Tag: Suspense

REVIEW: Premise of ‘Drop’ is too far off the deep end to fully work

Sometimes, a movie just breaks a person’s suspension of disbelief limit.

The latest film to do so is from Christopher Landon, known for helming “Happy Death Day” and its sequel. His new film, “Drop,” is a thriller, and centers on Violet (Meghann Fahy), a widowed single mother about to go on a date with a promising match from an app.

Violet arrives at the restaurant they decided on, a fancy eatery in a Chicago skyscraper, and, after some waiting, meets her match, Henry (Brandon Sklenar). The night seems to be going OK until Violet’s phone starts getting digital drops with messages saying her son will be harmed if she doesn’t kill her date, who’s knows about a government secret.

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REVIEW: Soderbergh’s ‘Black Bag’ is a satisfactory spy flick

Talk about a power couple.

In the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh, Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett play a married couple who both work in British Intelligence as elite spies. At the outset of the film, Fassbender’s character George is informed that a secret piece of tech has been leaked and one of the suspects behind it is his wife, Kathryn.

George accepts the mission to investigate where the leak is coming from, committing to including his wife in his search, though he is skeptical. The film follows as he plays a careful game of keeping Kathryn close while also looking into her own spy work which has been labeled as classified or “black bagged.”

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REVIEW: ‘Heretic’ has moderate suspense, though Grant shines

Hugh Grant has entered a villain phase with this and “Dungeons and Dragons,” and I’m all here for it.

In this film, Grant portrays Mr. Reed, a man who appears like a fine fellow at the movie’s outset. Early on, he’s visited by Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), and welcomes them into his home to discuss their religion.

To make them feel at ease, he expresses interest in their religion and claims his wife is in the back baking a pie for them to enjoy. However, it soon becomes clear that everything is a ruse, as Mr. Reed traps the two women in his home and is prepared to test their faith in dark ways.

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REVIEW: As a thriller, ‘Longlegs’ is laudable, but not quite legendary

Sometimes Nicolas Cage plays a character who’s just a little off. That’s not the case here, because the character he portrays in “Longlegs” is completely off.

In this film, Cage plays a serial killer known as Longlegs who’s been on the loose for decades. To help catch him after a recent family massacre, the head of Oregon’s FBI office brings in Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe). 

Awkward in social situations but completely dedicated to her profession, Harker begins the case with vigor, going over every clue, including letters left by Longlegs. Eventually, she’s able to decode them, but they only lead to more mysteries and memories from her own past.

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REVIEW: ‘Day One’ shows diminishing returns for ‘Quiet Place’ series

“A Quiet Place: Day One” turns out to be quite the bargain, since the movie shows day two and day three as well.

What the title really implies, though, is that this is a spin-off prequel showing how the conflict at play in the previous “Quiet Place” films from 2018 and 2020 started. Set in New York, the film centers on Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminal cancer patient and poet who, emotionally, is barely getting by.

On a day where she decides to go out in the city with others from a hospice center, the sight-by-sound aliens from previous installments begin dropping from the sky. The sudden alien attack pushes her into an effort for survival, and she’s joined along the way by another individual trying to stay alive.

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REVIEW: ‘Knox Goes Away’ is a strong creative effort from Keaton

A moody drama with Michael Keaton playing a hitman? Sure, sign me up.

In addition to starring as the lead character, Keaton also directed “Knox Goes Away.” In the film,  John Knox is a contract killer who’s been dealing with memory loss. When he meets with a doctor, Knox is diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia that will give him only weeks to live.

Without much time left, Knox starts making arrangements to pass on all of his money to his estranged family. However, the plan becomes complicated when his son Miles (James Marsden) shows up one night asking for help in covering up a crime.

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REVIEW: Sans dialogue, ‘No One Will Save You’ succeeds with suspense

Those who’ve played Nintendo games where protagonists are speechless other than grunts should find themselves in familiar territory with this mostly dialogue-free film.

Kaitlyn Dever stars in the picture, now on Hulu, as Brynn, a young woman living in a rural house near a small community. Brynn lives a simple, quiet life, appearing to be trying to recover from a trauma in her past.

After a fairly typical day, she goes to sleep, but is woken up by noise in and around her home. The intruder, though, is no burglar, but rather an extra-terrestrial, and there’s not just one that Brynn has to escape from.

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REVIEW: ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ is bold, powerful filmmaking

The brink has been reached for the characters in this drama, and it forces them to go past the point of no return.

It’s no surprise, as they feel the same has happened with climate change.

The film, inspired by the book featuring the same title, follows a group of young people who, seeing all other forms of protest ineffective, decide to sabotage a section of an oil pipeline in Texas. The plan originally formulates between college students Xochitl (Ariela Barer) and Shawn (Marcus Scribner).

They join forces with activists Rowan (Kristine Froseth), Logan (Lukas Gage), Theo (Sasha Lane), Alisha (Jayme Lawson) and Michael (Forrest Goodluck). Additionally, they partner with Dwayne (Jake Weary), a Texan who was forced to relocate when his property was bought out for a pipeline’s construction.

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REVIEW: ‘Missing’ manages to keep audiences glued to the (fictional) screen

It can be hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Yet “Missing,” while not as strong as its predecessor “Searching,” manages to be another fun screen-based mystery.

The movie is connected to the previous installment by only a small reference at the start. In this picture, the focus is on June (Storm Reid), a young woman who lives with her mother Grace (Nia Long). The movie picks up with Grace about to leave on a vacation with her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung) while June stays home.

Left alone while her mom is away, June does some partying before Grace is set to get back. However, on the date Grace’s plane is to arrive, she’s nowhere to be found and there’s not much information as to why. Sensing something is wrong, June begins researching what happened to her mother on her computer, and begins unraveling dangerous secrets.

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REVIEW: ‘Knock at the Cabin’ creates some suspense amid issues

Cabins are often relaxing places to stay at, unless it’s a cabin in a movie. In that case, it’s almost always an extremely dangerous place to be.

“Knock at the Cabin,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is another movie that shows a lovely vacation to a secluded, rustic location turning into a nightmare scenario. The movie follows the married couple Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge), as well as their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui).

During a stay at their rented cabin, the family is approached by a group of four individuals, led by Leonard (Dave Bautista). At first, it seems like a home invasion, but the family soon learn that the four are there to warn them about an impending apocalypse. According to the four, disaster is around the corner, and the only way to stop it is one of the family members being sacrificed.

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