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Opus chronicles the return of a famous and successful musical artist who is releasing a new album after 30 years. To market this return, the artist invites a select few media folk that are at the top of their professions. And, included in this group, is one underling who has yet to make a break into the media world.

What follows is a trippy stay at the artist's compound with all of his followers. And it isn't too difficult to recognize this commune as a cult. The underling has some difficulty adapting to this type of living, and she seeks more information while the others accept the service and strangeness of the estate.

Highlights of Opus first and foremost is the acting. All of the cast is excellent embodying their characters without falling into full parody.

The plot has more psychological horror than full gore horror. And I think this is where people felt this movie failed. Second to this, the focus of satire on the world of the famous and those that adore them is skewered. Third, our own desires for fame ans glory come into play.

Watch Opus if you are willing to have the mirror held up to your face and our cult of fame.

He Never Left is a smaller film, and in some ways, I appreciate what it is trying to do. Production is decent. Acting is okay if a bit grating. Plot tries to be intriguing, but it comes across a bit to simplistic, even if everything isn't known up front. The plot combines two storylines that are unconnected but by the barest of a thread. And this connection doesn't make a difference in the overall story, just a weird coincidence. So why bother?

I wanted to like this more than I did. The bleak ending didn't help as I don't appreciate evil winning just to make for a "cute" ending. Hopefully, they won't make a sequal anytime soon. Tired characters didn't help as they just became lame tropes of standard wrong doers. But, the parts didn't add up to much. Oh well.

Presence has an innovative filming technique: it comes from the perspective of the ghost. Beyond that, this is a retread of other small idea films that don't have much to say individually, and when combined, they still don't say much.

Family moves to a new house after the daughter has a close friend die of an overdose. So, what follows is the daughter is "depressed" and acts out, the brother is contemptuous of this, mother ignores the daughter to dote on #1 son, and dad is passive against mother but tries to ease daughter's pain.

Oh, and add in a shady popular boy from the high school who is obviously slimy, and a movie you have! Plus, there are some spooky special effects to show that the ghost has the ability to interact with the corporeal world. Boo! Scary.

I'm a fan of Soderbergh as a director and what he has accomplished over his career. It's sad to see a novel technique ruined by the slimmest of plotting lines that copy standard ideas leaving not much for the actors to do or for the story to unfold. Callina Liang does well keeping the film interesting from her perceptive. Chris Sullivan display empathy well as the father. Lucy Liu and Eddy Maday provide obnoxious one note characticature performances of self-invovled ego centric people.

Watch Unsane for some innovative film making with a story to tell.