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Don't Breathe is a tight, thriller that doesn't let up. There were several parts of the film where I was convinced we were nearing the end, only to be grabbed by the throat and dragged back in. Three young criminals are trying to get out of Detroit and onto bigger and better things. In order to do so they need cash, and lots of it. After receiving information on a potential big score, the group decides to go for it. The target is a blind, Iraq War veteran who is rumored to have $300,000 somewhere in his house. What looks like a cake walk turns into a nightmarish game of cat and mouse that will leave you truly holding your breath until the very end.

Alvarez reunites with Jane Levy, his leading lady from Evil Dead. Levy really wowed me in that film and I was excited to see her in a new role with new scares. While some actors are remembered for their screams in horror films, it's Levy's eyes that stand out. They convey so much emotion, and given that a good amount of this film requires her character to remain silent, she pulls it off brilliantly. Accompanying Levy is veteran actor Stephen Lang as The Blind Man. Lang's screen and stage presence is well documented in productions like Gettysburg, Avatar, and as Col. Jessup in the original stage production of A Few Good Men. His intimidating physique makes him the perfect choice to play this role.

Alvarez assembled a great team of actors, but his best selection might have been behind the camera with cinematographer Pedro Luque. He was the cinematographer for La Casa Muda, (The Silent House) a film that almost doesn't deserve the genius camera-work from Luque. He shot the film to appear like one continuous take and the result is truly unique. He didn't disappoint here either with some great tracking shots and an unforgettable chase scene in the basement.

Luque's images are made even creepier thanks to brilliant sound design. Sound ups are common in horror films, and there are plenty to jump at in this film. While those work great they can be tiresome. I prefer the quiet moments. The shuffling of feet, creaking floor boards, and muffled breathing not only intensify the mood, they force the viewer to fill in the silence with their own imagination. It's like when you here something in your own home and you don't know what it is. You run through every possible scenario until you find the source.

When the credits starting rolling I felt like I myself had spent the night in the house. With a run time of just under 90 minutes, they really jam packed every second of it. While the dialogue isn't anything to write home about (especially the first act), it doesn't detract from the story (I watch for scares, not for the conversations). A fine job all around and hopefully just the beginning of a long career for Alvarez. With two big films under his belt already, I can't wait to see what he has in store for us next!

The western genre can be as unkind as the west itself. If the stars aren't aligned you're in for a bumpy ride. The trail is especially hazardous for filmmakers today. Few try their hand at the old stereotypes. Recently the focus has been on the brutality of the environment and the weird folks one encounters while traversing the wilderness.

Slow West, sadly, is no exception. The photography is gorgeous, but breathtaking landscapes can only do so much. Just watch Tommy Lee Jones' 2014 western The Homesman (now streaming on Netflix) and you'll understand. Lots of beautiful images, but a weird, unappealing story that drags too long and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Slow West follows Jay (Kodi Smit- McPhee), a Scottish native who has come to America in search of his beloved Rose. While on the trail he encounters Silas (Michael Fassbender), an outlaw who takes Jay under his wing to help him journey across the land. Little does Jay know that Silas has other intentions.

While there is a fair amount to like in this film, the bad outweigh the good. For one, we have no idea how much time is passing. I think they tried to make it seem like more time had passed by having Silas give Jay a shave, but it felt awkward and out of place. And while Silas and Jay are very different at the start, as is the case for most duos in the genre, I didn't really see them bond over anything except for one particular scene where Jay figured out how to dry their clothes. Was that enough to win Silas' friendship?

Just when things start clicking between the two main characters we are already at the climax of the film. And that's a shame because the acting isn't that bad. I wanted at least another half hour of character development, especially once the bad guy shows up, played by one of my favorite characters actors Ben Mendelsohn. He has a certain look that he has nailed. That, "I might be cool right now but say the wrong thing and I will go off," look. He had it in last year's Starred Up. His character here comes in too late and there is not enough of him on screen.

For a film with the word, "Slow," in the title, this film moves way too fast. If you look back at other westerns their runtimes are typically in the 110 to 140 minute range. While there are few exceptions (High Noon being one), these stories take time to get through. And that feels right to me. Time was something a lot of cowpokes and frontiersmen had. There was no rush. This film flies to the finish, which us saying something because the landscape forces the characters to take their time. This film sort of cheats by using the forest as a cover for how much land is in front and behind them. But still, the story goes by way too fast. It sets itself up as a big adventure for Jay, but it really only takes about an hour before the big finale begins.

