Looking for something?
Archives
Archives
Find me!

Browsing Tags Thriller

Searching (2018)

15/09/2018 · by Joy

When Unfriended came out in 2014, I watched it and I wasn’t like, “oh, that was a great/horrible movie” but I was very intrigued by the style of the movie. “Filmed” entirely on a computer screen (or I guess, multiple computer screens), it was something new and different that, at the time, I thought hadn’t been done before. I’ve since watched The Den (2013) and again, I was kind of thrilled by this new methodology. Searching is a lot like that.

Searching branches out a little bit and includes news footage shots and CCTV shots, but everything is via ‘screen’ – nothing is overtly filmed in the traditional sense. To be honest, Searching was a breath of fresh air. John Cho was absolutely fantastic in every way and I am now blessed with a weird thing where I wish John Cho was MY dad. The film starts out with an emotional gunshot and keeps you thinking right until the very end. You’re never entirely sure what to believe and you’re never entirely sure what’s around the corner. I was kind of thrown off my game a little when Debra Messing was suddenly a cop because the whole movie, in the back of my mind, all I could think was there is no way that Grace Adler can pull off this detective thing.

Searching was packed full of red herrings and twists. It was exceptionally well thought out and while normally I leave a movie like this with plot holes forever emerging in my mind as I recount and process what I’ve watched, so far I can’t find any. This is a welcome surprise for me having just watched Hereditary last night and finding a very different result (more on that experience in a separate review). I can’t say that I was exceptionally surprised by the end result as there was an inkling there, but I was never at any point before it was revealed, fully aware that I had the right notion.

It was realistic, it was touching, and it really made a statement about what our lives our with the Internet dominating so much of our time and holding so many of our “secrets,” ready to be exposed if someone just… takes the time to look for them. I was thoroughly impressed and this is one I think I’ll add to my personal collection. Recommending you see this ASAP!

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

24/01/2018 · by Joy

Starting off this review with a disclaimer: On the whole, I have not liked Yorgos Lanthimos’ previous films. I have seen both Dogtooth as well as The Lobster (or most of it anyway). Dogtooth I found at least somewhat intriguing and I did get through the whole film, and I really felt it had potential, however, The Lobster was the most pretentious drivel I have ever tried to watch in my entire lifetime, and I tried to sit through Chevalier at the Film Festival last year (more pretentious Greek drivel, albeit directed by someone else). So anyway, I was pretty well-equipped to turn the film off halfway through because I was fed up. I was fully and 100% prepared.

The slow-as-molasses pacing is very familiar. I got very distinct Nocturnal Animals, It Comes At Night (review coming, I promise), and of course, The Lobster vibes from it. Now, two out of three of those movies, I greatly disliked. There were differences between those 3 films at The Killing of a Sacred Deer, though, and one of the biggest ones was that I found the essence of this film to be much more ominous and much more compelling. The characters were all unsettling… probably even the ones that you’re supposed to like and feel empathetic towards, honestly. Everyone was stone-faced and completely devoid of emotion most of the time except maaaybe Nicole Kidman’s character. Kind of. The only character that really felt like he was playing the “right” role was Barry Keoghan – but the problem is, he’s supposed to be a stone-cold sociopath and the rest of the characters are not.

It wasn’t until the climactic ending that I realized this was supposed to be somewhat of a black comedy. It’s definitely not a film that you are supposed to connect or relate to — how can you, honestly? It’s bizarre and super esoteric and I have to say, I wouldn’t venture to watch it a second time. I mean, it wasn’t like, a struggle to get through it, but it wasn’t an enjoyable ride either.

The one thing I can and will gladly say is that the cinematography was on point. Some of the shots were just absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know, I don’t even really know what my opinion of this one is because it was just such a… strange movie. I didn’t come out thinking, “what a waste of 2 hours of my life,” but I also didn’t come out thinking, “that was wonderful, I am a changed person” so I guess it’s just kind of… “meh.” Not a total flop, but kind of disappointing… not a great success, but definitely there was ‘something’ there.

The Open House (2018)

21/01/2018 · by Joy

First and foremost, I feel like I should apologize for the hiatus. I know I have literally zero regular readers, and I’ve never had a very consistent posting schedule, but I still feel guilty since my last post was in October!

A new year means a new, fresh spreadsheet of movies. I failed at keeping track of the films I watched last year in about April, so I’m hoping to keep a full list this year. But anyway, enough rambling and on with the show… the show that ultimately leads… nowhere?

I wasn’t necessarily excited nor did I have high hopes for The Open House. It’s a Netflix original that just aired and it stars Dylan Minnette of 13 Reasons Why fame. To be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with his performance in 13 Reasons Why either. I found him to be a pretty flat stage presence and I think that carried over to The Open House as well, which isn’t really boding well for his career (although, I will say he was okay in Don’t Breathe).

