Category Archives: thriller

13 Popular Movies to Stream Anywhere

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Hit movies to stream anywhere.

Check out these movies, as they surprised audiences and remain worth watching even today.

Sleeper hit movies demonstrate that any filmmaker can create a low-budget movie that becomes a box office success. Tentpole or high-budget movies are not always a shoo-in because, for the most part, they are rehashed stories that producers don’t have to gamble on or question the outcome. Circling back to sleeper hits is a treasure when the public flocks to the movie houses and celebrates a surprising success.

Sleeper Hit

A “sleeper hit” is a surprise smash hit movie that the film industry didn’t expect to succeed at the box office. Let’s take a look at some films worth mentioning, renting, or streaming because they’re sleeper hits.

Best Movie You’ve Ever Seen

Why would you want to see a sleeper hit movie? The same reason you’d like to see a film is that it is the best movie you have ever seen. We’re not talking tentpole movies with large marketing schemes. These are movies made on a low budget without special effects. The story is believable, and the acting is top-notch. Usually, the director is relatively new to the industry. Go down my list of sleeper hits, and discern whether or not they deserve the “sleeper hit” nod.

1. “Happy Death Day”

Must see horror movie you can stream.

When I heard about Happy Death Day and saw the trailer, I predicted that horror fans would flock to the movie theaters to see this movie. Watching the trailer, it appears to be a super-entertaining yet horrific movie, with a plot similar to Groundhog Day.

Apparently, the producers didn’t expect the movie to be a real success, but it was, and now they are releasing a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, with the same director and cast.

2. “Don’t Breathe”

Don’t Breathe was never considered the best new horror movie and was projected to gross under $14 million. The minuscule amount was fine with the producers because it cost $9 million to produce. It became a sleeper hit, as the movie, a low-budget horror film, grossed over $89 million in North America alone. In other markets around the world, it brought in $67.9 million – the end of the summer box office hit.

Produced by Sam Raimi, known for directing the earlier Spider-Man movies starring Toby Maguire, the movie’s director, Fede Alvarez, is now working on a sequel.

The horror movie follows a blind man who is mugged by three teenagers but turns the tables on them in a hurry. The rest of the story is about how the blind man terrorizes the teenagers. Stephen Lang plays the blind man, and he will look familiar because he’s had a long and fruitful career as a strong character actor.

3. “Lady Bird”

Lady Bird is about my hometown. Greta Gerwig’s film takes place in Sacramento, where she grew up and attended high school. Yes, it is very cool to see the landmarks of my city in such a poignant film. The story itself is endearing, regardless of where you live, whether in Los Angeles or Scottsdale, because it resonates deeply, making it a sleeper hit.

The teenage girl is trying to become who she truly is while contending with the craziness of life in High School and a mother-daughter relationship that is both push and pull.

Although the movie initially received accolades at festivals, the industry and public were captivated by the realistic, heart-pounding drama of a typical high school girl, played brilliantly by Saoirse Ronan.

4. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee and earning $1 million with 44 screens in eight days, focuses on two women, both competent fighters, who follow different paths toward a violent and blistering showdown with a dynamic ending.

Nobody expected a martial arts movie with strong heroines to succeed at the box office using hardly any marketing efforts and, let alone, win four Oscars.

5. “District 9”

Peter Jackson produced District 9, and its budget was 30 million. The science-fiction movie recouped its investment and earned $ 7 million in its first weekend of release.

The story takes place in South Africa, where extraterrestrial refugees have been stranded for 28 years. One man figures out how to tap into their technology, and the government is not too happy about it.

6. “Bring It On”

Kirsten Dunst starred in Bring It On when she was a teenager. The cheerleading movie earned $70 million. It’s about a very upbeat cheerleader navigating the politics of being the best cheerleader. The sleeper hit movie has several sequels that never match the original. Now a Broadway musical.

If you’ve never seen the movie, I recommend it because cheerleading as the backdrop shows how competitive it can be.

7. “Superbad”

Emma Stone starred in this movie with Michael Cera, Ed Helms, and Jonah Hill. Superbad is a teenage movie about getting alcohol as an underage boy and scoring with chicks.

Produced by Judd Apatow, he was virtually unknown, but it didn’t last for long. Over a summer weekend in 2007, Superbad became a household word and a must-see movie.

