Tag: mystery
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Wake Up Dead Man” Delivers a Holy Whodunnit With Heavenly Style
Wake Up Dead Man delivers a lively, heartfelt mystery filled with humor, spiritual intrigue, and standout performances. Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc shines as he navigates a labyrinth of faith, deception, and resurrection theatrics. Rian Johnson crafts a story that celebrates both the joy of a great puzzle and the resilience of a community seeking renewal.
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Lurker: The Parasite Prayer
Alex Russell’s Lurker is a punk-tinged psychological thriller that explores the parasitic intimacy between fame and those who feed off it. With a chilling performance by Théodore Pellerin, the film captures the dread of being nobody in a world built on Somebody. Mixed-to-positive.
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Anemone: The Flower that Opens in Grief
Daniel Day-Lewis returns in Anemone, a mournful drama about parental violence and emotional exile. Directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis, the film is visually haunting and narratively uneven. A mixed-to-positive review explores its painterly tone, fractured family dynamics, and the quiet presence of the anemone flower.
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Play Dirty: The Wreckage We Walk Through
Shane Black’s Play Dirty is a bruised, chaotic heist thriller that trades precision for personality. Mark Wahlberg stumbles through the wreckage while LaKeith Stanfield steals the show. It’s messy, funny, and unexpectedly mournful.
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Highest 2 Lowest: Highest 2 Lowest: From Dumbo to the Underground
When a titan music mogul is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.
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Classic Review: Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low—The Moral Geometry of Shadows
Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low is more than a crime thriller—it’s a masterclass in moral storytelling and spatial symbolism. This essay explores how Kurosawa uses vertical space to reflect class division, ethical ambiguity, and the architecture of power. From the hilltop home of a conflicted executive to the shadowed alleys of Yokohama, the film traces…
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The Thursday Murder Club: Murder, Memory, and Llamas: A Cozy Death at Coopers Chase
The Thursday Murder Club arrives not with a bang, but with a chuckle and a well-folded cardigan. Chris Columbus directs with a gentle hand, letting the film unfold— a retirement home newsletter—pleasant, occasionally poignant, and peppered with gossip. Helen Mirren leads the charge as Elizabeth Best, a retired spy whose gaze could still dismantle a…
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It Feeds: The Hunger Beneath the Skin
There is a quiet dread in Chad Archibald’s It Feeds, a film that moves not with thunder but with the slow, deliberate pulse of something ancient and buried. It is not a scream at night but a whisper in the walls. Ashley Greene’s Cynthia is the anchor of this haunted vessel, a clairvoyant therapist who…
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Honey Don’t: Sweet, Sour, and Stabbed: A Bakersfield Ballad
Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t is a cracked mirror of noir, a queer thriller that dances between menace and mischief, mystery and melodrama. It opens with a corpse in a car and ends with a flirtation at a stoplight, and in between, it spins a tale so tangled it could knot your shoelaces. Margaret Qualley’s Honey…
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Relay: The Echo Chamber of Ash
David Mackenzie’s Relay is a film of quiet urgency, a thriller that trades spectacle for surveillance and gunfire for guilt. Riz Ahmed plays Ash, a fixer whose anonymity is his currency, and whose voice is never heard directly. He speaks through relay services, burner phones, and the silence of a man who has seen too…
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The Trouble With Jessica: The Trouble with Carpets, Clafoutis, and Corpse Logistics
Matt Winn’s The Trouble with Jessica opens with the kind of dinner party that makes you want to RSVP “no” just in case someone brings a memoir. The film sets its tone early: brittle banter, wine-fueled revelations, and the creeping dread that someone’s going to say something unforgivable—or die. Jessica (Indira Varma), the uninvited guest…
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Moon: The Body Knows Before the Mind
