10s Movie Review - Hold the Dark

Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 125 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 51: A MOVIE SET IN WINTER

Description: After the deaths of three children suspected ro be killed by wolves, writer Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) is hired by the mother (Riley Keough) of a missing six-year-old boy to trach down and locate her son in the Alaskan wilderness.

Review: In chilly and icy Alaska, director Jeremy Saulnier finds a background that makes his characters unpredictable. So when Russell Core, a wolf expert, arrives there to assist a mother whose son was taken by wolves, he doesn’t realize what he’s getting into. A loose soldier, a trigger-happy Indian and a mother whose isolation seems to transform her into some kind of wandering demon are not immediately pleasant company, however. The quiet Core fortunately finds an ally in the stable sheriff, but both soon prove defenseless. The darkness, the snow, the wolves and the void prove maddening and relentless.
 
The plot is draped around the atmospheric location and therefore just flutters. For example, the mother character is not particularly strong developed even though her actions should function as the story’s starting point. “Hold the Dark’’ seeks to reflect on the state of the human spirit in an environment that seems to be consumed by time and nature, but the attention quickly turns to be dormant tension and gory actions for lack of depth, giving this movie the allure of an action thriller rather than a haunting psychological drama.
 
“Hold the Dark” holds the attention, though you’re not sure what you’re looking at. The cleverly staged narrative takes shape in thoughtful compositions of light and shadow, in which actions are unpredictable. But it’s the action packed moments that stick with you more than the understated psyche. Promising, yet not quite successful.

Rating: 3/ 5

Book Review - Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

Title: Eight Perfect Murders
Series: -
Author: Eight Perfect Murders
 
Description: Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack – which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders” – chosen from among the best of the best.
 
But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBO agent comes knocking on his door on snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move, a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.
 
To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects… and sees a killer in everyone around him. But mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead – and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.
 
Review: A book about books, I always love that. I was hooked from the first page. The premise really intrigued me: someone who kills people based on murders in a book, that were on a list compiled by bookseller Mal as having depicted the eight perfect murders.
 
Beware, the books that they talk about in here will all be spoiled, Mal talks about them in detail and gives away the ending of all of them. Because, otherwise we wouldn’t know why these murders are so perfect. Books like “The ABC Murders” by Agatha Christie, “A Secret History” by Donna Tart and “Strangers On the Train” by Patricia Highsmith, among others, are being discussed.
 
I think the fact that it’s about books, was what got my attention in the first place (besides the author of course). I really loved the start of the book. And in the beginning the book had some really cool twists that I didn’t see coming. Later in the book everything became a bit more predictable. The conclusion to who was killing all those people was not really surprising to me. And I found this the obvious choice as well.
 
“Eight Perfect Murders” had me in its grip for the first half. I couldn’t put it down. That kind of faded after I passed the mid-way point. I wasn’t as invested anymore.
 
I still did enjoy “Eight Perfect Murders”, a great concept with some surprising and less surprising twists. And this felt a bit different from other Peter Swanson novels for some reason. If you have loved Swanson’s other work, I don’t think you will automatically love this as well.
 
Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Review - Oppenheimer

Director: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 180 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Kenneth Branagh, David Krumholtz, Alex Wolff, Matthew Modine, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Josh Peck, Casey Affleck, Gary Oldman
 
Description: The story of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

Review: The life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer is the subject and object of Christopher Nolan’s twelfth feature film. Where his “Tenet” already got the brain cells working hard because of the almost inimitable plot and juggling with timelines, the same may be said of this three-hour-long yet satisfying war of attrition. To temper expectations immediately: “Oppenheimer” is driven by dialogue, has a killer pace and an almost endless array of characters played by A-listers.

We are introduced to Oppenheimer who, as a young student at Cambridge, becomes inspired by peers such as Albert Einstein and Niel Bohr. Soon the young scientist turns out to be more drawn to theory than practice. He develops in quantum mechanics, at the time an unexplored branch of physics. In parallel, we see the questioning fire that an older Oppenheimer gets thrown at him because the FBI has been tipped off. The physicist is accused of communist sentiments and poses a danger to national security because of his extreme views.

