Handsome Jack 

The differences in these films could not be more blatant, and yet Gus Van Sant has found a way to portray the same messages and use the same techniques in each.

Hoppers is a fun ride with a deep message underneath. In true Pixar fashion, Hoppers explores the complexity of emotions and learning to be still in a world that demands fast progress. Through the main character Mabel, we are reminded what it is like to let ourselves feel big emotions. But also how not to be controlled by them. 

The Gates, John Burr’s new thriller film, is a disturbingly realistic portrayal of three Black twenty-somethings - Derek (Mason Gooding), Kevin (Algee Smith), and Tyon (Keith Powers), as they accidentally take a wrong turn into a gated community that’s more like a modern-day sundown town. The three friends witness a variety of crimes in their new surroundings, including an attempted homicide and an attempted rape. As they attempt to alert the authorities and do the right thing, they are thwarted at every turn by the worst horror stories of American conservatism - racist white suburbanites, reckless gun violence, corrupt police, religious mania, and a megalomaniacal pastor. 

Audition should be on everyone's list of Greatest Horror Film. So I urge you to give it a watch.  Maybe watch the last twenty minutes with your hands in front of your eyes. 

The Suicide Squad's Polka-Dot Man aka Abner Krill, played by David Dastmalchian, helped me come to terms with my own issues of anxiety.