The film started out okay, if not a little cliche – with a jolting death and a quick change of scenery. Our two main characters, a teenager and his mother, relocate to their relative’s mountain home which is a gorgeous, if not creepy, abode. Pretty basic plot, creepy things happen until suddenly *spoiler* things aren’t happening anymore. That pretty much sums up the entire film, actually. It was a whole lot of slow, ambling, “ooh, spooky” moments that feel like they’re leading up to something big, something earth-shattering, and then… nothing. I was let down! I was ready, I was prepared for some kind of justice, and justice I did not get.

It was just uninspired and unoriginal. It was nothing that we haven’t seen before, that’s for sure. There was no character development and there was no basis upon which to build a connection with any of the characters either. It was confusing, it was stale, it was unimaginative. I definitely would not watch this again or recommend it to anyone. I didn’t hate it, I just… was so disappointed.

A Cure for Wellness (2016)

11/06/2017 · by Joy

A Cure for Wellness had me intrigued right from the get-go. When I saw the ratings coming in as less than appealing, I was sort of let-down but not enough to deter me entirely. So what did I do? I bought it when I saw it at the local pawn shop without viewing it first. Makes sense to me.

Luckily, I don’t regret it. Sure, the film I found had flaws. It was about 45 minutes longer than it needed to be. The ending was less than satisfying. The ‘twist’ was relatively predictable. But those visuals. Ooh, those visuals. I was so incredibly blown away by the cinematography and the visual effects. I can’t even describe them. They used symmetry and wide shots of the Alps to the very best of anyone’s abilities. The consistent use of the colour blue induces a lulling sense of security amid the unease evoked by the bizarre actions of the vast majority of the characters.

I feel like A Cure for Wellness is one of those films that is just so masterful in some aspects that you can let the flawed story kind of… go, because watching for the dialogue, the acting, and the visuals is enough to carry it. It was definitely enough to keep me intrigued and to make sure that I didn’t feel like I’d wasted 2 1/2 hours of my life. There are so many horror cliches and period film cliches, it almost feels like Verbinski is trying to give a less than subtle nod to those effects we’ve seen a thousand times before.

In sum, I really enjoyed A Cure for Wellness and I’m happy I have it in my collection. It requires a bit of a time dedication and I know it’s not going to appeal to everyone, but I think for those who have a certain appreciation for the visual aspects of film, it will be a treat. Give it a shot!

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

18/04/2017 · by Joy

After hearing nothing but good things about The Autopsy of Jane Doe, my interest was pretty well piqued and I couldn’t resist anymore. I had to watch it. So I rented it digitally on the Google Play store and settled in to enjoy a movie that has been hailed on RottenTomatoes as “nearly flawless” and “chilling,” expecting what everyone’s been describing. I don’t know if I was watching a different film or… maybe I saw, like, the director’s cut or something? I don’t know. I really don’t know. But it was anything but chilling and definitely no masterpiece.

They had a really good premise – a woman is found in a basement of a house where a horrific crime has taken place, buried in the dirt (but surprisingly unsoiled and sans decomposition, like at all). Everyone else in the house is covered in blood and viscera and this woman is there, dead, in the dirt in pristine condition. So what do they do? Take her to the local funeral home where a man and his son perform autopsies for the Sheriff’s office. Everything is going fine until they start to uncover disturbing findings and supernatural happenings are about, including, of course, the death of their cat, Stanley. Let me tell you, the whole “killing the family pet because they don’t want to kill a main character but we need to do something that will unsettle and disturb you” thing is getting reaaaaaaaally old. It doesn’t make me scared, it just makes me feel less sympathy for the owners of these pets because, you know, they leave them outside overnight or they let them wander or something stupid like that. Poor Stanley… we hardly knew ye.

Anywho. I found nearly all of the characters in this film dull and incessantly annoying, especially the son played by Emile Hirsch. Every 2 seconds, he had a question for which the answer was entirely too obvious. This kid has no critical thinking skills, whatsoever. I swear to god, at one point I was like, if he says, “Is that what killed her?” ONE MORE TIME, I will throw the remote at the TV. The father, the actual coroner, was slightly more clued in, but only slightly. These two together, underground, in a coroner’s office that is truly not up to code (I mean, come on, it has one entrance that is a cellar door and an elevator, that’s just ridiculous!)

The reason behind the “haunting” is silly. The acting was poor except for the body of Jane Doe because she literally just laid there and did a damn fine job of it. The effects were super-cool, but that’s really all that kept me going. I didn’t want to keep watching because it just seemed to get dumber and dumber and I felt myself losing IQ points watching this father-son duo bumble around, not entirely sure what they’re supposed to be doing. I was truly disappointed and having read numerous positive reviews for the film, I don’t see what they’re seeing. It was average and lackluster at its best moments and horrendous at its worst moments. I think I’ll pass on owning this one on Bluray, that’s for sure.

