I was doing some research on plot twists in movies and the majority of the lists feature movies that have plot twists that occur at the end. I won’t list them all, but films like The Sixth Sense, Psycho, and Sleepaway Camp are a few examples of films where the surprise comes so late, it makes the viewer reconsider everything that happened before it (and maybe even inspire a re-watch of the film to look for missed clues). In director Adam Schindler‘s new thriller, Intruders, the twist doesn’t want a re-watch, it wants the viewer’s attention as soon as possible, occurring early in the film.

Beth Riesgraf plays Anna, a 20-something young woman living with, and caring for, her sick brother, Conrad (Timothy T. McKinney). Anna is trapped in her own home by acute agoraphobia. But one of the few other people she has contact with is the young man (Rory Culkin) who delivers daily prepared meals to the parentless siblings. When her brother dies, Anna inherits a considerable sum of money, left to her entirely in cash. A trio of thugs (Jack Kesy, Joshua Mikel, and Martin Starr) catch wind of this windfall and attempt to break into the home. But they didn’t account for her agoraphobia keeping her home. While the thieves turn the house upside-down looking for the cash, Anna turns the tables on them and the terrorizers become the terrified.

Early on, Intruders looks as if it’s going to be just another home invasion thriller. After the set-up leaves the protagonist physically trapped (by agoraphobia) and emotionally vulnerable (sad because of her brother’s death), she spends the better part of the rest of the film trying to outwit her attackers while overcoming her own personal issues. It’s pretty comparable to Panic Room in that way.

To get to the twist, one must first tolerate the clichéd first act (although, to be fair, that cliché helps make the twist all the more twisted). It starts out well, but once the dimensionally bereft bad guys appear (the Alpha Male, his weaker brother, and the sadist), Schindler’s direction becomes more of a stale paint-by-numbers. Still, the early going has its bright spots, led by veteran Riesgraf, who gives a terrific performance as the grieving sister and trapped agoraphobe. Another veteran—from the other side of the camera—is set decorator John Gathright, whose eye for detail allows Anna’s house to say a lot about her fragile psyche.

Then the twist happens.

I’ll issue the Spoiler Alert now, since the twist is its selling point. Without it, the film is just another home invasion thriller. In fact, not only does the twist happen early in Intruders, it’s sold about halfway through the trailer as the reason to see the film in the first place. You have now been warned.

The twist is that the basement of Anna’s house is something of an underground prison and torture chamber. It’s complete with retracting stairs to trap people in the basement, an assortment of instruments designed to deliver pain, and a few other unsettling things best not mentioned here. Anna knows her way around all these things, giving her something of a Jekyll/Hyde persona, only softly sinister. It’s a delicious twist, offering the viewer everything from the refreshing sight of a power struggle shifting to the woman’s favor (instead of the man’s), to the relief that the film is not just another home invasion thriller. Riesgraf revs up her performance here, turning out her character’s lifetime of psychological oppression into a measured burn.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is once the twist happens and the viewer’s excitement is ignited about the endless possibilities these turned tables offer. Intruders quickly disintegrates and exposes itself as having no real possibilities. The drop-off is jarring. Once the trio of intruders (and that delivery boy, too) are in the basement, what more is there to do other than have the woman terrorize the men? Once that trick is played the first time, the film can only manage to limp along as home invasion thriller-turned-torture horror. The only maintaining interest is wanting to know why this frightful basement exists. It’s explained, and quite satisfactorily. But that explanation should be the reward; instead, it’s the consolation prize.

Hollywood is a town full of bad ideas. So when a great one comes along but is poorly executed, it’s more than an opportunity missed, it’s an opportunity wasted. With Intruders (previously titled Shut In), director Schindler and screenwriters T.J. Cimfel and David White prove to be another in a long line of filmmakers guilty of being so enamored by the originality of their twist, they simply let that twist try to carry them instead of building a strong showcase around it.

Topping the first season’s elaborate dick equation would be nearly impossible to do, but season two of Silicon Valley had plenty of funny moments of its own. Although director Mike Judge stretched the plotline thin throughout the season, there were so many great comedic line in each episode that it was barely noticeable. Below we’ve gathered the 11 best moments from Silicon Valley season two, let us know your favorite in the comments.

11 Best Moments From Silicon Valley Season 2

Gilfoyle: “If Blaine dies on our live-stream it could be good for us. I mean, we’d get a lot more traffic.”
Dinesh: “Well, and it would probably lead the cause for regulations in the stunt industry. So, in the long term, we’re saving lives.”
Dinesh: “Obviously his incessant suffering will be a strength.”
Gilfoyle: “But our ability to enjoy it is an opportunity.”