A third storyline, shot in black and white, revolves around a former soldier and director of the renowned Princeton University. A hard-to-recognize Robert Downey Jr. shapes Lewis Strauss, who enlists Oppenheimer after the war. before a Senate committee, Strauss must prove his suitability as Secretary of Commerce in President Eisenhower’s administration.

Only in the last hour does it become clear how these matters relate to each other. Here, some knowledge of the McCarthy era and his pursuit of communism, would come in handy. Director Nolan provides little to no context and focuses entirely on his characters. Oppenheimer and his immediate colleagues have the hopeful but naïve attitude that with the detonation of the atomic bomb, wars will be a thing of the past. In reality, the theoretical physicist created a weapon of mass destruction, opening the door to the Cold War.

If you intend to watch it, be aware that “Oppenheimer” is a long sit that requires you to constantly keep your head up. The intelligent, thoughtful writing makes this anything but a punishment, but Nolan feeds us so much that this alone warrants a second viewing. Truly magisterial is the build-up to the aforementioned trial under the name Trinity. We all know the direction the experiment took world history. Nolan builds it in such a way it feels like we are learning about it for the first time.

Nolan sees himself backed by a large list of big names, with lead actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. not only getting the most screen time but also leaving the biggest impression despite sharing few scenes. The female characters, such as Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty, are sidelines. Their relationship is touched upon, not explored.

“Oppenheimer” is a perfect blend of an actor’s drama and political thriller, like Oliver Stone used to make them. Nolan’s twelfth movie requires considerable investment, constant attention and patience. It is impossible to fathom everything in detail. Damn, what a good movie.

Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Review - The Angel Maker

Director: Esben Tønnesen, Julie R. Ølgaard 
Genre: Crime/ Thriller
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Julie R. Ølgaard, Roland Møller, Stine Stengard, Christoperh Læssø, Andrea Vagn Jensen
 
Description: Detective Laura (Ølgaard) has been on sick leave after suffering from postpartum depression, but when she and her partner (Møller) become involved in a case, it becomes increasingly clear she herself is hiding a dark secret.

Review: “The Angelmaker” (Englemagern) is a strong Danish crime thriller. We follow Laura, a detective specializing in cyber-crime, who is called back to work after a woman is found dead, holding a memory card. Laura is coming back from sick leave and is the right person to crack the code. Working together with Jesper, they find a disturbing video of a man killing a naked woman.

Scandinavian crime thrillers are know to be dark and raw. “The Angel Maker” is no exception. The film is intense from the first minute and exciting until the end. The murders are pretty graphic, the motivation is dark.

Laura has her own trauma, which is depicted just a little over the top at certain moments. But it puts everything together. And the film a quite a surprising conclusion, that leaves you wondering.
“The Angel Maker” is 2023 a hidden gem in the thriller genre.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Review - The last Voyage of the Demeter

Director: André Øvredal
Genre: Horror/ Fantasy
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Corey Hawkins, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Aisling Franciosi, Chris Walley, Jon Jon Briones, Woody Norman, Stefan Kapicic, Martin Furulund
 
Description: A crew sailing from Varna, Bulgaria by the Black Sea to England find that they are carrying very dangerous cargo.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 50: A MOVIE RELEASED IN 2023
 
Review: The thing with prequels is, that you know how it will end, because you already know the story that follows. “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is something of a prequel, as it is a chapter somewhere in the book “Dracula”. Again, there is never any doubt about how this will end, but the journey to that end is intriguing.

The ship Demeter has been commissioned to sail some large crates to London, that will take at least a week. They don’t know for who it is, but they have been promised a large bonus if they delivery arrives faster than usual. But then strange things begin to happen on board.

Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is a literary horror classic, there is a little bit about how Dracula managed to move himself from Transylvania to England: by boat. And by the time the ship arrives, there is no crew in sight. So The Last Voyage of the Demeter” offers no mystery.

