First Reformed (2017)

Ethan Hawke stars as a reverend of a very old church for tourists who begins to question his faith. The philosophical musings of the reverend in his journal are fascinating. Here's the gist: two of his few congregants are about to have a baby, and the father is questioning the morality of bringing a child into a world destined for environmental destruction. Aren't we destroying God's creation? This is a movie for our time. Ethan Hawke is superb. And I love the cinematography; the frames-within-frames are Wong Kar Wai-esque. The movie does get weird. The first hint is the creepy eye-of-god lamp in the living room. Well, actually, I guess the first hint is the constricting aspect ratio. Then there is the magical mystery tour with the jarring digital images of environmental destruction. First off, what the hell is that magical mystery tour? And then I was very unsatisfied by the ending. If they had just cut ten seconds earlier, it would've been fine. She could theoretically save him without the awkwardly long kiss.

Dog Eat Dog (2016)

I was a little disappointed that Nicholas Cage didn't show up to the morning screening, but I was otherwise pleasantly surprised by his performance. This could have been a tired old crime story, but under Paul Schrader's direction we get a fresh take. In the Q&A, he gave an example of how he updated the classic genre. The strip club has been done before, so he did it in black and white. And the contrast between the black and white with the solid vibrant blues and reds (notably resembling police lights, or a drug-induced high) is striking. The use of color in this film is one of its greatest stylistic strengths. Willem Dafoe is really creepy. The first shot is a close up of his deranged face. And then in a manner reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film, he commits an admittedly stylish bloody double murder.  And then of course there is Nicholas Cage. And he is Nicholas Cage as usual, but it kind of works here. It is almost a parody of that type of character and he plays it up.