You think you're done with the past, but the past is not done with you.

Yay! With Oscar season looming closer we are finally getting into the season of good movies! Unfortunately, the first half of 2015 has not been that great, with very little good original films, but the films coming out from August onwards are (and look like they are going to be) great!

I'm especially keen for The Martian at the beginning of October, but other films that look super interesting are: Sicario, Everest, Black Mass, Legend, Secret in Their Eyes, Bridge of Spies, The Revenant (next year), The Hateful Eight (next year) and Steve Jobs.

For laughs, there's also American Ultra (already in theatres) and The Intern.

Other films that may be good are The Walk, Room (next year), Joy, The Good Dinosaur, and Southpaw (I don't think this is in cinemas still but I will be renting it regardless).

Then there's the franchise films coming out, like Spectre, Mockingjay Part 2, and of course Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.

So those are the films I'm keen to see coming out these next few months; I've linked the trailers to each one so feel free to watch them! But definitely watch The Martian's trailer; it looks so good! It's got a great cast and I'm hoping it marks Ridley Scott's return to form.

But anyway, let's get back to one of the films that marks this great season of movies.


The Gift (2015)

7.5/10 on IMDb
93% on Rotten Tomatoes
A young couple moves into a new home and, upon happenstance, run into a schoolmate of the husband's. At first, things seem friendly, but as this man from the past continually leaves more and more gifts, intrudes more and more into their daily lives, and gives off more and more of a creepy vibe, we start to uncover unsettling details of the two men's past.

First things first, let's give a big round of applause to Joel Edgerton (pronounced Edge-erton by the way (yes, I checked interviews)). This guy deserves massive props because not only did he write this film, direct it, and star in it... it's the FIRST feature film he has directed. And it is AMAZING. This guy is seriously slaying it.

Starring alongside him is Jason Bateman, and while he is the main character in this film, I felt like he was overshadowed by Joel Edgerton and Rebecca Hall's performances. Chris Stuckmann said that he thought Jason Bateman completely disappeared into this role, but to me it just seemed like the same old (albeit more serious) Jason Bateman we've seen in other things. His voice is the same, his body language is the same, everything's sorta the same.

Joel Edgerton, though, did a really great job at being a really creepy guy. Seriously, he gave me the heebie jeebies. Just watching the trailer, you knew he was going to be creepy, but his performance is still great enough to creep you out even more. The directing is also fantastic because it really built up that tension and creepiness. I am TERRIBLE with horror movies, like there is absolutely no way you can get me to watch a supernatural horror movie willingly, so psychological horrors are the most that I can willingly bear (and yes, I watched this film willingly because I thought the creepiness looked great), but this was honestly done so well. There are TWO crazy scenes where the directing builds everything up, and there is so much tension and emotion in it.

Rebecca Hall was also great in this; she is completely different here from her other performances (The Prestige; Iron Man 3), and she even kept reminding me of Anne Hathaway with her short hair and the way she smiles. Her body language and everything was really great and natural, and also helped in building up that tension.

So let's get to the plot.

The plot is pretty creepy. The trailer kind of tells you everything, except WHY. And so I went here thinking it would be something pretty simplistic; like a simple reason that makes sense for everything.

Instead, I was completely blown away by how the plot of this film gradually unveiled itself, and I was so surprised by how realistic this film is.

This film is creepy because you are dealing with things that could happen to any single one of us. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet (but all my comments about spoilers are below), so I'll just really briefly say that a lot of the times, we as humans don't really think of the consequences of minor actions we do or minor words we speak. We forget that our actions and our words affect those around us.

~SPOILERS~ about the ending

Sometimes we don't mean the things we say; sometimes they're just jokes that the 'victim' can just shrug off. Sometimes, we do intend for our words or actions to hurt others, but the victim can still just shrug it off. But this film shows you what happens when it doesn't quite go down that well. Of course, it's a more exaggerated version of when the victim doesn't and can't just shrug it off, but it's still a really plausible and realistic scenario.

In this scenario, all the bad stars so happened to align, and the result is a long series of misfortunes.

What Jason Bateman's character did as a kid could be what quite a lot of people might do (after all, as they say in the film, kids are cruel). It's sort of in our nature to be slightly mean to others.

But I'm not taking his side, because he took it a few steps too far by 1) completely making everything up, 2) not coming out to say that it was all false, and 3) not apologising or even acknowledging that what he did was wrong, even as an adult.

However, it's still a really plausible scenario. Instead of the film going down an obvious plot, such as "You murdered someone I loved and that screwed me up and now your past is going to haunt you", its plot is more realistic and relatable for us as normal citizens, because it deals with bullying. The fact that it is so common to bully someone, or make a joke about someone, or prank them, or 'troll' them, means that this film was carried out really really well for something so realistic to carry such weight for the audience.

Of course, the film isn't saying that these things are downright evil and will definitely lead to a creepy guy leaving weird gifts at your doortstep 20 years later when you've forgotten all about him. Instead, I believe the film is talking about all the chances that Jason Bateman's character had.

He had so many opportunities to right his wrongs, but he didn't.

And I really think that that is the crux of the film's morale.

Everyone does bad things. Everyone can be a bully or a mean-spirited person. BUT, we have the chance to right our wrongs.

Another interesting point is that you can't really side with anyone in this film (except the poor, innocent wife). Simon is evil, and he did a really terrible thing to Gordo. But you can't side with Gordo because, even though he is the victim, his victimisation leads to his evilness. So essentially you have two evil characters here. So, the film is also saying that you could single-handedly effect and change someone's life for the worse, just through a few minor words or actions (or, in this case, a few unspoken words or by actually not carrying out certain actions.

So the film has a great morale to it, and the plot is executed really well. I recommend seeing it, but it's not necessary to see it in the cinemas. I have thought long and hard about this, and I will even say that I think it is worth a second viewing, just to look over at all the hints that are dropped throughout the film. It's a great film about morality, consequences, and retribution, with an open ending that leaves you to decide and make any conclusion you want out of it.