10s Movie Review - Shutter Island

Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 138 minutes
Year: 2010
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Koteas, Patricia Clarkson

Description: A U.S Marshal (Leonardo DiCaprio) investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane

Review: Every Martin Scorsese project interests me somehow. “Shutter Island” is different from his other films. It’s based on a novel by Dennis Lehane.

Federal agent Teddy Daniels has to track down an escaped psychiatric patient, together with his partner Chuck Aule. The task sounds simple, but an asylum for the criminally insane isn’t the most pleasant place to investigate. With that, it’s also the most guarded asylum, set on an island. It’s almost impossible to stay unfound.

Martin Scorsese is playing Clue with his audience. A fort, morbid prisoners, no way out and hint after hint to lead us to the suspect. It’s a thriller and it gives you a creepy feeling. The patient are really messed up. The atmosphere is unpleasant, which is good for the movie experience.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo form a steady base as agents. Especially DiCaprio seems to grow in every role he plays for Scorsese. Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow are probably the stars, although they have smaller roles.

“Shutter Island” is a fantastic thriller, with great twists. It’s actually one of my favorite Scorsese film.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - Apostle

Director: Gareth Evans
Genre: Thriller/ Horror
Runtime: 130 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Dan Stevens, Richard Elfyn, Michael Sheen, Paul Higgins, Lucy Boynton

Description: In 1905, a drifter (Dan Stevens) on a dangerous mission to rescue his kidnapped sister tangles with a sinister religious cult on an isolated island.
 
Review: Broken Thomas is sent out to retrieve his kidnapped sister from the clutches of a solitary cult. Arriving on the island where the members worship a pagan Goddess, it soon becomes clear tat worshipping other Gods can turn out to be quite wrong.

“Apostle” is a Netflix Original and is a film in the ‘folk horror’ genre. The arrival of a righteous man in a world where everything he believes in turns out to be different seems to directly copy the beginning of “The Wicker Man”, and it gives of those vibes too. But other than this similarity, “Apostle” develops and it becomes a haunting film with its own story and with a style of its own.

Dan Stevens plays the lead role of Thomas, a man who has lost his faith in very painful ways. Michael Sheen plays the prophet Malcolm. Both really good in their roles.

“Apostle” is a solid, suspenseful and at times an unexpectedly gory horror film, with excellent acting. Fairly unknown, but worth watching if you’re a horror fan.

Rating: 4/ 5

00s Movie Review - The Pledge

Director: Sean Penn
Genre: Drama/ Crime/ Mystery
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 2001
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Aaron Eckhart, Sam Shepard, Benicio del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Helen Mirren, Tom Noonan, Vanessa Redgrave, Mickey Rourke, Harry Dean Stanton

Description: A retired police detective (Jack Nicholson) pledges to catch the killer of a young child.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 8: A MOVIE DIRECTED BY AN ACTOR
 
Review: On a cold winter day, a boy stumbles upon the lifeless body of an eight-year-old girl. Soon they find a suspect for the murder, but for recently retired homicide detective Jerry Black the case isn’t settles. As far as he is concerned, the real killer is still out there. He promises the victim’s family to find the killer of their little girl and to fulfull this promise, Jerry is willing to use any means necessary.  

Sean Penn is not just an amazing actor, he is also an excellent director. He proves that with “The Pledge” a lesser known film starring Jack Nicholson.

At first sight, “The Pledge” seems like a standard thriller. But it has much more to offer than the clichéd whodunit. In fact, finding the killer is not so much the main focus; the film clearly addresses more important, more profound themes. Therefore, do not expect spectacular action scenes, as the somewhat slow film has to rely mainly on its dialogues, well-developed characters and tension.   

This all makes the intelligent “The Pledge” highly recommended for those who want to see a less conventional thriller for a change.

Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Title: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Series: -
Author: Grady Hendrix
 
Description: Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.
 