In Moon, Kurdwin Ayub directs with a quiet pulse, letting the body speak before the mouth does, letting silence stretch across gilded rooms and dusty training mats. Florentina Holzinger’s Sarah is a woman of muscle and memory, a fighter who has lost her fight, now wandering through a world that doesn’t know what to do…
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The Naked Gun: “Lethal Nonsense: The LN Files”
The case opens with a bang—literally. A villain cracks a safety deposit box labeled “P.L.O.T. Device,” and from that moment, Akiva Schaffer’s reboot of The Naked Gun declares its allegiance to the absurd. Liam Neeson, our new LN, steps into the trench coat of Frank Drebin Jr., son of the original LN, Leslie Nielsen. The…
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Sew Torn: Unspools with Flair and a Few Snags
Freddy McDonald’s “Sew Torn” stitches together crime, choice, and metaphysical quilting with the kind of unraveled bravado that most directors wouldn’t dare thread. It’s an oddball of a film, laced with absurdity and grounded emotion, and while it doesn’t always hit straight, the pattern it leaves is hard to forget. As a crime drama that…
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Marked Men: Rule + Shaw- Marked by Tenderness
In Nick Cassavetes’ Marked Men: Rule + Shaw, the familiar beats of a love long held, quietly yearned for, and finally unearthed are played like notes in a bittersweet melody. The romance between Rule Archer and Shaw Landon unfurls not with innovation, but with the kind of warm sincerity that softens even the most well-worn…
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The Shrouds: The Whispers Beneath the Stone
The dead are restless, but not in the way you’d expect. They don’t scream. They shimmer. They peel away in layers of corrupted light. David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds, now streaming on the Criterion Channel, isn’t a ghost story—it’s a fugue composed in grief’s decaying architecture. It moves like a procession through data-sickened catacombs, its horror…
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The Actor: Amnesia with Stage Lighting
In The Actor, a murky little dream of a film currently playing on Hulu, you’re never quite sure whether you’re watching a noir thriller about memory or a rehearsal for one. The film, directed with an affection for theatrical smudges and slow reveals by Duke Johnson, wears its origins proudly—it’s based on Donald E. Westlake’s…
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Misericordia: A Sinister Reverie of Desire and Deception
Alain Guiraudie’s *Misericordia* is a film that resists easy categorization, oscillating between psychological thriller, dark comedy, and an unsettling meditation on repression. It is a film of contradictions, where the bucolic tranquility of rural France conceals a simmering undercurrent of violence and desire. Félix Kysyl, in an enigmatic and intensely physical performance, embodies Jérémie, a…
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Answers to the questions you always wanted to ask the departed:
Answers to the questions you always wanted to ask the departed:(A counter poem with answers after Ellen Bass Inquest)https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/09/inquest-ellen-bass-poemShe loved apricots, not figs. Olives reminded her of saltwater, and the yellow irises—those were never hers. Her feet stayed clean because she refused to walk barefoot, never trusted the ground, never trusted much at all. She…
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Lost in the Shadows: *Night Moves* and the Disillusionment of the Neo-Noir DetectiveMovie Review
Arthur Penn’s *Night Moves* (1975) is a quintessential film within the neo-noir private detective genre, embodying a complex reflection on the futility of investigation amidst the disillusionment of post-Watergate America. The narrative follows Harry Moseby, portrayed with remarkable nuance by Gene Hackman, who delivers a weary and incisive performance that captures the character’s profound internal…
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Bring Her Back: The House that Whispers
In Bring Her Back, horror is not merely the presence of ghosts but the weight of grief—unseen, unrelenting, and whispering from every corner of the screen. Danny and Michael Philippou craft a film that lingers, slipping under the skin with its quiet dread rather than relying on conventional jump scares. The result is a supernatural…
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Night Call: A Midnight Descent into the Abyss
