Category Archives: Thriller

Hotel Mumbai

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Hotel Mumbai   4 stars

Hotel Mumbai tells the true story of the Islamic terrorist attack on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India in 2008.  It’s a well done presentation of the absolute terror that the victims of the attack went through facing young men with automatic weapons and hand grenades while having no defense other than running and hiding.  It also depicts the acts of heroism that the staff of the hotel displayed in protecting the guests of the hotel, many of whom are quite wealthy.  The movie doesn’t hold anything back as it shows just how horrifying it must be to be to be experiencing such a terrible event.  I remember well the news of the attack back around Thanksgiving in 2008.  The attack seemed to go on forever before the Indian Special Forces finally killed all the terrorists involved.  At the end of the movie we are shown much about the outcome of the story.  In all well over 100 people were killed across the city.  Of the victims in the hotel, half were the hotel staff.  Also, it took 21 months to restore the damage left behind and reopen the hotel.  If you see Hotel Mumbai be ready to feel more tension and dread than you do from any horror movie.

Shoplifters

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Shoplifters          5 stars

I had not heard much about Shoplifters before, last year’s Best Foreign Language film from Japan.  It’s about a very poor family living in a shack in Japan and what they have to do to survive including shoplifting from local stores.  It appears that there is a father, Osamu, a mother, Nobuyo, a grandmother and a teenage daughter and young son.  The couple find a little girl of about five freezing in the cold one night and take her in.  Rather than take her to the police they keep her and care for her as they surmise she was not treated well by her own family.  This movie develops very slowly and I thought that it was a movie mainly about the characters and how they relate to each other without much of a plot, something that shows how the less fortunate live.  However, there are signs along the way that suggest there is more going on here at first glance, so later in the film we learn that there are some hidden secrets that when revealed will test the strength of the ties holding this group together.  I was very presently surprised and impressed with how the film ended.  Rotten Tomatoes rated Shoplifters the second best foreign film of the year after Roma.

Us

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Us                           4 stars

By now everyone has heard of Jordan Peele’s latest horror film Us. It’s his second directorial effort after 2017’s much heralded Get Out.  With Us he goes much deeper into the horror genre with his story about the Wilson family on a beach outing at their summer cabin.  We learn that the mother, Lupita Nyong’o, experienced a traumatic event at the beach when she was a girl.  In the present the family has a few strange encounters until everything explodes with the arrival of another family who look exactly like them except they are very different too!  This is truly a horror film with the odd developments and bloody encounters that you would expect with such a film.  Peele puts his own spin on the genre that has a moral message somewhere in the story.  As the film gets toward the conclusion there are some unanswered questions and some things that don’t quite make sense, but I think that’s ok for horror movies.  Be forewarned that there is plenty of blood and interesting ways of dying in Us.  It’s a film that’s probably not for everyone.

The Insult

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The Insult            2 ½ stars

Critics and audiences alike seemed to like this courtroom drama set in Lebanon about a Lebanese man taking a Palestinian refugee to court over an incident in which the Lebanese man provoked an insult from the Palestinian.  The courtroom battle spills over into a giant media circus as the case gets nationwide attention and the population takes sides according to their political beliefs.  It was well acted and directed but I had a tough time relating to the story as the premise seemed somewhat farfetched to me.  Most people would settle such an incident privately.  And of course not being from the Middle East it is hard to relate to the cultural differences that would exist among the ethnic groups in Lebanon.  The Insult received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film.