Russ: “I’ve got three nannies suing me. One of them for no reason.”
Russ: “All of a sudden, I’m 22 years young, and I’m worth $1.2 billion. Now a couple decades later, I’m worth $1.4. You do the math.”
Russ: “Synergy, bitches!”

Richard: “Had Endframe accidentally put a tequila bottle on their Delete key, I guarantee they would have struggled to delete half of the amount of files that we did. At best. Or worst.”

Erlich: “Look at them. They’re like two genetically enhanced Ken dolls. Do you know how much Bitcoin they’re worth?”
Erlich: “Oh shit, they’re splitting up. Cameron’s the left dominant one, right? I’m gonna come at him from the right side, try and herd them back together without spooking them.”

Dinesh: “It’s a messaging app that lets you send the word ‘bro’ to everyone else who has the app.”
Gilfoyle: “So it’s exactly like the Yo app.”
Dinesh: “Exactly, but less original.”

Richard: “It’s starting to feel weird letting all these firms suck up to us.”
Erlich: “If you can’t enjoy this many people kissing our ass at this level, then I feel sorry for you. I mean, we’re getting our dicks sucked at the AT&T park.”
Dinesh: “We’re standing on the field of the World Series champions!”
Gilfoyle: “It’s totally lost on me.”
Dinesh: “Yeah, I don’t give a shit either.”

Gilfoyle: “The picture is so blocky, it looks like Minecraft.”
Announcer: “Unbelievable! I have never, in all my years of watching fights, have seen a finishing combination more furious.”
Erlich: “Gavin Belson just shit everyone’s pants.”

Gavin: “I don’t want to live in a world where someone makes the world a better place better than we do.”

Jared: “Do you think maybe you sweat from your urethra?”
Jared: “Can you put a dollar value on not wetting your bed?”

Dinesh: “This guy falling off the cliff is the first good luck we’ve had.”
Gilfoyle: “Even when his sobbing shakes the camera, there’s no blocking it all. The quality is great.”
Dinesh: “This guy is going to drink his own piss? That’s too good. We’re going to fail by succeeding.”

Erlich: “One of you is the least attractive person I’ve ever seen. I won’t say who. *Glances at the man on the right*
Erlich: “Here’s my concern: Who the hell picked out that shirt for you?….Then you married poorly.”
Erlich: “There is a linear correlation between how intolerable I was and the height of valuation.”
Gilfoyle: “He put his balls on the table?”
Dinesh: “On purpose?”
Richard: “I don’t see how it could be by accident.”

It’s common, even in the early days of summer, to fall victim to what I like to call “big boom fatigue.” After watching face-melting fireworks displays like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Furious 7 and Mad Max: Fury Road, you’re liable to feel a little exhausted from all the excitement. Sometimes you need a little respite from all the CGI carnage and falling debris, a mild-mannered, quiet movie to act as a sort of counter-balance to all the big-budget noise. For this, you’d be hard-pressed to do better than I’ll See You In My Dreams, a moving, silky-smooth character portrait about an older woman’s private lament of a world passing her by and the beauty of life in twilight. It’s your one-way ticket to summertime serenity.

The film’s keystone is Blythe Danner, whose soft, sophisticated performance will occupy your thoughts for a good long while. She plays Carol, a long-widowed, peacefully retired woman who spends her days drifting around her comfy house and lazing about with Hazel, her ailing dog. When she’s forced to put her canine companion down, her lazing turns lonesome (this happens very early in the movie, but by this point Danner’s already won us over, a testament to her talent). The grief over Hazel’s passing strikes Carol like blunt force trauma, scrambling whatever semblance of stability she had.

Thankfully, Carol’s got human friends, too; three of them, in fact (they’re played by June Squibb, Rhea Perlman and Mary Kay Place). It’s straight-up Golden Girls status, and it’s awesome. The girlfriends all live in the same retirement community and get together regularly to play bridge and clink glasses of chardonnay. The three supporting characters are just defined enough to build a fun group dynamic, and the actors are courteous to Danner, being mindful about letting their leader lead.

In a funny scene later in the movie, the girls get high on medicinal weed and trek to the grocery store to quell the subsequent case of munchies that grips them. They’re a wild bunch: they get stopped by a police officer a third their age for pushing home a shopping cart full of snacks on the side of the road. They laugh in his face, because they’re badasses. (Yeah…it was the weed at work, too. But still: GRANNIES RULE!)

