” (2010) Honorable mentions: “Brave” (2012), “Wreck-It Ralph” (2012), “Big Hero 6” (2014), “Frozen” (2013) You need to watch this. You know it's going to be a good review when it starts with a directive to watch the film... The Punk Singer is a film about Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre), a punk feminist icon who all but dropped off the face of the Earth in 2005. This documentary provides awesome insight into who she is, what she stands for and how she got to be what she is. Artfully directed by Sini Anderson, The Punk Singer will have you screaming about what you believe in, in no time. An engaging look into the riot grrrrl movement and how hard it is to be a pioneer, definitely watch this,  Here's my watchlist as of 8/2 in it's entirety. No judgement please, I know you have just as many embarrassing titles.
Let me know what you think I should be watching. Here goes:
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