8. “Little Miss Sunshine”

Released in seven theaters, Little Miss Sunshine became a sleeper hit movie. It took off and generated half a million dollars in its first week, bringing its total to 200 million, with numerous Academy Award nominations and wins. It’s a feel-good movie with lots of laughs.

9. “Memento”

Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece, which follows Leonard, played by Guy Pearce, features generous notes throughout the movie to aid his short-term memory loss at every moment.

The low-budget movie catapulted into a sleeper hit, earning more than $25 million at the box office and garnering two Academy Award nominations. Memento even scored big time in the DVD release, selling over a million copies.

10. “Napoleon Dynamite”

Napoleon Dynamite is a cult movie with a huge fan base of followers who quote the movie’s snarky dialogue.

The story is quirky, with small-town characters adding to the funny banter. The movie grossed $44.5 million during its summer release, despite being limited to a select number of theaters.

11. “Paranormal Activity”

Paranormal Activity is a filmmaker’s fairytale. The movie only cost $15,000 to make and grossed $100 million. It quickly became a super hit, with sequels to follow. People do walk out of the movie theater before it’s over, not because the movie was bad, but because it was too scary.

12. “The Blair Witch Project”

In 1999, another low-budget sleeper hit was The Blair Witch Project. The movie’s beginning is promising, but it gradually deteriorates. Still, the public came out in droves, and the cheesy but scary movie made millions.

I mentally berated myself for paying to see this movie, as it was so bad. It just got worse and worse until the end was flat. I am still amazed it made so much money at the box office.

13. “47 Meters Down”

Stranger Things season 1 and 2 star Matthew Modine is one of the locals in 47 Meters Down. He represents the force behind the two women’s horror.

Director Johannes Roberts mentioned in the production notes for his sequel, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, that he was surprised by the film’s box office success.

The low-budget underwater thriller follows Lisa and Kate in a protective cage, who come face-to-face with the Great Whites. The cage snaps apart from the boat, and they find themselves diving to the bottom depths of the ocean floor.

Out of radio range and getting themselves exposed to the ferocious sharks, their oxygen stores were quickly diminishing.

Low-budget Movies

Sleeper hit movies show filmmakers can create a low-budget movie that becomes a box office success. A tent-pole or high-budget movie is not always a hit movie because, mostly, they rehash stories. Producers feel they don’t have to gamble on them or question the outcome. Circling back to sleeper hits is a treasure when the public flocks to the movie houses and celebrates a surprising success.

“Texas Chain Saw Massacre” in 4K Remastered

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Dark Sky Films releases the long-awaited UHD release of the 1974 horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the groundbreaking thriller that has often been imitated but has yet to equal. The film arrives in the 4K restored version, complemented by a frightening array of bonus materials.

Directed by Tobe Hooper, Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a classic horror film released in 1974. The film follows a group of friends, played by Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail and Teri McMinn, on a road trip through rural Texas. They stumble upon a family of cannibalistic psychopaths. 

The film has a low-budget, gritty style and extreme gore and violence, which boosted its popularity since we’ve had horror films like The Blair Witch Project, Friday the 13th, Halloween and Night of the Living Dead. 

The group of friends intends to visit an old family homestead. On their journey, they pick up a hitchhiker who manifests strange behavior. The stranger eventually turns on them, attacking them, which leads to a harrowing chase through the Texas countryside. 

They arrive at a farmhouse and meet cannibalistic killers, including the iconic Leatherface with a mask of human skin and a wielding chainsaw. Michael Myers copied the masking technique so beautifully on Halloween. 

The horror film was controversial during its release because of its graphic violence, which doesn’t compare to Coen Bros. films or the SAW franchise. Subsequently, the Texas Chain Saw Massacre shines as a cult classic and the most influential horror movie of the genre. 

It generated many sequels and remakes, influencing countless horror films that tried to deem worthy. 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre arrives in deluxe 4K UHD and 4K UHD Steelbook editions, each containing a bonus disc containing a wealth of supplemental materials. 

Disc 1 holds the 4K UHD feature film and four commentary tracks:

  • Writer-producer-director Tobe Hooper, actor Gunnar Hansen and cinematographer Daniel Pearl
  • Actors Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger and Paul A. Partain, with production designer Robert Burns
  • Tobe Hooper solo
  • Daniel Pearl, editor J. Larry Carroll and sound recordist Ted Nicolaou 

Disc 2, a Blu-ray, contains the new, never-before-seen feature-length documentary The Legacy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and several featurettes. These include “The Cinefamily Presents FRIEDKIN/HOOPER,” a conversation about the film between Tobe Hooper and The Exorcist director William Friedkin; “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth”; “Flesh Wounds: Seven Stories of the Saw”; a tour of the TCSM house with Gunnar Hansen; “Off the Hook with Teri McMinn”; and “The Business of Chain Saw: An Interview with Production Manager Ron Bozman.”