And don't get me started on the ending. I won't spoil it for you but it basically makes this entire film a wash. Nothing gained. I don't want to say I was mad, but I certainly wasn't pleased. I might have enjoyed it more if there was more filler before it happened, but it felt like I just waisted an hour and a half.

While I've done a good amount of trash talking about this, I can't say it's a bad film. It's just not for me. The camera work is good, the acting is solid (I'm a sucker for Fassbender), and the effects are fine. I guess I'm a little snobby about my westerns. I hate seeing the genre that I was raised on treated as a sideshow attraction. For a while I thought the genre, much like the west itself, had been conquered. Mapped out, drilled for oil, with nothing left but reminders of what it used to be. Luckily there are still a few gold nuggets left in those hills. While Slow West isn't the film the genre deserves, at least it tried.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is without a doubt the greatest piece of Star Wars content to be released by a major studio since Return of the Jedi. I'd go as far as to say it's one of the best science fiction films to be released in that time frame as well. J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost and more recently the man who revived an aging Star Trek franchise, outdid himself. Forget all of the hoopla surrounding George Lucas' distaste for the new film. He had his time, and when he was called upon to continue the saga he disappointed the fans. J.J. answered the call and hit a home run.

The film starts 30+ years after Return of the Jedi. A new darkness has taken hold of the galaxy in the form of The First Order. The group is picking up right where the Empire left off. It's sole mission: total domination of the galaxy, destroying anyone who stands in their way. Like the Empire, conformity is their model. Standing up to the school yard bully are the familiar rebels, this time in the form of the Resistance, allies to the Republic. I don't want to go too far into the plot as I think it best that you go in as fresh as possible (I was so close to making it!), but I assure you that this new crop of characters are the best since the original trilogy.

Abrams introduces us to several characters that within the first few minutes of screen time have more character and range than any and all of the prequel characters. Poe Dameron, Finn, Kylo Ren, Rey, and BB-8 have gone from faces in a movie trailer to household names virtually overnight. My brother said it best that BB-8 has more personality than all of the prequel characters combined, and he's right. These new characters have goals, ambition, emotions we can relate to, AND these characters fit in the Star Wars universe. At the end of the film I was genuinely curious about what would happen to them in the next film.

Characters aside, there's a lot to love about this film. My one wish going into the film was to have a fair amount of in camera effects and a plethora of aliens actually walking about. While it's unreasonable to expect there to be a Star Wars film completely void of major CGI characters and effects, boy did Abrams do right in my book. The film is full of great costumes, animatronics, and in camera effects that fans of the original films will get weak at the knees over. It felt like being back in a place with living trees, dry deserts, and frozen plains, not just a green screen with actors wearing sensor suits (though the film is not void of that).

So with great characters and living breathing aliens on distant planets, what else does this new film offer that the prequels were lacking? Story. The prequels had a lot of issues in regards to story. Pointless sequences that went on far too long to achieve very little, details that were both boring and disappointing to hear, and the atrocious display of lightsaber fights showcasing stunt choreography instead of the characters emotions. Lightsaber duels were representative of the struggle between two characters. Obi Wan and Darth Vader in A New Hope, and then Luke versus Vader in both Empire and Return. Those fights stood for the struggle against good and evil, an externalization of their feelings. The prequels had double sided sabers, acrobatic Jedis, and the coup de grace of lightsaber atrocities, the spinning quad sabers of General Grievous. This was my main gripe with the prequels, and I was really hoping would be corrected in the new film, and thank the maker it was. Without giving too much away, there is a lightsaber fight in the new film that is possibly the best in the entire series. It's full of emotion and representative of the struggles inside the characters.

There is an endless stream of outrage over what was done with the prequels, so I won't go into great lengths. There is one thing that couldn't be helped, regardless of who was writing or directing, and it's something J.J. did not have to deal with. One of the problems the prequels had to deal with is that the audience knows where the films needs to take us for Episode IV. That's the problem any filmmaker faces when making a prequel. Suffice to say J.J. and legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan had virtually free reign about where to take the franchise. This film strikes the perfect balance of acknowledging the original trilogy while not being afraid to take it in a new direction. Upon my second viewing I noticed a few more nods to the original films. They were subtle and didn't take me out of the story.

So here we are, entering 2016 with our seventh Star Wars film in the can, and lord knows how many more Star Wars iterations will be released in the coming years. I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years times we have twice as many films in the Star Wars catalog to talk about. I don't know if that's a good thing, but only time will tell. For the moment, let's take a moment and enjoy what we have. J.J. has given us a wildly entertaining film that will be torn apart, raised up, and talked about for years to come.