Category Archives: Thriller

Lizzie

Lizzie     4 stars

The psychological thriller Lizzie from 2018 is a retelling of the Borden family murders in Falls River, Massachusetts in 1892.  It was a personal project of Chloe Sevigny who served as producer and star and is made more relevant by the recent MeToo movement for women’s rights to be heard in cases of sexual abuse.  Sevigny has the title role with Kristen Stewart starring as Bridget, the hired maid for the rich family.  Lizzie’s oppressive situation is clearly outlined with her life being controlled by her domineering father Andrew (a lecherous Jamey Sheridan). The family also includes her step mother (Fiona Shaw) and her sister Emma.  Even though she is 32 years old she is not allowed to leave the house at night.  Lizzie strikes up a close kinship with Bridget (who is called the diminutive “Maggie” by Andrew Borden) especially when it is discovered that her father has been molesting her regularly. In this version their close relationship develops into more than being just friends.  The movie focuses little on the investigation of the murders and the trial and concerns itself mainly with the oppressive situation of the female characters and how they are trapped in their world and can see no escape from it.  Lizzie can’t even count on an inheritance as Andrew takes steps to ensure her life would be controlled by men even in the event of his death.  The way Sevigny plays the role and the way the scenes are shot gives the movie a closed in feeling.  Of course the gruesome scene of the actual murders is included so the audience has no doubt what happened even though the jury could not find a guilty verdict.  Lizzie brings new life to this classic American tragedy.

The Hunt

The Hunt                                             2 ½ stars

Since I haven’t been to a theater in a long time, I went looking for a new release. I landed on The Hunt which has been called one of the most controversial recent movies. The Hunt is a violent political satire horror action movie that features the hunting down of people for sport on an isolated patch of land by a few rich elites.  The elites are believers in the usual left-wing issues like climate change, follow leftist authors and are led by Athena (Hilary Swank), a left winger who hates the kind of people who love Donald Trump.  A group of twelve people awake to find themselves in an unknown countryside and discover that they are all believers in the conspiracy theory that there is a place called The Manor where right wing types are hunted down by leftist elites. There are a few utterings of second amendment rights and the evils of immigrants. In a clearing there is a giant crate, that when opened reveals a pig and a giant cache of arms. It doesn’t take long till the shooting starts and the group finds that they are the prey. They gather the weapons available and try to escape while each is gunned down in ever increasing bloody and violent fashion.  The violence level is high in this one, (comparable to Revenge from a couple of years ago). There is an assortment of well known actors playing the right wingers. There is Emma Roberts who is Yoga Pants who doesn’t last very long. Justin Hartley from This Is Us is a hunter of exotic wildlife. Ike Barinholtz of The Mindy Project is Staten Island. Wayne Duvall is Don??. Ethan Suplee of My Name is Earl is Shut the F*** Up Gary. There is another character referred to as Target for reasons that become clear. As the body count increases one person emerges as more than Athena was counting on by the name of Crystal (Betty Gilpin of the TV show GLOWS) who is quite proficient with a gun and various hand to hand weapons. While it may not be entirely appropriate for our times, the movie effectively satirizes the common behavior of believing conspiracy theories without checking out the facts.  If you feel like combining political lunacy with bloody violence, then The Hunt might be for you as there is something in it for both sides. Who knows? President Trump might even like it.

