Tag: Amanda Seyfried

It’s okay to walk away from ‘You Should Have Left’

Jeff Mitchell

“You Should Have Left” – “Violent or upsetting dreams are the mind’s attempt to release the pressures of our daily thoughts and fears.” Theo Conroy (Kevin Bacon) frequently listens to self-help audiobooks these days.  You see, he has bad dreams, and the latest includes his 6-year-old daughter Ella (Avery Tiiu Essex):  a creepy man, who partially conceals his face with a baseball hat and glasses, attacks Ella in her bedroom.  This horrible visual would undoubtedly send any semi-caring father into a tizzy. Theo, however, is a full-caring father, and outside…

Schrader and Hawke form a dark, absorbing partnership in ‘First Reformed’

Jeff Mitchell

“First Reformed” – Rev. Toller (Ethan Hawke) isn’t well. He’s hurting both mentally and physically. At 46, he feels lost.  To cope, he drinks.  He drinks too much. Thankfully, he is working.  Reverend Kyles (Cedric the Entertainer) secured him a job at the First Reformed Church.  A small, tourist place of worship, which is known more for its history rather than its present.  The pews remain mostly empty during Rev. Toller’s Sunday sermons, save a handful of followers, but First Reformed was built in 1767, and it is about to…