Review: Patricia doesn’t have a very eventful life. She had big plans after graduating as a nurse, but when she marries Carter, she quits her job to become a full-time stay-at-home mom. The only exciting thing in her life is her book club, where they meet with a number of housewives and discuss true-crime novels. When a new neighbor, James Harris, moves into the neighborhood, strange and gruesome things start to happen.
 
First of all, this is a horror book. If you can’t handle gory and explicit scenes, this is not a book for you.
 
The story is entirely told from Patricia’s point of view, so you get to know her very well. Her position as a housewife comes up several times and is thoroughly explored, make it one of the main themes. Because yes, this book is not just about vampires. The social differences between white and black people in the late 80s and early 90s is also a theme, as is the housewives positions in relation to men. Those themes along with the supernatural make the book original and innovative.
 
Overall, the book isn’t filled with likeable characters. Especially the men are unlikeable, because they have a certain “traditional” way of life and believe the women are only there to be homemakers and mothers, nothing more or less. There are some women that feel the same and are perfectly fine with that vision, but mainly because they are used to this. I’m glad Patricia is a character that wants to step away from this stereotype and tries to find her place in the world. Because it’s so easy to relate to Patricia, it’s also very difficult to read when there is a moment where she tells everyone about their new neighbor James Harris, and no one believes her and even think she is crazy.
 
The book has a slow start, but it’s never boring. Once it comes to the halfway point, there is non-stop action and you just can’t stop reading. There were some really gruesome and creepy scenes in the book, that really creeped me out.  
 
Grady Hendrix has such a fun writing style, I really like his horror books, so very different from the standard. I love that.
 
Rating: 4/ 5

00s Movie Review - Gone Baby Gone

Director: Ben Affleck
Genre: Drama/ Mystery/ Crime
Runtime: 114 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, Titus Welliver, Amy Madigan, Michael Kenneth Williams

Description: Two Boston area detectives (Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan) investigate a little girl’s kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

Review: Is a bad deed justifiable if the consequence is ultimately good? What are good intentions worth if the consequences are bad? And what then is good and bad, and do those words have any meaning at all? Such questions arise when watching “Gone Baby Gone”, directed by Ben Affleck and based on the book by Dennis Lehane. Affleck created an engaging, intelligent film.

Private detective couple Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are hired by Helene McCready’s sister-in-law to track down Helene’s missing four-year-old daughter Amanda. They discover that Helene has robbed a drug dealer and suspect that the drug dealer has something to do with Amanda’s abduction. An attempt to strike a bargain with the dealer and exchange the stolen money for the child goes horribly wrong.

Months later, Kenzie works another kidnapping case where he must find and free a missing boy from the hands of a pedophile. In the process, Patrick makes some decisions that are very difficult for him and also stumbles upon a secret that presents him with even more difficult decisions. The question is not so much whether he can make the right decision, but whether there are any at all in our modern society.

It was a good idea by Ben Affleck to keep the moral uncertainties that arise in a disrupted world without a clearly identifiable right or wrong. This keeps the story and a few plot twists interesting. I’ve always liked Ben Affleck more as a directed than an actor, so I’m happy he decided to cast his brother Casey Affleck for the lead role, instead of starrin in it himself. The younger Affleck is in my opinion the better actor of the two and he proves that in “Gone Baby Gone”. Helene McCready is played by Amy Ryan, who really shines in her role.

“Gone Baby Gone” is a really good crime mystery, that is engaging from start to finish. An overlooked film in my opinion, not many people seem to talk about it anymore.

Rating: 4,5 / 5

20s Movie Review - Look Both Ways

Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Genre: Drama/ Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Lili Reinhart, Danny Ramirez, Aisha Dee, David Corenswet, Luke Wilson, Andrea Savage

Description: On the even of her college graduation, Natalie’s (Lili Reinhart) diverges into parallel realities: one in which she becomes pregnant and remains in her hometown to raise her child and another in which she moves to L.A. to pursue her dream career.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 7: A ROMANTIC MOVIE
 
Review: Natalie has a tight five-year plan outlining her career to conquer the animation world. But she she suffers from nasea after sex with her best friend Gabe, the fear of pregnancy throws that plan into disarray. In the bathroom where she takes a pregnancy test, her life spits into two timelines: one in which she is indeed pregnant and decides to keep the child and one in which she is not pregnant and she is going to follow her plan to move to L.A. and become an animator.