Imperium (2016)

28/03/2017 · by Joy

I think I can officially say I’m a Daniel Radcliffe fan. Just in the last, what?, 3-6 months, I have watched and loved the entire Harry Potter series, Swiss Army Man, and now, Imperium. He’s a phenomenal actor that has fit all three of his roles in these films to a tee. I feel that we’ll see more and more of his versatility as he stars in more varied films.

Imperium was something I was intrigued by from the get-go because I was thinking it would be something akin to American History X (you know, with Edward Norton) and I mean, I wasn’t completely wrong, but I wasn’t completely right, either. It was tense from the first minute to the final climax. It built the perfect amount of suspense and kept me on my toes precisely when it needed to. I wasn’t expecting to see Toni Collette in a role like this, but lo and behold, I did – and am I ever glad I did! She was really great. I am a fan of hers from the TV series, The United States of Tara (she plays a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder, you should check it out if you haven’t before)!

I don’t want to say that Imperium doesn’t quite… measure upt to the aforementioned American History X, but I will say it didn’t carry the same weight. I don’t think it’ll be regarded as a cult classic the way that AHX is and has been. It’s currently sitting at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I think that’s an accurate approval rating, if not a little bit generous. If I had to rate it numerically, I’d give it at least a 75% based on Radcliffe’s performance alone.

I’m looking forward to more performances like this one from Daniel Radcliffe in the future!

Nocturnal Animals

27/02/2017 · by Joy

I don’t really know where to start with Nocturnal Animals. I just have a lot of feelings about it and none of them are all that positive! I went into this film intrigued by the plot summary provided by the Google Play Store and I came out so thoroughly disappointed. I hadn’t (and still haven’t) seen his other film A Single Man (2009), but I really don’t think I’m that excited to ever see it.

Nocturnal Animals is a very stylish film, but really, I feel like that’s where the compliments end. It was all style and so little substance? The story-within-the-story was more interesting than the overall story and even then, I don’t think it was enough to pull its own weight… as in, I don’t think it could have stood on its own. I think that, more than anything, I was expecting a thriller and what I got was… a bore. It was only 2 hours long, but it felt like 4. That’s never a good sign. I was left saying, “Thank god that’s over,” and feeling a wave of relief combined with absolute bafflement at the ending, or lack thereof. It felt like Tom Ford was like, “I really don’t have any idea how to end this film… so I won’t.” And then he subsequently does not. You spend the whole time waiting for some kind of ultimate pay-off after this pretentious, gruelling two-hour spectacle only to be letdown. SPOILER ALERT: Amy Adams gets stood up. That’s her ex-husband’s big revenge. That’s the big finale. The Big Finish.

Even with A+ performances from Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (etc. but those were the ones that stood out the most for me), it’s just not enough. It leaves you feeling like you’ve just watched some film student’s incomplete project. I just felt depressed.

Most of the reviews I have glanced over have mentioned something about it being a film that “makes you think,” but all it made me think was that I should have spent the last 2 hours of my life watching something more enjoyable. Like paint drying, perhaps, or maybe grass growing.

I mean, maybe there’s something I’m totally missing, but I can see where it was trying to go: fantasy revenge is awesome, reality revenge is chickening out and being totally petty; “You killed my child so I’m going to write a book about how your actions totally wounded me…” But it just fell so flat for me. It’s definitely not something I’d go so far as to recommend or to watch again, and I certainly won’t be adding it to my collection.

Get Out (2017)

23/02/2017 · by Joy

When I see a movie that has been reviewed 94 times on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s still sitting at a score of 100%… colour me intrigued. I mean, I was intrigued already because a horror/thriller film written by Jordan Peele??? Not only written, but directed, as well!? This could go very very well, or it could go very very poorly. It was… weird, bizarre and Stepford-esque. It was… satirical. It was… something… something that I very much enjoyed. It takes a lot to get me genuinely creeped out in a movie. I won’t say scared, because I wasn’t scared, per se, but I was genuinely freaked out. Maybe because while the concept that this movie is based on isn’t entirely based in reality, it’s juuuust on the precipice of “not that far-fetched” for me to go, “whoa, okay.”

The racial undertones (if you can really call them “under”-tones as they’re pretty blatantly obvious) are clever and satirical and Peele uses great finesse to make a movie that is so unsettling because of it’s roots in reality all around us.

Barring the racial themes, Get Out is actually an intelligent thriller film that isn’t overly cliche. I mean, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a horror, even though it was pretty horrifying. It’s one of those hard to place movies that doesn’t really fit in any one category. If nothing else, it is unforgettable. I don’t want to go into it too too much because I really feel like if you’re reading this, you need to see this one. It was so many shades of “WTF,” I can’t even begin.