The generous package I enjoy the most. It has deleted scenes and outtakes, a blooper reel, trailers, vintage TV and radio spots, and much more to thrill fans, old and new.

“Hard Hit” South Korean Thriller

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Kim Chang-Ju co-wrote, directed and edited this South Korean action thriller, Hard Hit.

The film follows VIP Bank Manager Sung-Gyu, played by Jo Woo-jin. He tends to the demands of a bank’s essential customers. And somehow, it leads him to the worse day of his life.

The movie, directed by Dani de la Torre, provides a familiar suspenseful plot based on the Spanish-French action thriller Retribution (2015).

Sung-Gru drives his daughter and son to school one morning. Along the way, a phone rings from the glove box. An anonymous caller claims there’s a bomb under Sung-gyu’s seat, and if anyone exits the car, it will explode unless Sung-gyu can pay a hefty ransom.

What initially feels like a prank call quickly turns into an edge-of-your-seat thriller. The action-packed sequences hold the movie together. Sure, we feel for the family and their dangerous situation, but the car chases through a maze of alternate roles of attack and defense.

The original music composed by Kim Tae-Seong adds suspenseful undertones and overtones, perfect for developing a calm, typical weekday to a vibrant, hellbent high-speed chase at the mercy of a sinister bomber.

Sung-gyu must simultaneously ensure the safety of his children, find enough money to pay the ransom and evade the police, all while trying to figure out what he did in his past to deserve this.

Woo-jin does a dynamic job of acting primarily behind the wheel of a car. He holds his emotions by expressing tension and remorseful angst. Ji Chang-Wook also stars and is believable in this new gem of a role, another side we’ve yet to see.

The movie received three nominations in 2021 at the Buil Film Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

IMDB and Wikipedia helped with background information, reviews and character roles.

“The Unknown Man of Shandigor” (1967) on Blu-Ray

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All you have to do is watch the four-and-a-half-minute trailer to know The Unknown Man of Shandigor (L’inconnu De Shandigor, 1967) is a spy-thriller. Any movie enthusiast wants to see the Blu-ray version of this classic.

Directed by Swiss filmmaker Jean-Louis Roy, this long-unseen 60s Cold War super-spy features legendary French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and famed Chilean cult actor Daniel Emilfork. 

Marie-France Boyer as Sylvaine

Recently restored in 4K from the camera negative by the Cinémathèque Suisse, the visually stunning movie screened initially at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. The Blu-ray features new interviews with the director’s wife, Francoise Roy and first assistant director on the film Michel Schopfer, along with an ultra-rare 1967 Swiss TV “making of” documentary featuring the director with behind-the-scenes footage and new artwork by acclaimed illustrator Tony Stella.

I marveled at the surreal hall of mirrors, reminding me of Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and British TV shows like “The Avengers” and “Doctor Who.”  

The fine cast includes most who’s who of great 60s European character actors starting with the unforgettable Daniel Emilfork as crazed scientist Herbert Von Krantz, who has invented a device to “sterilize” all nuclear weapons.

A mad herd of rival spies is desperate to get their hands on the device, including legendary French singer Serge Gainsbourg as the sect leader of bald, turtleneck-wearing assassins and Jess Franco veteran Howard Vernon.  

Gainsbourg’s deranged jazz-lounge song, “Bye Bye Mr. Spy”— performed by him on a funeral parlor organ, no less — is arguably the film’s high point. “An accomplished spy is at the same time psychologist, artist, funambulist, conjurer,” to quote one of the film’s characters, and the same said of Roy’s exotic camera obscura of black and white Cold War paranoia. The movie is in Swiss French with English subtitles, like the trailer. 

