Category: thriller
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A Quiet Place [2018] ★★★
This is the horror movie we’ve all been waiting for. Director John Krasinski (who would have thought) delivers the creepy goods, leaving us unnerved, terrified, and exhilarated. This is “A Quiet Place” in a nutshell, a tense and extremely well-crafted tale of survival. Krasinski himself plays a family man who must protect his family from…
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Red Sparrow [2018] ★★½
Check your brain at the door. This tense, often confusing spy-thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence as a Bolshoi ballerina-turned-spy, gets a lot of things right, but also a lot of things wrong. My advice: go with the illogic or you’ll miss the fun. And there’s plenty of fun in seeing Lawrence kicking ass in Russian. OK,…
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The Commuter [2018] ★★½
Liam Neeson is on a train. No, his daughter hasn’t been kidnapped. I know you’re tempted to call it “Taken” on a train. Or maybe “Non-Stop” the train version. Ok, I’ll stop. Director Jaume Collet-Serra, who directed Neeson in several films before, throws our hero this time around on a train, where a mysterious woman…
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Better Watch Out [2017] ★★★
On the surface, “Better Watch Out” sounds like a “Home Alone” rip-off. It isn’t. And the sooner you realize that, the more fun you’ll have watching this superbly twisted holiday thriller from director Chris Peckover, who does a great job of raising hell. With screenwriter Zack Kahn, “Better Watch Out” provides young Levi Miller the…
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The Killing Of A Sacred Deer [2017] ★★★
In an era of remakes and cash-in sequels, it’s good to see filmmakers still taking risks with movies that keep their distance from the multiplex formula. I’m talking about Yorgos Lanthimos, the genius behind “The Lobster“. If you’ve seen that movie, you know he’s a director who doesn’t play by the rules. Then again so did…
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Marrowbone [2017] ★★
How do you promote a great looking misfire these days? You tell people that it was written and directed by the same man who wrote the superior Spanish film “The Orphanage”. As much as I wanted to like his latest effort, “Marrowbone”, I have to be honest in evaluating this film: it’s a disappointment. I…
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The Foreigner [2017] ★★½
A bomb goes off in London. Jackie Chan’s daughter dies in the blast. He wants answers from a British government official (played by Pierce Brosnan), who may or may not know the people behind the terror attack. Brosnan refuses to cooperate (naturally), and all hell breaks loose (naturally). That’s “The Foreigner” in a nutshell, a…
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Gerald’s Game [2017] ★★½
I’ve been spending a lot of time watching Netflix shows. Every now and then they drop a new movie (avoid “Death Note” at all costs), so naturally I was intrigued when Stephen King’s “Gerald’s Game” was up next. This isn’t an easy movie to endure, mainly because the story’s main character Jessie (Carla Gugino) spend…
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Flatliners [2017] ★
It’s the end of the summer, a time where some studios start preparing for Oscar season, while others dump their summer leftovers. Case in point: “Flatliners”, a truly awful thriller (if we can call it that), that ranks among the worst films of the year. A remake of a 1990 movie directed by Joel Schumacher,…
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Death Note [2017] ★
If you thought “Dragonball Evolution” wasn’t bad enough, wait till you get a load of “Death Note”, Netflix’s very own disaster. Based on a popular Japanese manga series, this live-action version gets almost everything wrong, despite an intriguing premise. Nat Wolff seems clueless as Light Turner, a high-school kid who finds a mysterious notebook that…
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47 Meters Down [2017] ★★½
Want to see two sisters fight for their lives while trapped in a shark cage on the ocean floor? “47 Meters Down” is the movie for you. But while this nailbiter isn’t on par with “Jaws” or other movies of the same genre, it gets the job done by delivering an intense ride. Mandy Moore…
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It Comes At Night [2017] ★★★
If you’ve seen Joel Edgerton in “Warrior” and “The Gift”, you probably know he’s an actor who means business. In “It Comes At Night”, an indie horror film that distances itself from the multiplex formula, Edgerton sinks his teeth into the complex role of a family man who keeps his family secure within a safe…
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Rome, Open City [1945] ★★★½
Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini kicked off his so-called “war trilogy” with “Rome, Open City”, a harrowing look at Rome during the Nazi occupation of 1944. Though the events that take place in the movie are strictly fictional, Rossellini knows exactly how to deliver an authentic experience. The main character here is Don Pietro, an Italian…
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Inconceivable [2017] ★
It’s only July, but Nicolas Cage has already been in two movies that rank among the worst of the year: First, “Arsenal” back in February, and now “Inconceivable”, a laughably bad thriller that recycles every shitty cliché in the book. Cage is reduced to supporting role, but that doesn’t mean that the movie gets better…
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2:22 [2017] ★
Preposterous doesn’t even begin to describe this movie, so I’ll try to paint you a picture: Michiel Huisman plays a New York City air traffic controller who begins to notice a repetition of sounds and events in his life that happen at exactly the same time everyday. Hallucinations? Dreams? Signs? Your head will explode trying…
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Kidnap [2017] ★★
Halle Berry plays a mother who would stop at nothing to recover her kidnapped son in this generic action thriller that recycles ever cliché in the Hollywood handbook. That’s not to say that the movie doesn’t have its moments, especially early on. Berry is truly likable and you’ll probably end up rooting for her, every…
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The Exception [2017] ★★½
Christopher Plummer dazzles once again in “The Exception”, a well-made WWII thriller that could have been easily filmed in the 1940’s. Based on Alan Judd’s 2003 novel, the story follows German soldier Stefan Brandt (Jai Courtney), who is on a mission to investigate ex-German Monarch Kaiser Wilhelm II (Christopher Plummer), who now lives in a secluded…
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Berlin Syndrome [2017] ★★★
“Berlin Syndrome” is terrifying because it feels real. I can’t remember the last time I liked a character in a horror movie from the get-go and then found myself rooting for her to survive. So props to director Cate Shortland and her lead actress Teresa Palmer for turning the familiar into something bracingly fresh. I hadn’t…
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The Circle [2017] ★½
How can a movie feature such a talented cast and still suck so bad? Emma Watson can make almost anything worth seeing. And Tom Hanks is one of my all time favorite actors. But “The Circle”, written and directed by James Ponsoldt from a novel by Dave Eggers, just lays there onscreen, untouched by human…
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Unforgettable [2017] ★★
Katherine Heigl plays the crazy ex wife. I’m not spoiling anything here since we know right from the start that her ex husband David ( Geoff Stults) is getting married to Julia (Rosario Dawson) and she isn’t very happy about it. Her plan? To make Julia’s life a living hell (obviously). Nothing special or revolutionary…
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