Tag Archives: Thriller

Contrived

4 December 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Conclave: The Pope has died, and Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) must convene a Conclave of the College of Cardinals to choose a new Pope. A Conclave acknowledging not so much the guiding hand of God but the vanities of man.

Conclave features stunning visuals and competent acting, yet it is undermined by a script full of amateurish, contrived plot twists designed, supposedly, to advance the writers’ Robert Harris and Straughan’s feverish dreams of utopian Church doctrine rather than create a compelling narrative of suspense detailing the fallibility of man. After 120 minutes of an unending, stacked series of Deus ex machina plot devices, the fatigue reaches a smothering comatose level. Mercifully, the movie ends not with applause but with a resounding sigh of relief that your cinematic suffering is over.

Trivia: According to John Mulderig, under canon law in pectore appointments end with the pope’s death. Cardinal Benitez would not have been allowed into the Conclave.

Genre: Drama-Mystery-Suspense-Thriller

Directed by: Edward Berger

Screenplay by: Peter Straughan

Music by: Volker Bertelmann

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow

Film Location: Rome

ElsBob: 3.0/10

IMDb: 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 93%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 85%

Metacritic Metascore: 79%

Metacritic User Score: 6.8/10

Theaters: 25 October 2024

Runtime: 120 minutes

Budget: $20 million

Box Office: $34.8 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic.Catholic Review. Graphic: Concave Poster and Trailer, copyright Focus Features

A Twisted and Twisty Tale:

30 October 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Strange Darling: A film portraying a one-night stand of innocent fun and desire in the same bloody vein as craving a joyride in a van full of Stephen King clowns. Misdirection, mayhem, and murder—oh my.

The movie’s story unravels in a non-linear manner, much the same as Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’, creating mystery and suspense by concealing the true nature of the characters and the plot until later in the film.

It has been noted that the Coen’s ‘No Country for Old Men’ came the closest to featuring the personality of a true psychopath: the irredeemable Anton Chigurh as played by Javier Badem. The antagonist in ‘Strange Darling’ easily moves Chigurh to a distant second place.

Trivia: The opening credits and Mollner hint, during interviews, that the movie may be based on actual events but there are no known serial killer incidents to support this. Mollner also comments that “…to me, it’s all real—inside my head and inside my heart.” Yikes.

Trivia II: The song ‘Love Hurts’ by Bryant and Bryant, is prominently played in the movie and was also featured in Rob Zombie’s remake of ‘Halloween’ and ‘Halloween II’.

Genre: Horror—Mystery–Suspense–Thriller

Directed by: JT Mollner

Screenplay by: JT Mollner

Music by: Craig DeLeon

Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner

Film Locations: Oregon, USA

ElsBob: 7.0/10

IMDb: 7.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 95%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 85%

Metacritic Metascore: 80%

Metacritic User Score: 6.9/10

Theaters: 23 August 2024

Runtime: 96 minutes  

Budget: $4-10 million

Box Office: $3.8 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: ‘Strange Darling’ Poster and Trailer, Miramax

Stasis and Change

23 October 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Alien Romulus: A group of young adults indentured for life on the cloud-shrouded mining planet of Yvaga discovers a derelict spacecraft orbiting above. They plan to rendezvous with the craft and steal the ship’s cryostasis suits to travel to another planet. Once inside the spacecraft they soon detect they are not alone.

Romulus enters the Alien franchise as the seventh film, situated between Alien and Aliens, attempting to walk the path between Ridley Scott and James Cameron-two giants that Alvarez fails to surpass with this entry.

The story plays homage to its predecessors in the first acts, delivering plenty of frights and gore, enhanced by great graphics, visuals, and adequate acting. However, it then drifts off course into territory best left unexplored. But I guess that’s called setting up the sequel or more likely a spin-off.

