This is certainly not your mother’s Hill House. Mike Flanagan has taken Shirley Jackson’s novel and re-imagined it as a family saga—something I was apprehensive about, because family sagas are so common nowadays. I’m rather partial to Jackson’s […]
Tag: Mystery
Game Night (Daley & Goldstein, 2018)
There is not much originality in Game Night. It quickly devolves into a bunch of dupes running around like chickens with their heads cut off, caught up in a kidnapping plot that they initially believe is […]
Annihilation (Garland, 2018)
Will 2018 give us another film as strange, mesmerizing and uncompromisingly cerebral as Annihilation? As I sit here writing this, I am inclined to say no. I’m sure there will be films I’ll like better, and […]
Red Sparrow (Lawrence, 2018)
I don’t have much to say about Red Sparrow, so I’ll keep this review fairly short. With Russia being in the news so often now, a film like this was bound to come along eventually: one […]
Ordeal by Innocence (Goldbacher, 2018)
Of the three Sarah Phelps adaptations of Christie’s work thus far, this one is by far the most radical. In the others, she kept much of Christie’s plotting intact, and instead added her own modern […]
The Tale (Fox, 2018)
On one hand, it’s a shame The Tale wasn’t given a theatrical release. The subject matter is more than topical right now, and one always wants to see a great talent like Laura Dern headlining the big […]
Hereditary (Aster, 2018)
Kudos to Ari Aster for making a film that is so unbridled in its insanity that it has the durability of Teflon. There are several images in Hereditary that will be hard to forget anytime soon. From […]
Beast (Pearce, 2017)
I liked the idea of Beast more than the execution, which is on the over-stylised side for my taste. All the moody lighting and portentous music distracts from the visceral darkness of the story, and the way […]
The Witness for the Prosecution (Jarrold, 2016)
Wilder’s version is already a classic, and while this BBC adaptation is not quite at that level, it succeeds in doing a great deal with very little.
Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich, 1955)
One thing’s for sure: I’ve never watched a noir quite like Kiss Me Deadly before. From the moment it begins, with Cloris Leachman breathlessly running on that deserted road, it never lets up on its relentless assault on our senses.
Murder on the Orient Express (Branagh, 2017)
Boy, is Murder on the Orient Express a hard book to adapt. Everything lies in that ingenious solution, and for it to work, a number of elements need to be kept intact. The most important one? The number of suspects.
Personal Shopper (Assayas, 2016)
Personal Shopper contains my favorite Kristen Stewart performance, and I would heartily argue it’s also her personal best.
The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock, 1938)
The Lady Vanishes is not “lesser.” It’s about as good as anything I’ve seen from Hitch thus far (which is not a lot, admittedly, but I’m getting there).
The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimer, 1962)
Saying that The Manchurian Candidate has renewed relevance is like the pot calling the kettle black.
To Die For (Van Sant, 1995)
Nicole Kidman has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and 2017 has been especially stellar, what with an Emmy win for Big Little Lies and standout performances in The Beguiled and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Watching Gus Van Sant’s To Die For, it’s easy to see why she’s gained such a cult following.