Mother Mary

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Mother Mary     4 stars

I can’t say that Mother Mary by director David Lowery was not what I expected, since I went into the movie without first knowing anything about it. I can say that it is not about what you would think after viewing the first half of the movie and that it defies categorizing in any specific genre. We start out seeing the pop icon, called Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada)) on stage at a stadium filled with screaming fans as the voice of someone else is heard expressing hate filled thoughts lambasting the object of their contempt. Mother Mary is a huge pop star a la Madonna or Lady Gaga, who is typically dressed in the most elaborate costumes one can imagine. But she has experienced a sort of nervous breakdown on stage that went viral, and now she feels she is not able to perform for her next gig because the dress designed for her does not feel right. So, she seeks out her former fashion designer, Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)) who was a close friend until a few years earlier. Sam now lives on a large English country estate where she is arranging a show for her work. Mary asks (or begs) her to make a new dress for her show in only three days. Despite being occupied with her own show, Sam agrees but only after making a few passive aggressive remarks to her desperate former friend, revealing how she felt betrayed by Mary. In her enormous barn that serves as her workshop, Sam and Mary have a very long discussion about what the dress should be like that takes up to half of the movie. But this discussion is not really about a dress at all. It’s about two people expressing their pain over a damaged relationship, just as the movie is not just about a pop star and a fashion designer. These two actresses perform the roles expertly, bringing an ever-increasing feeling of pain to the screen. As they delve into the past with previous performances of Mary’s played out on screen, the entire mood of the film changes and it becomes more of a psychological thriller, eventually blowing up into a nightmare. We find out that the two have even more in common than a past friendship. Let’s just say that there is a mysterious creepy presence and that a séance is involved (featuring the artist FKA Twigs). There will be chance for healing but only after the two suffer through some intense pain. David Lowery is previously known for a movie called A Ghost Story, about a couple that shares a connection. This gives a clue as to what Mother Mary is about. The pair of Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel couldn’t be better matched to play their roles opposite each other. Both are top notch actresses. And it doesn’t hurt that some of the music was written by British pop star Charlie XCX. Hathaway is presently featured in The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Coel is starring in The Christophers, now in theaters. So, there is opportunity to see more performances of both!

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

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Ready or Not 2: Here I Come                       4 stars

I thought I was due for a horror movie, so I went to see Ready or Not 2: Here I Come directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. (Actually, I have already seen a few this year.) Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are known for co-directing both Scream and Scream VI. This is definitely a comedy horror, my favorite kind, and it happens to be a sequel to 2019’s Ready or Not, which I have not seen. But no matter. It was easy enough to pick up the movie’s premise from the opening scenes. A bloodied woman named Grace (Samara Weaving (of Scream VI and Bill and Ted Face the Music)) is seen walking out of a burning mansion and is taken to a hospital for treatment. Once she is well enough to talk, a police detective is there to question her, so we find out that she was getting married in the previous movie, but it turned out that her husband’s family, the Le Domas family, was part of a devil worshipping cult and Grace was being hunted by them in a deadly game of Hide and Seek. If Grace survived until dawn, then she would be free. She succeeded, but the family all died in the fire. While still in the hospital Grace’s younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton (Lisa Frankenstein and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)), finds her and we find out that the two had a falling out and haven’t seen each other for years. Unfortunately, both Grace and Faith are then kidnapped by the devil worshipping cult and brought to the expansive country estate of the Danforth family, one of the cult’s member families. The Danforth family is now led by twins Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar (I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream II)) and Titus (Shawn Hatosy of The Pitt). Both Gellar and Hatosy (especially) give command performances in their evil roles. These families are part of a conspiracy that controls governments across the world. In the Danforth mansion, in the presence of four of the member families, the plan is explained to them by a sort of sinister attorney (Elijah Wood (Frodo in Lord of the Rings)) with a very large book of rules. Since Grace survived the earlier night, she must now be hunted by members of the various families and whoever can kill her will be rewarded by becoming the Chairman of the High Council making them the most powerful person in the world. But if Grace can survive until dawn, she will be freed along with Faith. But the cult has certain rules that must be followed as they are civilized after all. If the head of any family is killed, then the next most senior family member must take their place in the hunt. No person may kill a member of another cult family. (Your own family is acceptable.) If they do, intentionally or not, then that person must immediately spontaneously explode into mass of blood along with the remaining members of that family. So, there is plenty of incentive to follow the rules. In addition, each family is restricted to using weapons that were in use at the time that their family was inducted into the cult. So, they use weapons that vary from broad swords to rocket launchers. Now, such an absurd setup can’t help but make for a hilarious comedy, as the characters inflict extreme violence on one another. At one point Faith takes such a horrendous beating that you would expect she would never walk again, but in true horror movie fashion she is soon back in action, though a bit bloodied. But wait! There may be another way to settle all this chaos. One character identifies a clause in the bylaws that says if the hunted party marries a family member, they can escape, while the spouse may ascend to the chairmanship. This scenario leads to an even more absurd situation by the climax of the film. By the end, Ready or Not 2 reaches Scream levels of violence while inflicting multiple laughs on the audience. The closest thing to it I have seen before was the comedy horror The Hunt back in 2020. Ready or Not 2 was a real hit at the box office. Horror fans should enjoy this one. Now I may have to go back and see the first Ready or Not.