Blu-Ray Bonus Features

• New 4K Restoration from the original 35mm picture and sound elements by Cinémathèque Suisse with additional digital restoration by Craig Rogers of Deaf Crocodile 

• New Commentary by film journalist Samm Deighan (Diabolique magazine, Daughters of Darkness podcast) 

• New Booklet essay by filmmaker, punk musician and poet, and genre expert Chris D. (The Flesh Eaters; author of Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film) 

• New interview with Francoise Roy, wife of director Jean-Louis Roy, and Michel Schopfer, first assistant director on The Unknown Man of Shandigor (17 min., in Swiss French with English subtitles) 

• Ultra- rare 1967 “making of” documentary from Swiss TV’s “Cinema VIF” show, featuring interviews with director Jean-Louis Roy, cast members Daniel Emilfork, Jacques Dufilho, and Marie-France Boyer, and behind-the-scenes footage (28 min., in Swiss French with English subtitles) 

• Restored original trailer (4 min., in French with English subtitles) 

• Blu-ray encoding and authoring by David Mackenzie/Fidelity in Motion 

• New art by Tony Stella 

Legendary Filmmaker Jean-Louis Roy

“Stillwater” Fine Direction Leads to Solid Performances

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Tom McCarthy, director of Oscar-winner Spotlight, began working on Stillwater about ten years before he went into production. He intended to make a thriller set in an indistinct European port city. After one visit to Marseille, McCarthy knew he had found his port. “The layers and textures of the city were undeniably cinematic, and the confluence of cultures and the pace of the seaside metropolis felt like the perfect canvas for the film.”

But, the first draft wasn’t the movie he wanted to make. He felt it lacked dimension, humanity and a point of view. McCarthy felt drawn to the Mediterranean noir genre of writers like Andrea Camilleri, Massimo Carlotto and Jean-Claude Izzo, notably Izzo’s Marseille Trilogy. “Those novels all account for the life around the crime pushing beyond the genre. Ultimately, I wanted my film to do the same.” 

McCarthy set the script down, picked it back up about seven years later, and gave it a fresh read. He liked the setup, but his previous concerns remained. “It still wasn’t a script I was prepared to direct.”

And so, he reached out to French writing team Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré and sent them the draft. “We had a very awkward zoom call where they carefully laid out a few fundamental flaws in the approach to the script,” says McCarthy.

He flew to Paris, spent a week in a room together with his co-writers, reimagining the movie, which was the beginning of an eighteen-month writing process, which began in the fall of 2016. Reflecting, McCarthy saw the world had changed drastically. “The United States had taken an alarming turn towards populism, and Americans were becoming increasingly alienated not only from each other but also from the rest of the world.”

Matt Damon’s character, Bill, journeys abroad, as he desperately tries to navigate a new culture, language, and justice system to save his only daughter. 

Underlining this story was McCarthy’s fascination with the details of the 2007 Amanda Knox case, where an American student living in Italy was arrested and charged with the murder of her roommate. She was convicted and sentenced to a lengthy prison term, although she maintained her innocence. 

Matt Damon stars as “Bill” in director Tom McCarthy’s STILLWATER, a Focus Features release.
Credit Jessica Forde / Focus Features

“What was exciting about reimagining the script in the context was the opportunity to subvert expectations of Bill — both as the quintessential ‘American hero’ and protagonist of this story, as well as an outsider entering a community that views him in a certain light.”

Many moments throughout the film, the story reveals Bill as a flawed man who, despite his best efforts, can’t escape his past. As a man from Stillwater, Oklahoma, we see the sternness or solidness of not revealing too much, holding in anger and other emotions just on the surface. 

McCarthy starts the movie five years after the prison sentence of his daughter, Allison, played by Abigail Breslin. It’s his umpteenth visit to Marseille, and we see the unraveling of his flaws, forgetting keepsakes for his daughter, discounting his ignorance.

However, during this visit, there is a revelation of fresh evidence that might prove her innocence, thus setting her free and back to America. At this point in the movie, we examine more closely the notion of America’s moral authority in a country and a world where nationalism was on the rise. 

McCarthy could have easily followed what audiences, who are conditioned to expect the hero to stop at nothing to protect his family or what he thinks is right. If the movie were a pure thriller, we would applaud Bill’s relentless pursuit of that aim. 

But McCarthy examines the personal consequences of Bill pursuing his singular aim. He ultimately gets what he wants, but at what price? What does he sacrifice, and how does that kind of thinking play out in our world today? 

He befriends an eight-year-old Maya, played authentically by Lilou Siauvaud. Then he meets her mother, Virginie, played by Camille Cottin. Virginie immediately helps him, which keeps the movie on edge. More and more of Bill’s flaws come to view. We find out that he was never there for his daughter, who lived most of her time with her aunt. Yet, we discover Virginie has a bleeding heart. She saves lost souls, like Bill. Maya becomes Bill’s companion or a second chance to be a good father. The threesome flourishes with Bill, staying in Marseille, hoping to help his daughter. 