Final review (I’m rambling): Jordan Peele came out of the directing woodwork on fire… I am truly impressed. The acting was spot-on (Betty Gabriel knocks it out of the park, especially). It acts as a social commentary, chilling thriller, with hints of comedy to keep you breathing throughout. I will own this movie. I must add it to my collection!

Stranger Things: Season 1 (2016)

18/09/2016 · by Joy

It’s taken me far too long to get this review out.

As soon as I saw the thumbnail for Stranger Things, I knew it was something I wanted to watch. I put it off though, delaying the inevitable end of the season that would come all too soon. But we did it. My boyfriend, David, and I sat down and watched it over a couple of nights, trying to stretch it out for as long as possible.

From the minute it started, I was in love. I was in love with the familiar ’80s movie tropes, I was in love with the Spielberg vibe it was shooting off in my general direction, I was in love with the lovable characters and their hilariously witty (for children) dialogue. Not to mention, the wordmark title looks like the title of Needful Things, and I love me some Stephen King. It is a show that takes a little bit of this and a little bit of that, a little bit of E.T. and a little bit of the X-Files, and sprinkles it together in the most beautiful recipe to create a perfect homage to the ’80s – and I mean, perfect.

Apparently I’m not the only one enthralled with it either, because it’s sitting at 95% on Rottentomatoes and 9.1/10 on IMDb, so while I may be one of the only ones to actually shed tears at the end of the season, I am not unique in my adoration.

Besides all of the stylistic and nostalgic perks it has going for it, the story is also great. It’s compelling and keeps you on your toes. The pacing is great, the setting is wonderful and the characters are phenomenal. You can’t help but to fall in love with the children in the story – the lovable, gap-toothed Dustin, Will the missing child, Mike Wheeler, and of course, Eleven. This is Millie Bobby Brown’s first BIG role and she killed it, knocked it way out of the park. Some of the adult characters were just as easy to fall in love with and when I say adult characters, I’m mostly speaking to Hopper, the police chief who spawned one of my favourite quotes of ever now: “Mornings are for coffee & contemplation.” That quote in itself pretty much sums up the character of Hopper. He’s a police chief in this podunk town where very little happens… until now.

All in all, it’s a great sci-fi/fantasy show that I feel pretty much anyone will at the very least find watchable, but more probably will find it enjoyable and thrilling at times. Give it a watch and you will not be disappointed!

Emelie (2015)

11/09/2016 · by Joy

Emelie is the movie that encompasses every parent’s nightmare when hiring a babysitter that you don’t reaaaally know all that well. It’s directed by Michael Thelin, who, as far as I can tell, hasn’t directed any movies before now. It stars a bunch of “unrecognizables”, which is one of my favourite things when watching a horror movie. When there’s a recognizable actor, you can’t help but be taken out of the movie just a tad.

Sarah Bolger plays Emelie, a girl fronting as “Anna”, a couple’s go-to babysitter’s best friend. At the very beginning of the film, you learn that “Anna” is not who she says she is as we watch the real Anna, a character we haven’t met – at all, get thrown into a mysterious black car. The new “Anna” shows up at the house, sweet as pie and the parents detect nothing amiss and head out on their much-anticipated date. Before the parents leave, in some pretty obvious foreshadowing, we learn that the children are not allowed to have cell phones until they’re 13. After the parents leave, the kids are put through the ringer… they have to watch the youngest (and only) daughter’s pet hamster get eaten by the oldest son’s snake, they are forced to watch their dad’s amateur sex tape with a woman who is not his wife(?), and then they listen to a bedtime story about a girl who neglectfully kills her infant child and now needs to find a new one, referring to the new child she is on the hunt for as her “Cubby.” Creepy. Very creepy.

Eventually, we learn that this operation is clearly bigger than Emelie alone when the parents get t-boned by an oncoming car on their way home from their date. As Emelie and her mysterious suited man’s death toll rises, the three children are fighting for their lives and Jacob, the oldest, is fighting to keep his younger brother from being kidnapped.

In a disturbing twist of events (to the parents, since we already know this), they are driven home by a cop, but on the drive back the cop gets a radio call letting him know he needs to head back to the crime scene as OH MY GOD, a body was found in the trunk of the car – the body of Anna Coleman.

This movie was tense, I’ll give it that, albeit a little farfetched. If I had children, it would probably make me think twice about who I’m leaving my children with. But come on, if I knew who the girl was, I’d have looked her up on Facebook to confirm her identity before leaving my children with them at the veeeery least!

Overall, a decent thriller (with surprisingly okay child actors) that I probably wouldn’t venture to watch again, at least for a long while!

Page 1 of 2 1 2 Next »