Genre:  Horror—Sci-Fi–Suspense–Thriller

Directed by: Fede Alvarez

Screenplay by: Fede Alvarez Rodo Sayagues

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux

Film Locations: Budapest, Hungry and Various Studios

ElsBob: 6.5/10

IMDb: 7.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 80%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 85%

Metacritic Metascore: 64%

Metacritic User Score: 7.1%

Theaters: 16 August 2024

Runtime: 119 minutes

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Alien Romulus Poster and Trailer, 20 Century Studios

Knox Goes Away:

10 October 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Theaters: 10 September 2023

Streaming: 15 March 2024

Runtime: 114 minutes

Genre:  Crime – Thriller

ElsBob:  7.0/10

IMDB:  6.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  62/100

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  84/100

Metacritic Metascore:  54/100

Metacritic User Score:  5.3/10

Directed by: Michael Keaton

Screenplay by: Gregory Poirier

Music by:  Alex Heffes

Cast: Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Al Pacino

Film Locations:  California

A contract killer discovers he has a quick moving form of dementia, and his estranged son needs help. Keaton and Pacino team up to save Keaton’s family from financial ruin, and his son from life in prison.

This film was Keaton’s directorial debut, and he delivered a smashing success. A future as an actor-director may just be in the cards for Keaton.

Source:  IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic. Graphic: Knox Goes Away Movie Poster, copyright Saban Films 2024.

Storm Chasers and Death Wishes

10 October 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Twisters: Kate Carter (Edgar-Jones), retiring her youthful death wish as a storm chaser starts afresh in NYC as a cubical bound meteorologist. In the Big Apple we learn she really didn’t want to be there because it was a pointless plotline with her resolve having the staying power of a dust devil in a snowstorm. With that drama out of the way she’s back in the OK prairies chasing her dream in a Ram truck.

Glenn Powell as Tyler Owens is worth the price of admission, the CGI is impressive, and the cinematography astounding but the screenplay lowers the movie back down to pedestrian status.

Trivia: Downtown OKC was transformed into NYC to shoot Kate Carter’s away from life hiding place.

Genre:  Action—Adventure—Disaster—Fantasy–Thriller

Directed by: Lee Isaac Chung

Screenplay by: Mark L. Smith

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch

Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glenn Powell, Anthony Ramos

Film Locations: Oklahoma City, USA

ElsBob: 6.0/10

IMDb: 6.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 75%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 91%

Metacritic Metascore: 65%

Metacritic User Score: 6.2%

Theaters: 19 July 2024

Runtime: 122 minutes

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: Twisters movie trailer and poster, copyright Universal and Warner Bros.

Future Apes

25 September 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: In the future some apes remember Ceasar, some lord over their slaves, some covet man stuff, and some are for the birds–Animal Farm meets Captain Fantastic.

Kingdom is the 10th movie in the series that began in 1968 with Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston; still the best of the banana bunch, originality wise that is.  

This movie is the first in a planned new trilogy that attempts to build on the previous trilogy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t surpass them in either acting or plot except for the supporting work of Kevin Durand for his portrayal of the movie’s antagonist, Proximus. He is superb and worth the price of admission.

Trivia or Goof: The flooding the man cave defies gravity. Try not to think about it.

Genre:  Action—Adventure—Drama–Fantasy—SciFi–Thriller

Directed by: Wes Ball

Screenplay by: Josh Friedman

Music by:  John Paesano

Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon

Film Locations:  New South Wales, Australia

ElsBob: 7.0/10

IMDb:  6.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  80

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  78

Metacritic Metascore: 66

Metacritic User Score:  7.0/10

Theaters: 11 May 2024

Runtime: 145 minutes

Budget:  $160 million

Worldwide Box Office:  $397.4 million

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: Movie trailer and poster, copyright 20th Century Studios.

Caged

18 September 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Longlegs: Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), mildly clairvoyant, rookie FBI agent, tackles a satanic serial-killer case with the enthusiasm of a vampire seeking high noon.

The movie possesses a few good, creepy scares molded around a very predictable plot with characters needing the IQ of twigs to make the story work.

Nicholas Cage elevates the movie to watchable while simultaneously establishing a serious deficiency in talent for the remainder of the cast that chose to perform in front of the camera.   Unfortunately, his acting is not enough to salvage this flick.