The night is a treacherous beast, stretching long and lean over the damp streets of Brussels, preying on the weak and challenging the strong. *Night Call* doesn’t merely enter this darkness—it plunges in, fists clenched and heart racing. Michel Blanchart’s debut feature is a gripping and relentless thriller that grabs you by the collar and…
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Another Simple Favor: Glamour, Deception, and a Sequel That Struggles to Find Its Footing
In *Another Simple Favor*, Paul Feig returns with a sequel to his 2018 dark comedy *A Simple Favor*, aiming to recapture the intrigue and wit that made the first film a standout. Set against the backdrop of Capri, Italy, the film follows Blake Lively’s enigmatic character, Emily, and Anna Kendrick’s charming Stephanie, as they reunite…
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The Accountant 2: A Calculated Sequel That Balances Action and Heart
**The Accountant 2**, starring Ben Affleck, offers an engaging sequel that expands upon the groundwork laid by its predecessor while introducing new dynamics and exhilarating action sequences. Directed by Gavin O’Connor, the film resumes years after the original story, bringing audiences back into the intricate world of Christian Wolff, a brilliant yet neurodivergent accountant renowned…
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Havoc: A Symphony of Chaos and Redemption
Gareth Evans‘ *Havoc*, featuring a compelling performance by Tom Hardy, immerses audiences in a grim world marked by profound moral decay, relentless action, and the elusive nature of redemption. Set against the backdrop of a rain-soaked, unnamed metropolis, the film follows Wilson, a weary and disillusioned cop entangled in a labyrinth of corruption and escalating…
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The Rule of Jenny Penn: Strings of Dread
James Ashcroft’s latest offering, The Rule of Jenny Penn, now streaming on Shudder, envelops viewers in its unsettling aura. This atmosphere resembles a moth-eaten blanket infused with the odor of decay. The film is a psychological thriller, woven with foreboding and gallows humor.. *The Rule of Jenny Penn* delves into the nature of human dignity…
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Drop: A High-Tech Nightmare That Will Leave You Breathless
Christopher Landon‘s “Drop,” starring Meghann Fahy, captures your attention from the first scene and maintains that grip until the credits roll. The film is polished and stylish on the surface, but it carries an underlying dread that creeps up your spine, suggesting, “This could happen to you.” It’s more than just entertainment; it offers a…
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Black Bag: Secrets Best Left Unzipped
The world of espionage is far from clean. It’s filled with whispers in the dark, coded messages scribbled on napkins, and a constant sense of paranoia that every shadow may hide a loaded gun. Steven Soderbergh’s *Black Bag* explores the murky depths of this genre, weaving together a complex narrative of betrayal, surveillance, and simmering…
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Slamdance 2025: Under the Burning Sun: A Journey of Survival”
Movie Info: In an anti-abortion barren realm, Mowanza encounters serial obstacles in terminating her unwanted pregnancy. Learning that another nation called Iropus has a lenient abortion policy, she decides to forge ahead, even though all she has is a half-empty water bottle and a beaten-up car. On her journey, she shares fleeting love and enduring…
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Heart Eyes: A Horror Movie With a Romcom Knife in Its Heart
Movie Info: Review: “Heart Eyes” is a genre-bending Valentine’s Day movie that combines the thrills of a slasher film with the charm of a romantic comedy. Directed by Josh Ruben, the film stars Olivia Holt as Ally, a jaded advertising executive, and Mason Gooding as Jay, a charming marketing whiz. Together, they navigate a series…
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Sundance 2025: The Things You Kill: A Thought-Provoking Journey Through Self-Discovery
Movie Info: Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, Ali, a university professor coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance. As long-buried family secrets resurface, the police tighten their noose, and doubts begin eroding his conscience. Ali has no choice but to look into the abyss of his own…
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“Blink Twice: A Third Blink Needed for Tatum and Kravitz’s Twisty Love-Thriller!”