(Camille Cottin as “Virginie”, Matt Damon as “Bill” and Lilou Siauvaud as “Maya” in director Tom McCarthy’s STILLWATER, a Focus Features release. Credit Jessica Forde / Focus Features

Marseille has a considerable impact on the film, going deep into the city, from the stunning Calanques to the massive Velodrome to the old prison in Les Baumettes. The credit goes to production designer Phil Messina, providing a Marseille canvas intimately and authentically. 

Though Marseille is the film’s primary setting, Bill’s past in Oklahoma also plays an essential role in the story and his character development. “We tried to reflect the impact these two places — Marseille and Oklahoma — have on Bill and Allison through the brilliant cinematography of Masa Takayanagi,” says McCarthy

The film starts in Oklahoma shooting with Anamorphic lenses, which enhances the solitude and isolation of Bill, using a shallower depth of field and a wider field of view. Then, Bill steps off the plane in Marseille. However, the camera moves. “It has the kinetic, spontaneous, grittiness of Marseille, which translated to a handheld for much of Marseille,” explains McCarthy. 

Then, when we return to Oklahoma at the end of the movie, McCarthy uses spherical lenses with us as if Bill brought something back with him from Marseille. “But our camera became static once again, indicating that Oklahoma, the place, has not changed, just Bill and Allison. 

McCarthy shot the film’s last scene with handheld to capture both the sense of intimacy and immediacy. Also, the method deepens the emotional connection to Marseille, a city that continues to haunt them.  

The casting of Damon as the central performance anchors Stillwater. It felt like Bill took a profound journey for all its complexities and ambiguities. Breslin holds her own, not playing a glamorous role, though McCarthy gives her some light moments with Maya. 

Stillwater doesn’t have a happy ending, but a determined finish that falls on Bill’s shoulders, where he says something like, “You’re my daughter.” And, later, he repeats his daughter’s phrase from an early conversation, “Life is brutal.”

Despite flaws or immorality, we still love our children and will always stand by them.

I wanted a different ending, a happy ending, but McCarthy’s ending makes sense because each scene seamlessly leads to this moment. 

McCarthy explains the film is about human nature. “What dictates the decisions we make, and how morality can be corrupted by one’s past, society and love of family. It speaks to what we perceive to be our moral imperative. It’s a story of liberation that addresses the shackles of shame and guilt that keep us rooted in one place. It’s a film that addresses our longing to be loved and needed.” 

The Stillwater Blu-ray/DVD and Digital download combo pack includes:

BONUS FEATURES: 

An Alchemy of Viewpoints – The cast of Stillwater discusses their characters and the research that went into portraying them authentically.          

An American in Marseille: The Locations of Stillwater—Much of the authenticity that comes across in Stillwater is because of the dedication of filming on location. Hear from the cast and filmmakers on what it was like filming in places such as the streets of Marseille and the Calanques along the coast.    

With Curiosity & Compassion: Director Tom McCarthy – Cast and filmmakers discuss the thought and interest that goes into director Tom McCarthy’s stories and how he uses his natural curiosity about real-life interactions to guide his filmmaking style. 

“Corridor of Mirrors” Compromises Past Life Obsession

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Directed by Terence Young, Corridor of Mirrors is a 1948 film based on a book by Chris Massie. It appears Massie may be best known for his novel “Pity My Simplicity,” which was also adapted into a 1945 movie, Love Letters, starring Jennifer Jones.

Corridor of Mirrors is Young’s directorial debut. He’s best known for kicking off the James Bond franchise by directing the first two Bond movies, Dr. No and From Russia with Love. His last Bond movie was Thunderball. Additionally, he directed Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin and Richard Crenna in Wait Until Dark.

Edana Romney and Rudolph Cartier adapted Massie’s book for the screen. The script was a vehicle to showcase Romney’s talent and launch her career, which never took off, though she spent her later years writing a screenplay about the life of Richard Burton.

On the other hand, Eric Portman as Paul Mangin is impressive. His movie credits include A Canterbury Tales, The Golden Mask and The Bedford Incident. If you’re a Prisoner fan, he played Number Two.