For the screenplay, two characters have been invented that do not interfere with the source material. The main character is Clemens, a black man who graduated from Cambridge University, but cannot get a job because of the color of his skin. Well-acted by Corey Hawkins.

The other is Anna, a girl who appeared to be in one of the crates and has all sorts of strange-looking wounds on her body. One wants to throw her overboard, but Clemens heals her and becomes her protector.

The story still has enough suspense, even with knowing where it will eventually end. What happened to the crew, in detail, we don’t know. And the film is at times mildly scary, it’s very doable if you’re a scaredy-cat . The cinematography is amazing. Since the entire film takes place on a ship, you have little to work with. The set is beautifully designed and built, and the camera captures this perfectly. The way they work with light and shadow is very well done.

I did enjoy the film, putting focus on this part of the well-known story. I was invested, because I find Dracula one of the most interesting literary characters in history. They way everything was filmed was really impressive, but the characters, besides Clemens, are all a bit flat.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Book Review - The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Title: The Last Thing He Told me
Series: -
Author: Laura Dave
 
Description: Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s daughter, bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey want absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.
 
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agent arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just mat hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity. And why he really disappeared.
 
Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.
 
Review: Hannah hall’s adoring husband, Owen Michaels, disappears on the same day his company is raided by the FBI for large-scale security fraud. He leaves behind a large duffel bag filled with money for his daughter Bailey. And for his wife, Bailey’s stepmother, he leaves a note: Protect her.
 
Hannah wants to do so, but she also wants answers. And as she searches for the truth about her missing husband, she realizes Owen isn’t who he said he was.
 
First of all, this book is more a mystery than a thriller. It would fit in the domestic thriller category, if I we would label it a thriller though. The most interesting part is the search for the truth, where Hannah and Bailey are trying to figure out what is happening. And the connection (or lack thereof) between them. The book has some reveals. Not new to me tropes, but they did it well. It’s a solid story, I enjoyed it, but it’s nothing groundbreaking and it's not a book that stands out to me.
 
If you are new to the mystery/ thriller genre, I would recommend this to you. It’s a good book to start with and get familiar with the genre.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

00s Movie Review - Gangs of New York

Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 147 minutes
Year: 2002
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, John C. Reilly, Stephen Graham, Henry Thomas, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 49: A MOVIE WITH AND ACTOR/ ACTRESS YOU DISLIKE
 
Description: In 1962, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis), his father’s killer.

Review: In “Gangs of New York”, director Martin Scorsese resents his cynical vision of the extremely bloody gang wars that plagued Manhattan in the mid-nineteenth century.

The film opens with a bloody battle in the Five Points area, where Irish immigrants clash with the American-born Nativists, led by the ruthless William cutting, knows as Bill the Butcher.
Sixteen years later, the son of the murdered Irish gang leader, returns to the neighborhood. Unfortunately, this characters, Amsterdam Vallon, doesn’t quite come into his own, but there is no doubt about his revenge against Bill the Butcher. This is one of those stories where you kind of side with the villain, because his character is way more interesting and fleshed out, not because he’s more likeable. And that is largely thanks to Daniel Day-Lewis, who portrays this ruthless gang leader as a charismatic psychopath. He created an instant classic movie villain. He steals the entire movie and makes Leonardo DiCaprio completely fade into the background. Not to speak of Cameron Diaz, who in my eyes was miscast. And I believe that they could have left her character out completely, she adds nothing to the story and you don’t care about her.

But “Gangs of New York” has more to offer than Day-Lewis’ monumental acting. Above all, the film fascinates with the almost maniacal detail with which the Manhattan of 1862 was reconstructed. The film looks stunning. We are plunged into an anarchic society. Scorsese has already showed us at length that Manhattan was nothing less than hell on earth in previous movies, but he has just mentioned that existence there in the nineteenth century was many times more miserable.

In Taxi Driver and Bringing out the dead, Scorsese had already shown us at length that Manhattan was nothing less than hell on earth. He had just never mentioned that existence there in the nineteenth century was many times more miserable.

Rating: 4,5/ 5