Caught Stealing

Caught Stealing                 4 ½ stars

Caught Stealing is the latest movie directed by Darren Aronofsky and it is one wild ride. I have seen all but one of his movies and have to say they vary greatly in style. Some of them have a surrealistic tone like Pi, The Fountainhead, Black Swan and mother!. Others are more down-to-earth dealing with the fragile nature of a character like The Wrestler and The Whale. Caught Stealing is neither of those, it being a more conventional story about a single individual finding himself in a tough situation. The movie is set in 1998 lower east side of New York City and has a very gritty feel to it. Hank (the very versatile Austin Butler) at twenty something was a promising prospect for major league baseball until he got into a car wreck, destroying his knee and killing his best friend. Now he is a bar tender working in a dive bar, but he worships the San Francisco Giants from his home state of California where his mother still lives. He is still constantly haunted by the accident that destroyed his career. Now things are going ok for Hank, and he often hooks up with his girlfriend Yvonne (Zöe Kravitz) who is an EMT. That is until his next-door neighbor, Russ, an English punk rocker takes off to England and leaves his pet cat, Bud for Hank to care for. The movie takes a sharp turn in tone at this point, becoming more of an action thriller. When a gang of Russian thugs finds Russ is not around they find Hank and give him a brutal beating putting him in the hospital because they think he is connected to Russ. Suddenly, Hank finds that he is the target of every local gangster in the neighborhood including not only the Russians, but Puerto Ricans and Hasidic Jews. At one point he goes to the police for help, finding Detective Roman (Academy Award winner Regina King in a very different role), but that doesn’t bring any help. With seemingly everyone against him, Hank must take matters into his own hands and find a way out of this mess that he never asked for. There are some unexpected twists that poor Hank must deal with in creative ways including using a device he is well acquainted with, a baseball bat. I don’t want to give anything away but will tell you to watch for the star cast that includes Matt Smith, Vincent D’Onofrio and Liev Schreiber. They are virtually unrecognizable so pay attention. There is even a role for Carol Kane (Between the Temples) that is a real treat. But the movie really belongs to Austin Butler who has distinguished himself in Elvis, The Bikeriders, Dune: Part Two as well as a small role in Eddington. He has shown he has the charisma and acting skills needed to put him in the higher echelons of Hollywood actors. Watch for him in his next project: Enemies, a crime drama.
 

Relic

Relic       4 stars

The last time I was at Sundance I saw several good horror movies, but at the end of the festival ran into one moviegoer who said he had one more to see called Relic that was supposed to be pretty interesting. I finally sat down to watch Relic as it was just released and I wasn’t disappointed. The movie is by a new filmmaker and concerns the effects of a loved one’s dementia on their family. The movie is set in a big house is an Australian town that is home to an elderly woman, Edna (Robyn Nevin). Edna is reported missing which brings her daughter (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter (Bella Heathcote) to the house to investigate. After a few days of searching, Edna suddenly reappears without explanation of where she was. Although she is physically fine it’s clear something is wrong here. As daughter and granddaughter stay to take care of her, the house seems to mysteriously decay as a black growth slowly appears on the walls. This coincides with Edna hearing strange noises and having conversations with someone that’s not there. She behaves in ever increasing erratic and violent ways that confuses her family. The large house is full of cluttered hallways and mysterious doorways that helps to add to all the confusion the family members are experiencing. There is a background story about an ancestor who had a horrible death that offers some explanation of the seemingly supernatural happenings, like all good horror movies need to have. The movie does a slow moving buildup to an eventual frenzy of frightening events that will overwhelm the viewers. Although the movie is not quite at the level of The Babadook or of Hereditary, it’s good if you are up for some good family horror and clicks in at only 90 minutes long.