With Young’s gothic horror, romantic melodrama and film noir, the movie held my attention despite the weak storyline. In fact, the remastered quality of the Cohen Film Collection’s Blu-ray makes the cinematic images fascinating. Watching Young’s camera work with low then high angles that include the striking contrast of the cinematography of Andre Thomas was a marvel.

The story follows Mangin as a contemporary artist obsessed with the Renaissance lifestyle and art. He wears clothes from the era and rides around in a hansom cab. He meets the stunning Mifanwy, and they become lovers. Even though she is married, Mangin becomes possessed with the idea that the two of them are past life lovers from the Renaissance. In their past life, they were married, but the relationship ended tragically. Mifanwy is mesmerized into thinking his fantasy is accurate, and she goes behind the corridor of mirrors in his mansion, where the fantasy begins. She dresses up in Renaissance gowns made by Mangin.

The fundamental problem with this movie is visualizing spiritual connections because such an occurrence is invisible to the naked eye. Though Young uses mirrors, angles and melodrama to help, it’s a challenging subject to film. Kenneth Branagh mastered it in his 1991 Dead Again with a clever twist at the end. As a matter of fact, Albert Lewin tried an earlier film in 1950 with Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, which bettered Corridor of Mirrors.

The movie is worth seeing for those who’d like to see a suspense thriller that borderlines horror. Note that this movie is Christopher Lee’s film debut, playing Charles.

Thank you, Blu-ray Down Low, IMDB and Theater Byte, Good Reads, for providing information.

A Dark Path

“A Dark Path” Limits Horror By Lack of High Tech

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A Dark Path

Written and directed by Nicholas Winter, A Dark Path follows sisters Abi and Lily on their way home from a party in eastern Europe. They get lost. With no signal and an unreliable GPS, they try to navigate their way out using road signs. Their front tire suddenly blows out along a narrow road through a deep forest.

They find themselves completely cut off from the outside world with no spare tire or cell service. Soon they discover that this is no ordinary forest. They understand why no cars come here because the locals know what lives in the woods. They’ve woken it, and there is nowhere to run.

The movie lacks a lot of essential elements. All the reviews I saw were negative.

Guilt

“Guilt” as a Simplistic Story Reduced to Flat Ending

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Co-directed by Karl Jenner and Lyndsay Sarah, Guilt is another story about how screwed up a psychologist is and the field of psychiatry. The story follows a psychologist, played by Janet Shay. Shay co-wrote the script with Sarah. Jessie is the psychologist’s name, and she feels angry about all the world’s child abuse. As a child psychologist, she goes vigilant by targeting child sex offenders. It’s not just any offenders, but those who escaped severe sentences. As the story progresses, Jessie has second thoughts about her bent on being a vigilante when she questions a former case with disturbing revelations—perhaps she has gone too far. The movie is available on Amazon.

A small-budget film with a limp script. The acting is functional but misses the underlying realistic angst of the anticipation of knocking off a few child offenders. The writing is void of a lot of dialogue, which is probably good since the actors lack harmony in the storytelling—like disjointed communications of “Now, why am I here?”

A background story of some characters would have added to the storytelling. Perhaps the two writers could have created more depth in their dialogue. According to the co-directors statement, “Dipping our toe into a feature film for the first time, we knew we would have to be as self-sufficient as possible. Guilt is a self-funded project by us both, but also two of our filmmaking buddies.”

Their statement says quite a bit, as Guilt is their first movie. “We carried out most of the roles and labor ourselves from the birth of the story idea to the last stages of post-production, and we’re still going. Quite an achievement, and sure, we’re proud of each other. Most importantly, we think we proved that you don’t necessarily require a big budget (or even a reasonably sized one) to produce a noteworthy film. It’s the team behind the film that counts,” they added.

Shots of stalking, walking, and dripping water faucets are standard-issue suspense/thriller ploys that fall flat in dry sand—no substance. The filmmakers could’ve learned about camera angles, timing, and undercurrents from Martin Scorsese.

I kept waiting for Jessie to roll with the revelations and change as a character, to no avail. The ending came abruptly without the movie offering any meaning to what I just saw. Inclusion was slow, tedious, and had multiple substantial plot holes, making me frustrated because they were obvious. They are first-time filmmakers, and it shows, but you have to admire them for completing the movie and getting it distributed.