After some playful coaxing, the girls convince Carol to revisit her romantic pursuits after a years-long dry spell. She’s persuaded to try speed dating, which doesn’t exactly pan out the way she’d have liked. One particularly horny gentlemen (oaf) comes on to her by proudly proclaiming he “doesn’t mind” if she has herpes. Charming! In any case, Carol finds more desirable opportunities for romance out in the real world, away from the procession of gray-haired creepers.

She’s courted by a leather-skinned widower named Bill (Sam Elliott, whose immaculately groomed, snowy broom-stache is all kinds of epic), a heavy-steppin’ cowboy type whose gravelly voice and bracingly direct advances make Carol quiver like an autumn leaf. He’s all but got her heart in his hands, but there’s another guy. A pool guy, to be exact. Lloyd (Martin Starr), a new, younger male presence in Carol’s life, strikes up an unusual relationship with her. One night they go out for some drinks and karaoke, and Carol tears down the house with a ravishing rendition of “Cry Me a River”. The look plastered on Lloyd’s face as she sings is unmistakably one of desire. There’s some kind of spark between them, but writer-director Brett Haley and co-writer Marc Basch don’t ever bring these blurred lines into focus. It’s a smart choice that gives the movie some depth and color. A little goes a long way.

Speaking of Mr. Haley, he’s in his twenties and wrote a movie about an elderly woman’s acquiescence with mortality. Kudos, kudos, kudos (I’m nearly 30 and can’t figure out women my age). He shows good taste, opting for sly, sardonic humor over broad-comedy pandering. The movie never begs you to laugh, or cry, or do anything. It moves us at its own pace, and though some moments feel like cold spots (some of the “Neo-Golden Girls” banter feels protracted and dips into cliché), the story on the whole is gloriously unhurried.

Utmost respect goes to Danner, whose gift is invaluable. She’s got the gentlest touch. Instead of having a rough-and-tumble grappling match with death himself, she leans in and puts her head on his chest. They engage in a sort of slow dance, swaying tearfully to a dirge from the great beyond. Then, she sticks her tongue out as if to say, “Why so serious?” What a treasure. Respect to Haley as well, who with I’ll See You In My Dreams has declared himself a young filmmaker whose vision is anything but ordinary.

Directed and written by Sean Mullin, his début feature Amira and Sam takes a wry look at post 9/11 America through the eyes of Sam (Martin Starr), an Iraq War veteran, whose life is transformed through a relationship with Amira (Dina Shihabi), the niece of his unit’s former Iraqi translator.

Amira and Sam initially meet when Sam pays a visit to his friend, Bassam (Laith Nakli), who worked as the Iraqi translator when he was in the war and to whom he visits to return a lost emblem. After a brutally awkward meal Sam believes it’s the last he will see of Amira. But when she is caught by the police, boot-legging pirated DVDs, Amira is sent into hiding. Desperate, Bassam asks Sam if he will look after her. After being fired from his job as a security guard, Sam finds work with his cousin Charlie (Paul Wesley) securing investments in hedge funds.

Amira and Sam excels in finding the humor in the tragic. Mullin exploits the comedic potential of Sam, in his under-appreciated job as a security guard, and the irony of Amira trying to sell pirated copies of Western romantic comedies on the side of the road while sporting her hijab. Fans of Freaks and Geeks and Silicon Valley will already be aware of Martin Starr’s talents as a comedic actor and here he is perfectly cast, wringing every last drop of humor from scenes which might have fallen flat in a lesser actor’s hands. Dina Shihabi is also excellent as Amira and has real chemistry with Starr, often acting as a charming foil to his acerbic wit throughout the film.

It seems obvious that Mullin has a political agenda with his film. This is most evidenced in a scene involving a dispute between Sam and his corrupt cousin Charlie who exploits Sam’s army experience to further his ethically dubious hedge funds, by targeting former war veterans. Mullin’s message regarding the ego-centrism and ignorance of those standing on top the pyramid will certainly resonate with many still suffering from the financial crisis. However, Mullin’s political commentary is thinly drawn and offers little insight beyond the now familiar narrative of the ‘1%’ and the rest of us. Mullin is more effective when focusing on the small details, whether they be Sam’s charming cultural clashes with Amira as they build a relationship together, or his quiet conversations with army veteran and potential hedge fund investor Jack (David Rasche) as they reflect on life after the army. Especially affecting is the casual racism shown by Charlie’s friends towards Amira when she arrives at his engagement party in her hijab with Sam. Amira’s bold and confident belief in her own cultural identity, despite their criticism, is refreshing.

Amira and Sam is a charming film which despite its apparent cynicism has an inherent optimism that’s hard not to fall for. Its political commentary can be occasionally simplistic, but also offers important messages around cultural tolerance, and the strong performances of the film’s leads paper over any cracks in the film, bringing Mullin’s gentle romantic comedy to life.

