Veering away from the supernatural-themed movies with unique twists that defined the first decade of his career, M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, Old) ventures into a genre designed to induce a different type of suspense. While unique, Trap is so farfetched and full of contraptions, conveniences, and implausibilities that it almost finds itself in the unenviable “it’s so bad, it’s good” category. Fortunately, the first two acts built enough tension that not even the ridiculous conclusion could derail the film completely.
Director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) is an expert at creating ordinary characters, putting them in everyday situations, and allowing interactions and relationships to carry the story. He has masterfully accomplished this through films I adore, such as Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, and Mud, and through films, such as Midnight Special and Loving, that aren’t quite as good as a whole but still have well-crafted characters. The Bikeriders, his most recent film, follows a similar blueprint but fails to tell an exciting story or have a single character we genuinely care about. While well made with a stellar cast that put forward the effort, the film was a snoozefest.
The best thing that I can say about Lee Isaac Chung’s (Minari, Munyurangabo)Twisters is that it does very well at what it tries to do. In his first film since earning an Academy Award nomination for 2020’s Minari, Chung takes on a film that couldn’t feel any more different. Twisters is not a sequel or reboot to the commercially successful Twister, which earned $495 million worldwide, or more than five times its budget of $92 million. The 1996 movie was one of the most-hyped and anticipated movies in years, with its trailers ahead of their time and two of the newest Hollywood A-listers in Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. Despite its commercial success, it had poor Rotten Tomatoes critics (66%) and audience (58%) scores.
Many deem Christopher Nolan’s (Interstellar, Oppenheimer) The Dark Knight the best comic book movie ever. Those and others consider Nolan’s three Batman films the quintessential superhero trilogy. The Dark Knight is the franchise’s standout, successfully eclipsing the superhero genre and delivering an eerie tale of good versus evil that requires many chief characters to make layered, moral decisions at a moment’s notice. In particular, The Joker (Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain, Monster’s Ball), the film’s villain, continually requires its protagonists to choose between what is best for them and society’s greater good. Fans of superhero movies and those who traditionally have little to no interest in that genre can equally appreciate The Dark Knight.
Disappointing. That’s the word I would use to sum up A Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel to A Quiet Place and the third movie in the successful trilogy. John Krasinski wrote and directed both A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II. Krasinski only has producer credits for the final installment. We felt his absence. A Quiet Place: Day One lacked originality, coherence, and suspense. It was a cash grab, which I played into. Michael Sarnoski (fresh of writing and directing credits of his debut film, Pig).
Veering away from the supernatural-themed movies with unique twists that defined the first decade of his career, M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, Old) ventures into a genre designed to induce a different type of suspense. While unique, Trap is so farfetched and full of contraptions, conveniences, and implausibilities that it almost finds itself in the unenviable “it’s so bad, it’s good” category. Fortunately, the first two acts built enough tension that not even the ridiculous conclusion could derail the film completely.
Director Jeff Nichols (
The best thing that I can say about Lee Isaac Chung’s (
Many deem Christopher Nolan’s (
Disappointing. That’s the word I would use to sum up A Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel to