Intense and uncomfortable. A must see.

Rating: 10/10 (11 March 2016)

You know that uneasy feeling you get when driving alone at night? Particularly down a street you're not familiar with or through a neighborhood that is foreign to you? Something just feels off. Usually it's all in your head. You're just getting a bit paranoid for no reason. Have you ever felt like someone was watching you? The hair on your arms stands up, the slow churning queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach suddenly becomes apparent, you have to keep looking behind you even though there is never anything there you just have to because what if? Those feelings are 10 Cloverfield Lane.
10 Cloverfield Lane is about the end of the world, or so that is the perception John Goodman's Howard gives us. He has built a doomsday bunker stockpiled with enough supplies to last for years. After Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Michelle is involved in an automobile accident he brings her to his bunker. This is all you need to know plot wise. Do yourself a favor and see this with knowing as little as possible about it.
10 Cloverfield Lane takes it's viewers on an uneasy and wholly uncomfortable journey. It slithers along at a rather brisk pace while getting darker, grimmer, and more unnerving with each passing moment. Every time you think you have it figured out it throws a new seedy wrench into your theory. John Goodman's Howard conspiracy theorist who doesn't seem right in the head. You know the term a few screws loose? This guy never had those screws to begin with. Goodman's remarkable turn as Howard is another excellent proof of his immense talent. He's paranoid, terrifying, likable, and completely unsettling. This is not a man you would ever want to meet.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead follows up her unbelievable all-time level performance in Faults with yet another simply brilliant performance here. With those two along with Smashed and Alex Of Venice she is quickly becoming one of the most versatile young actresses around. She plays Michelle with a fierce tenderness. Two descriptions that should not go hand in hand, but she accomplishes this feat in outstanding fashion. She creates a fully realized person here. At times it is easy to forget she is even playing a character. Her pain, sorrow, fear, conviction are all expressed amazingly and easily believed. She lives in this film and this film breathes life because of her.
John Gallagher Jr. delivers quite the beauty of a performance himself, however I'm not going to speak much on his character. I feel it's better that way.
Dan Trachtenberg has already shown is technical prowess with his Portal short. Here he expands himself to glorious results. There is no doubt he was the right man for this job. He lets his actors grow, and he aptly builds a very intense and very horrifying world around them. He keeps the pace smooth while keeping a frantic feel to it all. The mood he constructs here is an edge of your seat, close your eyes, and don't look down thrill. I am already eagerly anticipating his next work.
2016 has it's first must see of the year. This taut and mysterious thriller manages to keep the tension at an all time high and it's viewers guessing for it's duration. Even despite the obvious alluding it's title lends this film will keep your mind turning. The final 15 minutes are guaranteed to lead to very different feelings, but for me they couldn't have been done better. It is those last moments that truly solidified this as an absolute masterwork. Do not miss this one.
10/10