“Look Both Ways” is a fun film that makes it all too clear that life cannot be planned that easy. It is nice to see that both timelines get a fair amount of screen time and one is not clearly placed above the other. At the same time, not all scenes feel equally urgent and there are some very large time jumps. Thus, the script is not as tight as it could have been and also makes you wonder if this concept would not work better in a series.

What I liked most is that the makers never force one of the two stories on you. One is not better than the other, because both timelines have their ups and downs and their good and bad moments. And I really liked Lili Reinhart in her role.

The film also paints a somewhat fatalistic picture by implicitly stating that you will end up where you are supposed to be anyway. Five-year plan or not, you are simply a plaything of fate. In contrast, the idea that hard work always gets you where you need to be in the end easily fits into the image of makeable happiness that is very short-sighted. But if you don't dwell too much on such matters, Look Both Ways is an entertaining film that doesn't get boring especially with thanks to the infectious acting of the expressive Lili Reinhart and warm Danny Ramirez.

“Look Both Ways” is a fun and entertaining film, that is not overly romantic because that is not the focus. Natalie’s journey is, and I really enjoyed that. The two separate stories are nothing groundbreaking, but I really loved the concept of the two timelines.

Rating: 3/ 5

Book Review - The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle

Title: The Personal Assistant
Series: -
Author: Kimberly Belle
 
Description: When Alex first began posting unscripted family moments and motivational messages online, she had no intention of becoming an influencer. Overnight it seemed she’d amassed a huge following, and her hobby became a full-time job—one that was impossible to manage without her sharp-as-a-tack personal assistant, AC.

But all the good-will of her followers turns toxic when one controversial post goes viral in the worst possible way. Alex reaches out to AC for damage control, but her assistant has gone silent. This young woman Alex trusted with all her secrets, who had access to her personal information and front row seats to the pressure points in her marriage and family life, is now missing and the police are looking to Alex and her husband for answers. As Alex digs into AC’s identity – and a woman is found murdered – she’ll find the greatest threat isn’t online, but in her own living room.
But all the good-will of her followers turns toxic when one controversial post goes viral in the worst possible way. Alex reaches out to AC for damage control, but her assistant has gone silent. This young woman Alex trusted with all her secrets, who had access to her personal information and front row seats to the pressure points in her marriage and family life, is now missing and the police are looking to Alex and her husband for answers. As Alex digs into AC’s identity – and a woman is found murdered – she’ll find the greatest threat isn’t online, but in her own living room.
 
Review: Alex is a very successful social media influencer who spreads positivity and has just reached one million followers. When Alex wakes up the next, after a night of celebrating, he feed is filled with negative comments and trolls. Apparently she posted about another influencer, shaming her and completely bashing her. Even though Alex was drunk that night, she is sure she didn’t post it. But the damage has already been done ad a spiral of hate is coming down on her and her family. With that, her personal assistant, AC, is now missing. AC has full access to Alex’ account, Unapologetically Alex. And also a lot of knowledge about Alex. As Alex desperately tries to get in touch with AC, the trolls start threatening her, but also her twin daughters.
 
I had never read anything from Kimberly Belle before, this novel intrigued me. “The Personal Assistant” is very fast paced and uses the effect of social media in this really strong and solid thriller. One thing I always love in thrillers, is multiple points of view. Belle also used that in “The Personal Assistant”, with Alex, her husband Patrick and AC as the three narrators of the book. Especially the mysterious AC is really interesting to read about.
 
I’m very impressed by Belle’s ability to write a thriller that keeps you guessing. It has some nice plot twists, that I really enjoyed. Time for me to explore more of Kimberly Belle’s work.
 
Rating: 4/ 5