Would You Rather
Netflix Streaming | Amazon Instant Video
Directed by David Guy Levy
Written by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen
Starring Brittany Snow, June Squibb, Jeffrey Combs, Jonny Coyne, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Enver Gjokaj, Sasha Grey, John Heard, Charlie Hofheimer, Robin Lord Taylor, Eddie Steeples, Robb Wells.
IFC Films | Periscope Entertainment
Rated R | 93 Minutes
Original Release Date: October 14th, 2012

The best places to find horror movies are on streaming sites. Most of the horror that ends up in theatres are money grabs that rely totally on jump scares and cheap parlor tricks… I’m talking movies like Ouija, Annabelle, and the dreadful looking, upcoming Sinister 2. But horror fans can rely on sites like Netflix to update regularly, and breathe some fresh air into otherwise stale genres. After nearly twenty minutes of “spin the queue” last night, I settled on Would You Rather. The film’s cast struck me right away as it’s two featured stars were Brittany Snow (great in Hairspray and the Pitch Perfect films) and Dr. Herbert West himself, horror veteran Jeffrey Combs. The plot seemed utterly simple: 8 people under desperate financial stress are invited to a dinner party hosted by an eccentric millionaire. Together, they’ll play a game, and the winner will be taken care of. What could possibly go wrong?

Nebraska
Director: Alexander Payne
Screenwriter: Bob Nelson
Cast: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacy Keach, Bob Odenkirk
Paramount Vantage
Rated R | 110 Minutes
Release Date: December 6, 2013

“I told him I ain’t fiddlin’ with no cow titties.”

That’s no-nonsense June Squibb (About Schmidt), who plays a salt-of-the-Earth Midwestern wife in Nebraska, an affectionate and resonate comedy-drama about family dysfunction.

Directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants), the black-and-white film stars Bruce Dern as Woody Grant, a man with dementia from Billings, Montana who is convinced he’s won a million dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.

His son, David (Will Forte, MacGruber), begrudgingly agrees to drive him to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim his winnings. Along the way, father and son visit Woody’s birthplace for an impromptu family reunion where David learns all about his estranged father’s troubled past.

Beautifully shot and brilliantly written, Nebraska is a devastatingly authentic portrait of fathers and sons and the space between them. Alexander Payne is a humanist filmmaker; he cares deeply for his characters no matter their flaws. You know these people – they’re your parents, your siblings – they’re part of your life, for better or worse.