Honey Don’t

Honey Don’t                       3 ½ stars

Honey O’Donoghue is a female private detective solving cases in and around Bakersfield California where she mainly sees clients who need to know if their spouse or partner is cheating on them. The movie poster says “She only has two desires and one of them is justice”. It doesn’t take long before you figure out what the other one is. Margaret Qualley is Honey in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s new film Honey Don’t. She is a rock-solid detective almost like that of a Raymond Chandler private eye who talks like one of those B movie film noir detectives out of the forties. Her one weakness is that she can’t turn down flirtatious women and often ends up in the sack with them. As the movie begins O’Donoghue becomes involved in a case of a fatal car accident in the desert where one of her potential clients has been found dead. A local police officer, Marty Metakawitch (Charlie Day) on the scene believes it to be a simple car accident, but O’Donoghue thinks there is more to it. A running gag in the film is Marty asking Honey to join him in a drink, but she says “I Like Girls” to which the clueless Marty says “You always say that.” It doesn’t take long until more murders are discovered, and O’Donoghue finds leads that indicate that a local church called the Four-Way Temple may be somehow involved. The church is led by the Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans) who is a real douchebag who likes to engage his female parishioners in sex and has some side businesses going on too that sometimes require the elimination of certain problems. During her investigations Honey encounters MG Falcone (Aubrey Plaza), a female police officer who also happens to be gay and Honey does not miss the opportunity. (But don’t worry. The sex scenes are pretty tame.) Honey also has a sister who has a large brood of children which Honey is very protective of. All of the female characters seem to have one thing in common and that is having bad relationships with their fathers, especially true for Honey and her sister. When one of the sister’s girls (who was beaten by her idiot boyfriend) goes missing, O’Donoghue pays the boyfriend a visit in his trailer asking where she is. Not getting a good answer, Honey gives him what he deserves and let’s just say you had better not mess around with Honey. Like other Coen movies there is plenty of ironic violence and moronic villains to go around. The movie falls apart somewhat due to a plot that isn’t quite coherent. I felt there were some things being left out leaving it less than satisfying. But I will say that Margaret Qualley’s performance makes up for the film’s shortcomings. I would love to see her in a sequel. She has been in some great roles including those in Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, Poor Things and The Substance. This movie by Coen and Cooke (who is Ethan Coen’s wife) is the second in a planned B-movie trilogy that are centered around lesbian characters. The first was last year’s Drive-Away Dolls that also starred Qualley as a girl on a road trip with her very uptight friend. (Along the way they encounter some very inept crooks and an all-lesbian soccer team.) It is one that I recommend. The third installment is still in the works. I have no idea what Coen and company have in mind yet, but I will certainly watch for it. Also, I am convinced that I have no need to visit Bakersfield, California.

The Rental

The Rental                          4 stars

With The Rental, actor Dave Franco shows that he can direct an effective thriller/horror film that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s hard to describe this movie without giving away spoilers so I can’t go into great detail. In the movie, a group of four friends decide to celebrate Dan’s successful business venture by renting an oceanside house for the weekend. Dan, his wife Michelle, his brother Josh and his business partner Mina travel to the house they found online planning a drug fueled fun weekend. Josh and Mina also happen to be starting their own relationship with each other. Tensions start to mount when they meet the caretaker who has racist tendencies toward Mina who has a foreign name. As in a good thriller, things get progressively more tense as we see that some of the characters are less than honest with each other. Suspicions arise when Josh’s dog, Reggie suddenly disappears. When one pair of our friends discovers evidence that someone has been watching them, the fear of revealing secrets set in and accusations are made. It is here that what starts as a character driven thriller suddenly transforms into something more sinister and the violence finds its way into the story. The movie is aided by effective cinematography, some well placed foggy night scenes and four good performances by the actors portraying some rather narcissistic and not so nice people. As in most horror movies, the characters make some very questionable choices that only make their situation worse. The Rental is good entertainment that takes its time to develop and does not rely on sudden scare scenes, but it will only work for true horror fans.
 

Loaded

Loaded                 1 star

The 1994 British made indie thriller Loaded can be described as an exercise in navel gazing involving a bad LSD trip. The movie has a group of London teenagers traveling to a remote old mansion where they aim to make a bad horror movie. Along the way there is lots of philosophizing about life and what they hope to get out of it. One character, Neil, theorizes that thoughts toward a person can make one responsible for what befalls them and this may be a premonition. Two of the characters have real ambitions of becoming filmmakers with one of them having an obsession with real psychopaths. Eventually, when the group takes LSD the consequences are severe as one of their members ends up dead. Then the group must decide together what actions to take. The movie is only notable for early roles for two of the actors, Catherine McCormack and Thandie Newton. This film is a collection of clichés, self-pity and nineties hair styles. It should be avoided.

Underwater

Underwater                       2 stars

While watching Underwater, the movie about a deep sea research facility that is suddenly attacked by strange sea creatures, I had the distinct impression that I had seen it before. Much of the elements of it are taken from The Abyss and Alien, both about mysterious creatures attacking a small group of survivors. This does not bode well. In Underwater we have a group of six survivors that must crawl their way through the wreckage of the laboratory that happens to be seven miles below the surface. As you would expect the suspense comes in as you wonder which one will be the next to die. The sets and effects look very authentic so this was an expensive movie to make. We know little about the characters as they try to stay together to protect each other and maintain sanity. The movie was derivative and you might say boring.

