The Vast of Night

6/5/2020

Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/Sjqv6iKZTwc Growing up watching _The Twilight Zone_, _The X-Files_, and terrifying my childhood self by reading books about UFOs and aliens, its fair to say that I have a bit of a soft spot for a good story about what's in the skies above us. For this reason, the trailer for Amazon's _The Vast of Night_ caught my eye. Here's the official description of what this movie is all about: _At the dawn of the space-race, two radio-obsessed teens discover a strange frequency over the airwaves in what becomes the most important night of their lives and in the history of their small town._ I recommended this to a friend after watching it and this is how I summed it up: _Small town New Mexico, 1950s. While the whole town

8/28/2022

The Vast of Night (2020) is a spiritual successor to Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast. This film understands the power of the spoken word (its heroes are a late night DJ and a phone operator), and puts it to great use to tell a fascinating story that relies more on the viewer’s imagination than on visual effects. This is the rare low-budget ($700,000) sci-fi flick that doesn’t strive to mask its technical shortcomings with a layer of shoddy CGI, instead focusing on a character and dialogue-driven plot. This is not a cheap movie, but an economic one — austere, even; a ‘less is more’ approach that turns at times into 'nothing is better.’ Co-writer/director Andrew Patterson isn’t trying to convince us that his aliens are real, but neither does he expose them to unforgivably pry

5/9/2025

A throwback to the radio plays of old. The title is perfect, as it sets the exact mood for viewing. With the modern world getting brighter and more interconnected with satellites filling the sky, true darkness is disappearing. This film takes us back to a time when a few unusual happenings can shift your entire world view, when what we know to be true, just ain't so. Things like this don't get made very often, but because of the streaming wars hunger for content, we are lucky enough to be able to enjoy this. Solid overall in basically every aspect, but with nothing exceptional; which is a plus, as what I remember most is the truly unique feeling I was left with in the end. This is a watch for quiet evenings when you're feeling confident and want a reminder on just how

8/8/2025

Opening with long mid-shots and seemingly unnecessary chatter, the film spends a few minutes delivering a kind of challenge along the lines of “Alright, let’s clear the floor of the kids and make room for real cinephiles—no need for unnecessary expectations!” Then, without almost a single dull moment or idle dialogue, it unfolds into one of the finest examples of contemporary independent cinema. In line with Tarantino’s motto that “suspense is all about stretching the rubber band,” the director masterfully delivers even the potentially boring static monologues, truly deserving praise. The fact that it rarely strays into cliché territory earns it extra points, too! That it unfolds in real-time and takes place within the duration of a basketball game is just the cherry on top!

5/23/2026

So painfully boring. It took over 30 minutes to get to get to any kind of story, up until that point it was nothing but dialogue that didn't really set anything up. I got bored and lost all interest.