Midsommar

Midsommar       4 ½ stars

Midsommar might be the fright fest of the summer.  This horror movie really establishes Ari Aster as a first rate talent in the horror genre.  Last year he brought us the disturbing “Hereditary” and now he brings us Midsommar, a horror story told in broad daylight.  We start the story with Dani, a young woman who suffers an unimaginable tragedy when her sister and parents are all killed.  She decides to accompany her boyfriend and his graduate school friends on a once in a lifetime trip to a summer festival in a remote Swedish village.  Once there the friends are welcomed to this commune like society and are invited to join in with the villagers in their ancient pagan rituals.  Being involved includes enjoying the effects of hallucinogenic drugs that distort their sense of reality.  The happy mood continues for a good while but things eventually take a dark turn as things are not all what they appear to be. (How could it be any other way?)  Things go from bad to worse for each of the American guests as they discover what their hosts really think of them.  Aster is a master at creating these disturbing scenes that are played out in broad daylight unlike most horror movies.  This movie may also be appropriate for the MeToo movement as it shows how women can react toward the men they are disgruntled with.  Beware, there are several very disturbing images in this one as you would expect from a first rate horror movie.

Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary             4 ½ stars

He has been half of a duo in a decades long love affair, a Brooklyn school teacher who makes it a habit of getting high, a man with a doll for a girlfriend, an astronaut walking on the moon and a man who started life as a doll. This time around Ryan Gosling is both a schoolteacher and an astronaut in Phil Lord’s and Christopher Miller’s buddies in space movie Project Hail Mary. Gosling occupies the screen for the entire movie going from well-regarded scientist to public middle school teacher to astronaut to savior of humanity and looks good while doing it. We first find Ryland Grace (Gosling) waking up after a long sleep on a spaceship while sporting a long beard not able to understand where he is. He sees a giant star and realizes that it isn’t the sun so he must be a long way from home. Then he discovers that he is all alone as the rest of the ship’s crew has not survived. Through effective use of flashbacks, we learn the background of his story. Grace was a biologist who published a theory that water may not be necessary to sustain life on other planets, was ridiculed for it then became a schoolteacher in Brooklyn where he inspires his students in science. When it was discovered that there is a space bacteria eating the sun that will eventually make life on Earth extinct, Grace is recruited by Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller of Anatomy of a Fall) to join in the massive research project she leads, to stop the bacteria and save the planet. The team discovers that the bacteria has spread to many stars in the galaxy except for one that has escaped this fate. Thus, if it can be discovered what is unique about this distant star and its planet, a cure could be found. A spaceship that can travel at near light speed is built but before the journey to the mystery planet begins, circumstances change leaving Grace as the best option to join the crew and figure out why that planet was spared. The catch is that there is only enough fuel to get there and not to return, so it will be a one-way trip for the crew. They will have to send their “solution” back to Earth using a deep space probe. (Of course, there are a few credibility issues with the science, such as the large amount of open space inside a spaceship meant to be crewed by only three people.) But that is only half the story. Upon reaching this planet, Grace meets another spaceship that is manned by a lone being from another civilization suffering the same fate as Earth. This species is very different from anything on Earth, having a different chemistry that doesn’t depend on water and looks like a pile of rocks with rock arms. Grace and “Rocky” as he is called cannot share the same atmosphere and have completely different languages, but that doesn’t stop the pair from gradually becoming acquainted and finding a way to work together to solve their common problem. So, it turns out to be a buddy in space movie. “Rocky” depends on the puppetry of James Ortiz who created the puppet and does the translated voice as well. Everything is done to make Rocky appear cute and endearing to the audience so that he feels like another character. Through their struggles, Grace and Rocky grow to really care for each other and as we see they would lay down their life for the other. Besides being an entertaining sci-fi movie, Project Hail Mary gives a message about forming bonds and caring for others that are very different from us. And it likely couldn’t be done nearly as well without the star qualities of Ryan Gosling who has hardly missed in his film roles yet. (Let’s forget about Only God Forgives.) The movie also respects the scientific process and the scientists that work to increase our understanding of the natural world, something we can use today. It is bound to be one of the big hits of the year.