Alien Covenant

Alien: Covenant                 4 stars

Alien: Covenant I believe is the fifth movie in the franchise and sees the return of Ridley Scott as the director. You may recall the original trilogy of the seventies and eighties in which Sigourney Weaver battles killer aliens found on a distant planet. This installment set two decades before the original Alien is just as horrifying and is aided by the modern CGI effects common to science fiction movies today. The movie is set on a colony spaceship with over 2,000 people on a multi years journey to a planet that is to be a new settlement for humans and occurs ten years after the events of Prometheus, another doomed space mission. A constant in the Alien movies is the presence of a synthetic, an artificially created humanoid who serves his human creators. The role of the emotionless but curious synthetic Walter is filled again by the amazing Michael Fassbender. As a result of a mishap on the Covenant in which the captain is killed, the crew learns of a previously unknown nearby planet that can support human life, so the new captain (Billy Crudup) decides to alter the plan and investigate and possible avoid years of hypersleep. Of course, this is the first mistake of many. The planet happens to be the same one of the events of the ill-fated Prometheus! When the landing party including the captain and Walter arrives, other than and intense storm, things seem normal enough. That is, until the pathogen born creatures start to show up and kill off the crew! The synthetic, David (also Michael Fassbender) who was the only survivor of Prometheus finds the crew and explains to them what happened here. Unfortunately, he leaves out a few key details that would explain what happened here. The movie is perhaps less original than Prometheus, and more like the original movies thanks to Scott. It is heavy on the interactions of the characters and an action driven plot. The scenes involving two Michael Fassbender’s are especially intriguing. Also, as expected the movie is heavy on blood and gore, so be forewarned! (This one is far better than last week’s Underwater.)

The Batman

The Batman        4 stars

In 2022 we got yet another incarnation of the most depicted, depressed superhero in movies, TV or comic books. This time it is Matt Reeves (two iterations of The Planet of the Apes movies) giving us his version of the caped crusader, otherwise known as Batman. What can he do that Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan or Joel Schumacher haven’t already done? Apparently, it is creating the darkest and moodiest Batman yet to hit the big screen. This Batman (Robert Pattinson) has seemingly been suffering from PTSD ever since his parents were murdered some twenty years before. He regularly goes skulking around Gotham City looking for criminal gangs to beat up on and shows them no mercy. Bruce Wayne, the millionaire, does appear in a few scenes, as well as his butler, Alfred (Andy Serkis), but he is not the playboy type that has been seen in other Batman movies. He typically shares in Batman’s moodiness. The entire movie takes place at night, with much of it in the rain to add to the gloomy feel of it. There isn’t even a hint of comedy throughout the movie. In Reeves’ movie Batman isn’t just a crime fighter. He must also take on the role of detective when a series of high-profile murders are taking the lives of the most prominent men in the city including the mayor and the DA. At each crime scene a letter is left addressed to Batman with a puzzling riddle that he, together with Commissioner Gordon (Jeffrey Wright (probably the finest actor in the movie)) must find the answer to. Slowly it is revealed that a web of corruption has infected every level of the local government, and this hidden psychopath has made it his mission to clean things up while also believing he can get Batman to help in the endeavor. Each victim seems to have ties to a crime boss named Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), a real slimeball who operates an exclusive club and hangout for criminals in Gotham City. One other character figures prominently in the story. Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz in her most athletic role yet) is a showgirl at Falcone’s club and wants answers as to what happened to her missing friend there. She can help Batman in finding the truth but tends to go off on her own with a vengeance. (She also provides a home for several cats.) There are hints of a love interest as well. When the murdering psychopath (Paul Dano) is finally unmasked, it seems that he and Batman are like two sides of the same coin, each having a deep need to root out the corruption in the city, only the murderer doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process. The Batman combines elements of what we’ve seen in the comics and the more recent movies as well as traditional detective noir stories. It has plenty of action and story packed into its almost three-hour running time. And there is word of another The Batman movie in the works!