Trivia: Three songs by Marc Bolan’s band, T-Rex are woven into the Longlegs’ plot: Get It On, Jewel, and Planet Queen. All three songs provide a creepy, lyrical cadence to the horror that is Longlegs.

More Trivia: Zilgi who is credited with the music score is Osgood Perkins brother, Elvis Perkins, both of whom are the sons of the late actor and director Anthony Perkins.

Genre:  Crime–Horror—Mystery—Suspense–Thriller

Directed by: Osgood Perkins

Screenplay by: Osgood Perkins

Music by:  Zilgi

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt

Film Locations:  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Els: 5.0/10

IMDb:  6.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  85

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  60

Metacritic Metascore: 77

Metacritic User Score:  6.3/10

Theaters: 12 July 2024

Runtime: 101 minutes

Budget:  <$10 million

Worldwide Box Office:  $104.1 million

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: Movie trailer, copyright Neon.

Miller’s Crossing

14 August 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Tom Reagan (Byrne), indispensable man to prohibition crime boss Leo (Finney), is caught up in a no-win love affair, mounting gambling debts, and to add some juice, Irish and Italian mobs are competing for his unique talents. With everything to lose Reagan plays to keep his hat.

A suspenseful movie playing tribute to film noir/crime noir flicks of the 40s and 50s with inspiration from Dashiell Hammett’s ‘The Glass Key’ and ‘Red Harvest’. The plot is complicated that with a patty wagon full of characters it takes considerable effort, initially, to keep ‘em all straight.

This is Coens’ 3rd movie coming after ‘Blood Simple’ in 1984 and ‘Raising Arizona’ in 1987.

Genre:  Crime—Drama—Film Noir–Thriller

Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Screenplay by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Music by:  Carter Burwell

Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro

Film Locations:  New Orleans

Els:  8.5/10

IMDb:  7.7/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  93/100

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  90/100

Metacritic Metascore:  66/100

Metacritic User Score:  8.4/10

Theaters: 21 September 1990

Runtime: 115 minutes

Budget:  $10-14 Million

Worldwide Box Office:  $5 Million

Source: IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, Wikipedia. Graphic: Movie Poster by 20th Century Fox.

Vengeance

17 July 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

A New York writer’s hookup girlfriend dies, possibly murdered, and he is emotionally coerced into attending her funeral in the sticks of Texas, followed up by a less than enthusiastic investigation of her death.

A film that clicks on all cylinders, screenplay, acting, directing, and social commentary of all things—too bad it died at the box office. It really is a great movie to watch if for no other reason than to see and hear the philosophy of Ashton Kutcher.Theaters: 29 July 2022

Streaming: 16 September 2022

Runtime: 107 minutes

Genre:  Comedy — Crime – Mystery — Thriller

ElsBob:  7.0/10

IMDB:  6.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  82/100

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  86/100

Metacritic Metascore:  65/100

Metacritic User Score:  6.4/10

Directed by: B.J. Novak

Screenplay by: B.J. Novak

Music by:  Finneas O’Connell

Cast: B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, J. Smith-Cameron, Ashton Kutcher

Film Locations:  New Mexico

Budget: $22 million

Box Office: $4.4 million

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: Vengeance Movie Poster 2022, Focus Features copyright.

LaRoy Texas

3 July 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Theaters: 8 June 2023

Streaming: 12 April 2024

Runtime: 112 Minutes

Genre:  Comedy — Crime – Thriller

Els:  7.5/10

IMDB:  6.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  100/100

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  64/100

Metacritic Metascore:  69/100

Metacritic User Score:  5.9/10

Directed by: Shane Atkinson

Screenplay by: Shane Atkinson

Music by:  Delphine Malaussena, Rim Laurens, Clement Peiffer

Cast: John Magaro, Steve Zahn, Megan Stevenson

Film Locations:  New Mexico

A patsy husband with a cheating wife takes stock of his life and finds changes need to be made. Suicide and contract killer are possibilities.

A great story with a solid, twisted plot and competent acting provides an enjoyable Coen-like flick for Atkinson’s freshman entry into film making.

Source: IMDb. Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes. Graphic: LaRoy Texas Film Poster, Brainstorm Media.