Sound is such a big part of movies, which by many is an overlooked aspect of experiencing them. Ever since the introduction they have added a layer responsible for how you feel, enhancing it or setting the tone. A lot of time is spent on perfecting it. Just think of an animated movie. When you watch it, it is a breathing living and very real world. But just like the frames themselves, every sound needs to be created in order to make swoop audiences away, whether it’s an action scene in Incredibles 2 or an emotional scene in Your Name. In horror movies too it is used effectively, often making or breaking a scene. A jump scare wouldn’t work as well if it wasn’t accompanied by a loud sound after some silence. A Quiet Place is a horror film which uses sound in a different way… Continue reading
Category Archives: Suspense
Skyscraper (2018) – Review
We all feel a need to categorize the movies we see. It makes it easy to compare them to other in the (sub)genre and at the same time display our knowledge of the movie landscape. In most reviews I read about Dwayne Johnson‘s new movie Skyscraper (which is about a security analyst who has to save his family out of a burning tower taken over by some evil guys) it was compared to Die Hard and The Towering Inferno. But I don’t think you should make the comparison as those movies were quite different. The Towering Inferno was a disaster movie which happened to be about a fire in a high rise building. Die Hard was an action movie like this one, but a lot more realistic and believable. It’s better to not make the comparison and look at this movie for what it is: A summer blockbuster movie which wants to entertain its viewers by giving them a thrill ride. Continue reading
A Taxi Driver (2017) – Review
With all the American movies being released there is a huge risk that movie from other countries don’t get the attention they deserve. Although some of them get released to cinemas, they often don’t reach a big enough audience, making it hard for distributors to take a chance on them. Which of course creates a cycle you can’t get out of. Which sometimes is a shame, as they are a lot of movie worth watching. Recently I saw Bad Genius, which is amazing, but A Taxi Driver, a South Korean movie is also one you should check out. Continue reading
Brothers (2017) – Review
Within in Europe (and probably elsewhere too) there have been people who decided to go to Syria to fight there, usually with a religious motivation. Some return and the news about them is usually negative. But what do you do when you find out someone within your own family was seen last in Syria? That’s the idea behind Brothers (Broeders). Continue reading
Bad Genius (2017) – Review
For everyone there has been a moment while you were attending school where it was very attractive to cheat in order to pass that difficult exam. To make sure you don’t get caught, you think of ingenious ways to bring along information that’s hard for others to discover. When you eventually decide to actually use it, it can lead to some very tense moments. You feel like a secret agent who can’t stand out and has to copy some information. If you would translate that feeling to a movie, you’d end up with Bad Genius. A mix of The Breakfast Club and Ocean’s Eleven… Continue reading
Gods of Egypt (2016) – Review
When I announced my list of blindspot movies for 2018, I got the most reactions (both here and on my Dutch site) about why I added Gods of Egypt. Why would I want to see this film? Some told me it’s a movie you want to switch off after 20 minutes. Of course I knew about the criticism the movie got, but that made me even more curious. So it was the first movie I watched on that list. Did I start out right? Continue reading
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) – Review
The promotion of new movies has become very predictable. Months in advance you can see the first set photos, followed by teasers, different trailer versions and the stars appearing in talk shows near the release. I basically ignore all of it and find it an extremely tiring way to promote a product and create hype. Earlier this year Netflix proved it could be different with this film. It was originally called The God Particle and was delayed. During the Superbowl commercials Netflix premiered the trailer and also announced it would be available immediately after the game. A marketing strategy which I would love more companies using. Continue reading
Darkland (2017) – Review
The revenge film. It’s a simple concept, which can be executed in various ways. It can be raw and violent (Death Wish) or more subtle (The Invisible Guest. There is so much to choose from (including the Park Chan-wook revenge trilogy). This Danish film chooses for a simple approach, which of course can work effectively Continue reading
Rampage (2018) – Review
Here we go again, another videogame movie! The track record this genre of movies has is extremely poor and naming great movies is almost impossible. There have been enjoyable ones (still got a soft spot for the original Mortal Kombat), but usually they end up being very disappointing. There are various reasons for this, but usually you don’t play videogames for their stories. Videogames were never that cinematic and although that has been slowly changing it has always been about a player having fun executing the action which is happening on screen. Rampage was a game which basically had no story at all, except that you could control a giant monster which could smash buildings and eat people. It was all about the action, so the makers of this film only needed to do that right in order to stay true to the game. But as showing all action doesn’t work (I’m looking at you Michael Bay), some story is needed as well. Continue reading
Tomb Raider (2018) – Review
Two months ago I decided to take a break from blogging on my Dutch site. I did this for various reasons and have not returned writing and it has given me a lot of time to spend on other things which aren’t movie related, including gaming. If you’ve been reading this blog for a longer time you might know I’ve been gaming since Pong machines, but during the last couple of years I didn’t play as much anymore. With my newly found “extra time” though I decided to play some games I had bought and once started (probably something like three years ago).
One of them was 2013’s Tomb Raider, an very good looking game which was a reboot for the franchise. It made the character a more realistic person, both physically and in her reactions to what she was going through. She was very vulnerable. The game quickly got me hooked and I finished it within two weeks and found out there was a sequel available (Rise of the Tomb Raider), which I immediately ordered. It was even better and I finished that yesterday. Wanting to head to the cinema I asked my oldest daughter pick out a movie she wanted to see, which happened to be Tomb Raider. With both games really fresh in my mind I was interested in seeing if it would follow the same storyline and portray the character in a similar way. Continue reading