MOVIE INFO: When tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala, sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one…
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Sleep: A Haunting Exploration of Possession and Matrimonial Unity
MOVIE INFO: SLEEP follows newlyweds Hyun-su (Lee Sun-kyun, PARASITE) and Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), whose domestic bliss is disrupted when Hyun-su begins speaking in his sleep, ominously stating, “Someone’s inside.” From that night on, whenever he falls asleep, Hyun-su transforms into someone else, with no recollection of what happened the night before. Overwhelmed with anxiety that…
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Red Rooms: A Haunting Dive into the Dark World of True Crime Obsession
MOVIE INFO: The high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier has just gone to trial, and Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality blurs with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a dark path to seek the final piece of the puzzle: the missing video of a murdered 13-year-old girl, to whom Kelly-Anne bears a disturbing resemblance.…
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“The Damned: A Chilling Tale of Survival and Morality
MOVIE INFO: Eva (Odessa Young), a 19th-century widow is tasked with making an impossible choice when, in the middle of an especially cruel winter, a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing post. Eva and her crew must choose to either rescue the shipwrecked or survive the winter with their last remaining food.…
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Babygirl – A Mixed Bag of BDSM Exploration, Missteps, and Overused Tropes
MOVIE INFO: A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern. REVIEW: Babygirl,” a film that attempts to delve into the world of BDSM dynamics, presents an intriguing and often conflicting narrative about power, control, and submission. While the film provides a…
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Nosferatu: Egger’s Haunting Masterpiece That Elevates the Classic Tale
MOVIE INFO: Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake. REVIEW: Robert Eggers’ latest film, Nosferatu, is a stunning reimagining of the 1922 silent classic. Eggers, known for his atmospheric horror films like The Witch and The Lighthouse, brings his…
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Juror #2: Clint Eastwood’s Riveting Farewell to Filmmaking”
MOVIE INFO: “Juror #2” follows family man Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) who, while serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma… one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict–or free–the accused killer. REVIEW: “Juror #2” is a compelling courtroom drama that showcases…
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Carry-On: High-Flying Action with Riveting Tension Between Egerton and Jason Bateman
MOVIE INFO: A young TSA agent fights to outsmart a mysterious traveler who blackmails him into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight. REVIEW: “Carry-On,” streaming now on Netflix, is a thrilling homage to the iconic “Die Hard” series, infused with fresh character dynamics and modern twists. The film deftly balances high-octane…
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Red One: The Rock Saves Santa and the Entire Naughty List from Bad Good Intentions
MOVIE INFO: After Santa Claus — Code Name: RED ONE — is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas. REVIEW: In the latest holiday blockbuster, “Red One,” director Jake Kasdan delivers a unique blend of…
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‘Woman of the Hour’: A Chilling Debut with Room for Growth
MOVIE INFO: An aspiring actress crosses paths with a prolific serial killer in ’70s LA when they’re cast on an episode of “The Dating Game.” Based on a true story. REVIEW: Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, “Woman of the Hour,” offers a gripping yet uneven exploration of a chilling true-crime story. Set against the backdrop of…
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Handling the Undead: A Hauntingly Beautiful Exploration of Life, Death, and Everything In Between”
MOVIE INFO: On a hot summer day in Oslo, the dead mysteriously awaken, and three families are thrown into chaos when their deceased loved ones come back to them. Who are they, and what do they want? A family is faced with the mother’s reawakening before they have even mourned her death after a car…
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Afraid: A.I. Horror That Fulfills its Coding.
MOVIE INFO: In AFRAID, Curtis (John Cho) and his family are selected to test a revolutionary new home device: a digital family assistant called AIA. Taking smart home to the next level, once the unit and all its sensors and cameras are installed in their home, AIA seems able to do it all. She learns…
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Trap: Watch Out, It’s a Parent Trap!
