DROP

***

(Thriller)

Meghann Fahy plays Violet a single mom who has suffered abuse in her past.

She finally gets up the courage to go on a blind date, arriving at the elegant Chicago restaurant ahead of her date.

She encounters a number of people, including the bartender, waiter, piano player and another man waiting for his blind date.

After an awkward introductory moment, she receives a terrifying phone call, threatening to harm her son if she doesn’t follow the person’s deadly instructions.

She makes several attempts to send messages requesting assistance, but each effort is unsuccessful.

The list of suspects grows until finally revealed.

Up to this point, the movie is tension packed and has you guessing.

Joyce accuses me of too often praying for a better ending. This one stretches a bit too far.

SINNERS

* * ½

(Allegorical violent vampire movie)

There, I’ve done it!

I’ve given away a major development in a movie that I enjoyed up until it turned into a violent, bloody vampire movie.

I really needed to warn those of you who think you were going to see a historical film about Black lives in Mississippi in the thirties.

Michael B. Jordan plays two brothers who return to Mississippi to buy an old sawmill and turn it into a speakeasy for their people, who work hard in the cotton fields.

The story takes place in one day and night, as the son of a preacher man defies his father and joins the twins with his guitar.

His father is convinced that the blues music he plays is evil and will lead to no good.

It sure does.

Three wandering white musicians show up that evening preaching love and fellowship and seeking admission, which they are denied.

All hell breaks loose as they turn into vampires, start sucking blood, and as is typical in the genre, their victims start sucking the blood of their friends and relatives.

It is one bloody mess that goes on forever. Vampire movie fans might like it, but it will certainly turn everyone else off.

Also a shame because the acting, the music and the cinematography are excellent.

THE AMATEUR

* * * 

(Revenge Spy movie)

Rami Malek stars as a mild-mannered CIA cryptographer who is deathly afraid of guns.

When his wife is killed by terrorists, he goes on a vigilante hunt for the perpetrators, which takes him to such exotic places as Marseille, Paris, Madrid, Romania, Finland and the Baltic Sea.

He tracks down the bad guys—and gal—using a variety of devices until he is finally abducted and faced with using a gun to stop them.

But Charlie is a cryptographer and has better plans.

An interesting twist to the usual vigilante movie.