Sirat

Sirat       4 ½ stars

At the opening of Sirat we see the words on the screen telling us that Sirat is the path between heaven and hell and that it is narrower than a strand of hair and sharper than a sword. These words serve as a warning for what the viewer is in for. Sirat, by Spanish film director Oliver Laxe, is the most slow-burning and harrowing film I have seen in a long time. As it progresses it becomes a test of endurance for the movie goer. The movie starts with hands building a large stack of speakers somewhere in the desert. Eventually, they are in place and the music starts. The sound we hear is that of loud rave music with a steady beat and non-melodic sound with over a hundred people seen dancing. They are some where in the Moroccan desert next to a mountain range. Luiz (Sergi López), a middle-aged Spanish man is wandering through the crowd with his young son, Estaban and their dog, showing a photo of his daughter to people asking if they have seen her. His daughter has been missing for months, and she was known to frequent these illegal rave events. Then a truck carrying armed soldiers appears, stopping the event and forcing the dancers to leave. As the crowd starts to drive away, a quintet of rave followers who are part of the crew drives off on their own path and Luiz decides to follow them in the hope that he may learn of the whereabouts of his daughter. There is another rave to be held in the desert in a few days, and they intend to get there driving through the desert. (They are driving a large truck and an RV, but Luiz and his son are in a mini-van that is not equipped for the rough roads.) We hear radio reports making vague references to there being a state of war. Later, they see troop convoys making their way through the desert. This movie is not about the search for a missing daughter, but something much more ominous and existential. Initially, it may look like a road trip movie, but it isn’t Thelma and Louise or even Mad Max. These travelers find themselves in one of the most isolated and unforgiving places imaginable. It is a place practically devoid of human or animal life. The mood of the film changes to something more ominous and is aided by a loud and hypnotic sounding score like nothing I have heard before. There are long stretches of the film showing the voyagers driving through the plains and on dangerous mountain roads with quiet rest stops along the way. As they make progress one gets the feeling of dread and heightened tension while wondering where the film is going. Then the sudden shock comes at the most unexpected time leaving the viewer completely stunned. The film may be described as an obscure arthouse film, but it is absolutely devastating and will not be forgotten. Besides López, all the cast are non-professionals who Laxe found among actual rave goers as he has followed the rave scene for the last six years. Thus, the actors are very authentic. Sirat is nominated for Academy Awards in the Best International Feature and Best Sound categories and is deserving in both categories. Of the nominated foreign films I have seen, I find only The Secret Agent to possibly be superior to this extraordinary film. You are warned though that this one is not for everyone.

Never Look Away

Never Look Away                                             4 ½ stars

Never Look Away is an epic storytelling of a young German artist who lived through the time of Nazi Germany and Communist controlled East Germany growing as an artist and developing his own special kind of painting.  Its three hour length covers a great span of time from the thirties to the sixties, starting with 10 year old Kurt witnessing a display of “degenerate art” and the horrors accompanying the Nazi’s waging war against the world.  After the war, Kurt, the young man (Tom Schilling) works as an artist for the Communist regime of East Germany producing art of the Socialist workers, but you can tell his talent calls for him to be something better.  Fortunately, he meets Ellie, a young pretty woman supplying new pencils to the artists.  Of course the two fall for each other having secret night rendezvous destined for disaster, given that her father is a former SS Nazi in hiding.  Eventually, the two of them escape to the West at the time of the wall going up where Kurt’s artistic career is advanced with the help of prominent artists of the growing movement of contemporary art.  The movie is at its best when we see Kurt being inspired to do his best work by the beauty of the world around him, but also influenced by some of the horror he has experienced from his younger days.  He develops a way of painting photographic images while blending them together in haunting black and white images.  The story is apparently loosely based on the life of real life artist Gerhard Richter, an admired painter of the 20th century.  Never Look Away was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards and is one that should not be missed.