MOVIE INFO: A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event REVIEW: I suspect every kid has suspected, at one point, their dad might be a serial killer. The more he loved you, the more you thought he wanted to kill you. …
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Wicked Little Letters: Primly, Properly, Profane
MOVIE INFO: A 1920s English seaside town bears witness to a farcical and occasionally sinister scandal in this riotous mystery comedy. Based on a stranger than fiction true story, WICKED LITTLE LETTERS follows two neighbors: deeply conservative local Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and rowdy Irish migrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). When Edith and fellow residents…
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Eileen: Sudden Fire, Sudden Danger
MOVIE INFO: Eileen is a peculiar young woman — aloof and unfazed by the gloomy nature of her job at the local youth prison. But something in her changes the day that the new counsellor, Dr. Rebecca St. John arrives. She is instantly captivated by Rebecca’s glamorous, enigmatic presence. As the two women grow closer,…
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Mr.Monk’s Last Case: A Proper Send Off
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Monk returns to solve one last, very personal case involving his beloved step-daughter Molly, a journalist preparing for her wedding. Review: Mr Monks Last Case is a movie I could watch without feeling cringey and enjoy the feels I get from it. I’ve been a big Monk fan for its…
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Survive: Dashing Through the Snow
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: When their plane crashes on a remote snow-covered mountain, Jane and Paul have to fight for their lives as the only remaining survivors. Together they embark on a harrowing journey out of the wilderness. Review: In Survive, an adventure drama now streaming on STARZ, Sophie Turner not playing a bestie…
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A Haunting in Venice: Old School Haunts, Taunts and Hints With a Peppery Twist
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: A Haunting in Venice” is set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows’ Eve and is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a séance at a…
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Hypnotic: Jedi Mind Tricks All Around
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Determined to find his missing daughter, Austin detective Danny Rourke finds himself spiraling down a rabbit hole investigating a series of reality-bending crimes where he will ultimately call into question his most basic assumptions about everything and everyone in his world. Aided by Diana Cruz, a gifted psychic, Rourke simultaneously…
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Knock at the Cabin: Shyamalan Gets Less Shocking Just More Twisty
Plot via IMDB; Wen, only seven years old, is vacationing with her two dads, Eric and Andrew, at a remote cabin. While catching grasshoppers, she is approached by a stranger named Leonard. Initially friendly, he explains that he needs Wen and her parents’ help to save the world. However, Wen becomes suspicious when three other…
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Puss in Boots- The Last Wish: Knowing the Last Cat Life Is Not Really the Final Curtain Call
Plot via IMDB: Sadly, Puss in Boots, the undaunted Spanish lover and hero, is now down to the last of his nine lives, a decade after the events of Puss in Boots (2011). And as if that weren’t enough, the unstoppable bounty hunter known as The Big Bad Wolf is after him. To restore all…
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We Have a Ghost: Going Beyond Spooky
Plot via IMDB: Seeking a fresh start in Chicago, the Presley family moves into a dusty fixer-upper they soon realize comes with a catch: a ghost in the attic named Ernest (David Harbour). Despite Ernest’s attempts at scaring teenage son Kevin (Jahi Winston), the detached, music-obsessed teen soon finds a kindred spirit in this trapped…
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Knives Out
Let the black dogs run wild, sharpen the knives for some real back stabbing, roundup the usual suspects, the mystery is about to begin. – The cardigan teen with his nose buried in his iPhone- he’s a suspect- murderous thoughts sprouting his blood-brain barrier. – The neglected son tethered to a high ranking, paying position…
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“The Sisters Brothers”: Anti-Family on the High Plains
With the gang together the movie wanders into amiable chat and a ton of metaphoric inaction, focusing on rumination over ruination to the film’s detriment.
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“The Warning” Is a Memento of a Beautiful Mind
It’s a Memento meets A Beautiful Mind thriller about a Basque man who discovers that there is a mathematical correlation between a convenience store shooting tragedy and the same spot’s past, present and future.
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“Gemini” Is a Hard Dream to Leave
Gemini is all sheen, inversion and misdirection. It is as cool and chill as the city is hot and tempered. It is as hard to live its dream as it is hard to leave.