“A long time ago, we used to be friends…”

The theme song to Veronica Mars the TV show may not open its first film counterpart, but it might as well have jumped in with “Previously on Veronica Mars“, because whether you’ve seen a single episode of Veronica Mars‘s three season early 2000’s teen-noir or not, the film opens with a convenient little summary. All the highlights of three seasons succinctly and quippily recapped for any first time viewers.

This Kickstarter-funded, fan-demanded film picks up nine years after Veronica has left her hometown of Neptune, California. She’s just finished law school and about to take the bar exam while already interviewing with high-powered law firms in New York. She’s gotten back together with her college boyfriend Piz (Chris Lowell) recently and is expected to meet his parents the upcoming weekend as long as nothing goes wrong. But things always go wrong in Veronica Mars world. The death of one of her high school friends, who’d become a rock star, turns out to be murder, and suspect #1 just happens to be Veronica’s on-again-off-again bad-boy love of yore, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring). When Logan calls asking for her help, Veronica can’t resist the temptation to return to sleuthing. She puts her new life on hold and returns to the seedy beach town of Neptune.

Those who have never watched the series may find the plot convenient at times, with all of the major players falling squarely within Veronica’s old high school tribe. But fans will appreciate that director and series creator Rob Thomas does his best to squeeze what would normally be a season long story arc into a two hour film, with all the twists, turns and upsets they’ve come to expect.

The film doesn’t attempt to neatly wrap up the abrupt ending of its third season, failing to explain much of how things ended up the way they did. For instance, Veronica’s decision to dropout from Hearst College and transfer to Stanford or the secret college society she had been investigating before the series was cancelled. But it plays to fan’s nostalgia with plenty of insider references; and those just jumping in with the movie won’t know what they are missing. The film’s strengths lie within Thomas’s clear devotion to the world he created and Veronica’s distinct character. Kristen Bell falls back into the role that catapulted her career with ease, and her perfect delivery of Veronica’s fast-talking one liners and sincere intuitive intelligence continues to make her one of the most well-written female characters in film or television. The return of all the major Veronica Mars players, including Enrico Colantoni as Veronica’s father, Percy Daggs III as her best friend Wallace, Tina Majorino as her other bestie Mac, and Ryan Hansen being allowed to hilariously steal scenes as cocky surfer-boy Dick Casablancas, all add to the completeness of the tableau.

Whether the rumored sequels or spinoffs do indeed pan out, Veronica Mars stands out with distinction as being the most successful fan-funded film to date, which is the sort of message Hollywood needs to hear. Never underestimate a strong fan-base. If they’d had all the power of the studio behind marketing they may have had an impressive box office turnout, we’ll never know. In the meantime, Marshmallows (Veronica Mars fans) everywhere can consider the film a victory, and those just getting in on the cult will find a satisfying mystery, rich romance, and smart friend in Veronica, without the agony of waiting years for closure.

Why on earth would this post-modern feminist put a crass, self-referential, bro-mantic apocalypse film in her top 5 of the year (thus far)? Because Seth Rogen and super side-kick Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express), hit it on the head with this film. Everything’s been done before. Stoner comedy. Check. Apocalyptic bromance. Check. Crazy amounts of cameos. Check. A healthy dose of celebrity voyeurism? Wait a second boys, I think you may be on to something.

From scene one in this film as Seth Rogen waits at the airport for his buddy from Canada, Jay Baruchel, to arrive for a visit, it’s apparent Seth is, well, real-life Seth. “Give us your trademark Seth Rogen laugh” an asshole with a camera at the airport chides. And he does, establishing that yep, he can turn it on and turn it up, and you’re going to eat it up. Seth takes Jay home and its established Jay isn’t a big fan of LA and it’s pompous Hollywood types. So the two stay home for gaming and smoking, until Seth throws out that maybe they pop over to James Franco‘s housewarming party. Jay is hesitant, they aren’t his crowd, and they represent Seth’s new Hollywood life.

They go anyway. Cameo after cameo of young Hollywood comedic actors pop up. Hello, Craig Robinson. Hello, Jonah Hill. Hello, Micheal Cera (busily casting off any semblance of George Michael Bluth by baring his ass while receiving “favors” from another party guest and blowing coke into peoples faces; not unlike a few of his other films coming out this year, ahem, Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic). Hello, Mindy Kaling. Hello, Aziz Ansari. Hello, Rihanna? Ok, who invited her?

