Suspense/Thriller – Page 13 – Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare

“Deep Water”

By Brett_G on April 28, 2022April 24, 2022

8.2

Why is it that Ben Affleck keeps getting caught in these toxic on-screen relationships? Between this and “Gone Girl,” his red flag detection is… well, it’s worse than mine.

This is a fantastic ride – a masterclass in suspense. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen for the entire runtime and was sincerely surprised with every twist and turn. I found myself yelling at the screen more often than usual with this one. Everything from “… and now your dead” to “DUDE, RUN!” There’s not an innocent soul in the entire cast. Everyone’s secrets play a role in their demise and play off each other’s flaws to keep the story mysterious and drive the plot to its conclusion.

I’ve done some crazy things in the name of… love? Lust?… But never anything nearing this lunacy.

Content Warning – Hulu may be owned by Disney, but this is NOT a Disney movie.

“Don’t Bother to Knock”

By Brett_G on February 28, 2022February 20, 2022

7.2

Be careful who you flirt with at the hotel bar… Or from across the courtyard. Or who you hire as your babysitter.

This was far closer to “Psycho” than I expected. Marilyn Monroe had quite the acting chops to pull off this premise. At first, I thought I was watching a romance novel projected onto the silver screen but ended up engulfed in an enigma. Despite the short run time, there is an unexpected depth to this classic, and it alone justified my purchase of a 10-film Marilyn Monroe film bundle.

Drama HBO Suspense/Thriller

“Nightmare Alley”

By Brett_G on February 27, 2022February 20, 2022

6.5

Beautiful film. Meh story.

I was hellaciously intrigued by the trailer and what I thought was the film’s premise. Sometimes that intrigue hits; sometimes it misses. Unfortunately, this one ended up being a trapeze act of a narrative, swinging wildly all over the place for far too long and with no rhyme or reason. All to, I think, come full circle. I’m still not quite sure what I was supposed to take away from this one. There are some great premises and possibilities, but the story opts for the path of least resistance and goes for tricking the audience into thinking that misdirection and the resulting confusion is evidence of its cleverness, instead of just a cheap Christopher Nolan rip-off. Honestly, I think the overall lesson here was a “don’t stick your dick in crazy” cautionary tale dressed in a noir disguise.

Blockbuster Drama Suspense/Thriller

“Death on the Nile”

By Brett_G on February 24, 2022February 22, 2022

7.9

At first, I honestly thought I had walked into and sat in the wrong movie theater. First, we start out in World War 1, then move on to Dirty Dancing… Heavy on the dirty. I mean, I know it’s Armie Hammer, but damn.

I’ll watch anything that has Gal Gadot in it, so of course, my butt was in a seat for this whodunnit. The gist of it is if you like “Murder on the Orient Express,” you’ll like this. There are many of the same tropes, but just enough differentiation to keep you intrigued as each new clue is uncovered and suspect eliminated, either figuratively or literally. We get the origin story of Poirot’s mustache that no one asked for but gives his character an incredible boost of depth and complexity that helps him become someone you actually root for by the end of the film. I called the ending as the movie was getting started, but I thoroughly enjoyed the wild ride to the climactic conclusion. Well done “Clue” spin-off in yet another exotic locale.

Netflix Suspense/Thriller

“Archive 81”

By Brett_G on February 24, 2022February 20, 2022

8.2

They had it… They freaking had it!!! Why does everything have to have franchise potential?!?!

The narrative momentum, the closure we all yearn for in conclusion, the goodwill we build as an audience interacting with these characters… all taken out back and shot. Can I hold a seance and time travel to a point in time where I forget how much I despise this ending?

Aside from the way they crash-landed the plane, this series was spectacular. The way it built tension, caused me to care about the characters, and kept me on the edge of my seat was everything I could have asked for in a Netflix series based on a podcast. Then it ended with me angrily yelling at my TV.

I filed this one alongside “Censor” and “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” as one of the best pieces of original horror/thriller material in the past two or three years. I’d take the “what the hell was that?!?” ending of “Censor” over this. They lost a full point based on the ending.