The movie also stars Hayley Flowers and Sandra Stockley.

watch little joe

Sci-Fi Thriller “Little Joe” is a Shrewd Flower

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The sci-fi and psychological thriller follows a mother and her son, who is affected by a genetically engineered plant. The red-flowered plant mysteriously shares its scent while the story twists and turns until the end.

The sci-fi and psychological thriller follow a mother and her son, who is affected by a genetically engineered plant. The red-flowered plant mysteriously shares its scent while the story twists and turns until the end.

Directed by Jessica Hausner, Little Joe follows Alice, played by Emily Beecham, who won the Best Actress award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Alice is a single mother and dedicated senior plant breeder at a corporation engaged in developing new species of plants. She engineered a unique crimson flower, remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its therapeutic value. If kept at the ideal temperature, appropriately fed and spoken to regularly, this plant makes its owner happy. The story gets interesting when Alice goes against company policy and takes one home as a gift for her teenage son, Joe, played by Kit Conner. They christen it “Little Joe.” But as their plant grows, so too does Alice’s suspicion that her new creation may not be as harmless as its nickname suggests.

Don’t believe this mumbo-jumbo, but it explains how the plant influences people.

Hausner states, “In this sense, Little Joe is a parable about what is strange within our­selves. This becomes tangible in the film by means of a plant, which is apparently capable of changing people. As a result of this change some­thing unfamiliar emerges, and something believed to be secure is lost — the bond between two people.”

The plant traumatizes those it pollinates with foreboding, austere colors and energetic drums and strings as a soundtrack. Throughout, you sense an awkward interpersonal relationship. It comes across in Alice’s contact with her colleague Chris, played by Ben Whishaw, who is devious and calculating while he tries to romance her. Having Whishaw play against type is ominous since we’re familiar with him as Q in the James Bond franchise and Mary Poppins Returns as the amicable father and brother. Chris courts Alice, demonstrated by uneasy offers for an after-work drink, then faltering struggles at kisses. Still, the red plant remains in the background, adversely affecting Chris’s ordinarily friendly and playful dog, bringing more tension to the story and jolting me out of my seat.

As a parallel, we watch human Joe begin his first romantic relationship with his first girlfriend, Selma, played by Jessie Mae Alonzo, another source of anxiety. Alice realizes her little boy is becoming a young man and more of his person, spending less time with her. It’s a sad moment for Alice, but something more profound is happening, and she discounts it. Perhaps she shouldn’t, giving the message to parents that they need to connect to their kids.

Hausner associates the film as more abstract and artificial than real life, even though scenes occur in greenhouses, laboratories, and real locations. Shot with mint green and white with the red flower. “We chose these almost childish colors to give the film the characteristics of a fairy-tale or fable.”

The movie sounds simple but is more complicated, and the story is driven as a psychological thriller about a plant that undermines a young boy’s life.

“Every working mother is familiar with being asked the question, which is often led with accusation: ‘So, who looks after your child when you go to work?’ Little Joe is about a mother who is tormented by her bad conscience when she goes to work and ‘neglects’ her child. A mother whose feelings are ambivalent because the plant is Alice’s other child: her work, her creation, the product of her labor. And she doesn’t want to neglect this child either or lose it. But which of her children will Alice choose in the end?” explains Hausner.

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Robot Revenge in Sci-Fi Thriller “Automation”

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Take a workplace robot named Auto, the company jerks his chain, and he transforms into a killing machine when he discovers a more efficient model will replace him.

Before Garo Setian directed, produced, and edited Automation, he co-wrote the screenplay with Rolfe Kanefsky and Matthew L. Schaffer. 

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The film stars Elissa Dowling, Parry Shen, Graham Skipper, Sarah French, and Sadie Katz as office employees assail into danger by a vindictive robot. 

The storyline caught my attention, but I didn’t think the movie would be intelligent as a sci-fi thriller. Sure, it’s low-budget, and the script is witty. But, more heart in this movie and the creative team’s performance would have been good. But, it’s hard to do so within the financial means.   

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Then, it’s revenge time for the robot, and he is not messing around. I liked the movie’s unorthodox chills. 

The Blu-Ray release of the movie includes separate commentaries with Setian and Writer Rolfe Kanefsky and Setian and Anahit Setian with Producer Dan Bowen, deleted and alternate scenes, bloopers, Behind The Scenes featurettes Writing The Screenplay and Building “Auto” with “Evil’ Ted, “Auto’s Voice” An Interview With VO Artist Jim Tasker and bonus interviews with cast and crew.