Yes, it’s exaggerated, but it all just feels somewhat likely. For all we know these actors have weekly ragers at Franco’s house. Eventually Jay feels a bit stifled by Seth’s new group, and the two walk to the store for munchies. Queue the apocalypse, or as Jay will later devise, the Rapture, complete with blue light sucking the enlightened into heaven. Jay and Seth make it back to Franco’s house in time for most of the party to die via sinkhole in James’s front yard (or Cera by even more hilarious means) and Jay, Seth, James, Craig, and Jonah manage to survive and horde themselves into Franco’s house, immediately fortifying it with duck tape and barring the doors with Franco’s eclectic art collection as protection. Danny McBride shows up shortly thereafter, an oblivious and unwelcome member of the group.

The film is endlessly hilarious and it seems to manage this with the perfect amount of self-awareness. The actors trash talk each other in their tell-all room camera and we think, yeah, I bet Danny McBride is a pain in the ass. And when they sit around the dinner table describing just how difficult it is to be an actor because sometimes you have to pretend it’s hot, when it’s really freezing cold, it’s funny because as comedic actors (ironically, all who are now taking on much more serious roles, Jonah Hill is Oscar-nominated for Pete’s sake) we’d possibly expect them to be so shallow. One of the more hilarious bits is when Emma Watson shows up and the guys sabotage her stay by being overly sensitive to her role as a woman. In fact the lack of sexist jokes is worth noting.

In This is the End, during which I literally slapped my thigh and gasped for air at numerous times, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have created a film that maintains a steady comedic ride that never lets up. A feat I’d consider much more difficult than tugging at my heartstrings. As each of these actors recognizes they weren’t “good” enough to make it up to heaven and attempts to make up for that, we wonder in earnest about their fate. If living in sin is as funny as they make it out to be, could being good people possibly be as hilarious? It could. It can. It is.

Save the Date is a romantic comedy which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by IFC Films that features a solid upcoming cast of Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie, Martin Starr, Mark Webber and Geoffrey Arend. If you just read the synopsis, watch the trailer or even simply looking at the title, you may think you are in for a standard romantic comedy but I am here to tell you that you are not. Granted, it features a commitment fearing character along with the guy that can do-no-wrong but it makes it work better than most others in the genre. Most importantly, the film achieves exactly what it intended to do.

The film opens with Sarah (Lizzy Caplan) preparing to move in with her boyfriend Kevin (Geoffrey Arend). You can tell she is very apprehensive about moving in when she deliberately looks for signs that tell her it is a bad idea, like when her truck full of her possessions will seemingly not start (until her sister Beth (Alison Brie) reaches over and effortlessly gets it to start). Unbeknownst to her, Kevin is planning on asking her to marry him as soon as he figures out the best time to ask her. So before the ten minute mark the recipe for disaster was presented.

Beth’s soon-to-be husband, Andrew (Martin Starr), happens to play drums in the same band as Kevin and he may have persuaded him to ask Sarah to marry him. When Beth finds out about this she tells Andrew to call it off because she knows her sister is not ready for marriage but by then it is too late. Kevin has made up his mind about asking her the question. Midway through their bands set, he pauses in front of everyone to ask Sarah to marry him. It goes over exactly how you think it would; terribly.

To complicate the impending doomed relationship of Sarah and Kevin is a man named Jonathan (Mark Webber) who in his words, “silently stalks” Sarah at the bookstore she works at. He jokingly says silently because it is a bookstore, not because he hides it very well. It is obvious that he has Sarah order him in obscure books just to be around her as much as possible. Jonathan is awkward, clumsy, and blatant when flirting with Sarah but he is also sweet and adorable. She is vulnerable right now and he understands he is “rebound guy” but he would rather have been in love than not to love at all.

Lizzy Caplan is simply amazing here and it is hands down her best performance to date. Her character is deeply flawed which can be frustrating at certain times but she is insanely humanistic. Even when her character goes back and forth between playing the protagonist and the antagonist she does so with enough charm but most importantly she stays true to her personality.

Save the Date thrives on solid performances by the rest of the cast as well. Each member of the cast stays within their role and does not overstep their boundary. And thanks to the script none of them must act out of character suddenly to throw the plot for a curve. All you see is five completely different personalities that are for the most part believable (with maybe the exception of Mark Webber’s character).

Just when you think Save the Date would follow down the tired path of a typical romantic comedy it veers away. While the initial plot setup is cliché, the rest of the film thankfully stays away from most of the pitfalls that similar films fall into by keeping it honest and with an ending that is absolutely perfect. The script is not complex nor groundbreaking but it was not trying to be; it is a genuine tale of common relationship quarrels told in a smart and charming way. Save the Date will surprise you with how good it is.