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Movie is violent, but almost... useful?

Report this review, creepy but cool.

This title has:

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AMAZING, Powerful Movie!!

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A bit to intense for pre teens

Amazing film - common sense media is wrong.

[Review] ‘Hush’ Makes the Most of Its Terrifying Premise

After having its world premiere at the 30th Annual SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals last month,  Hush  comes to us courtesy of Netflix, who wisely snatched up the property shortly before its premiere. You can read Kalyn’s review from SXSW here.  I actually caught the film at it’s premiere at SXSW too, but I wanted to chime in with my own thoughts on the film closer to its release date (even though they essentially mirror Kalyn’s).  Hush  proves once again that Mike Flanagan  ( Oculus, Absentia ) is an outstanding director, able to take a simple premise and bring something incredibly unique to the project without making it feel gimmicky. It is a fist-pumping female empowerment film while at the same time an incredibly suspenseful home invasion thriller.

The plot is simple: Author Maddie Young (Kate Siegel, Oculus ) has lived a life of isolation since losing her hearing as a teenager to bacterial meningitis. Now a deaf-mute, she spends much of her time in her secluded home writing novels. When a masked psychotic killer (John Gallagher, Jr., 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Newsroom ) shows up on her doorstep one night, Maddie must push herself beyond her mental and physical limits in order to survive the night.

Flanagan and Siegel co-wrote Hush , and the idea came to the husband and wife team over dinner. They wanted to make a home invasion thriller with a twist, and in that they succeeded. Think the final scene of  Wait Until Dark stretched out to feature length. While this may sound like it could easily become tedious, the film utilizes each of its 87 minutes extremely well. There are a few too many moments of Maddie escaping the house only to be chased back inside by the killer, but by the time you begin to notice their frequency the film wraps up with a hefty amount of catharsis.

Hush makes a bold decision with its killer at the end of its first act, and it turns out to be a wise one. I won’t spoil it here, but suffice it to say that Gallagher is given much more to work with than your standard masked killer. The film shies away from giving him a backstory of any sort, giving the character (credited simply as “The Man”) the necessary menace needed to instill fear.

Siegel is an absolute revelation. If she’s this good while she’s silent I can’t wait to see what awaits us when she’s given actual dialogue to work with (she’s been acting since 2007 but to my knowledge this is her most high-profile role). She makes Maddie one of the best final girls seen in recent memory and boy, is she put through the wringer too. Her lack of dialogue in the film (save for one internal monologue) does not stop Siegel from giving one Hell of an impassioned performances.

Flanagan, as expected, plays with sound design a lot in the film, albeit not as much as you might expect. The sound in the film goes out at certain points, but one almost wishes Flanagan had used this technique more. Still, there hasn’t been a thriller that has played with a lack of dialogue this much since Joss Whedon used a similar approach in an episode of  Buffy the Vampire Slayer (coincidentally also called “Hush”).

The film’s only real misstep comes in the form of the arrival of Maddie’s neighbor John (Michael Trucco), in a sequence that requires such a large suspension of disbelief as to how stupid the character is that it immediately takes you out of the film. There is also a dream sequence scare that had to have been included to pad the runtime. It feels cheap when it is held up next to the rest of the film.

The film is shot competently but not necessarily creatively. Cinematographer James Kniest shoots the house and the woods surrounding it with a good sense of claustrophobia, but I also watched  Hush within 24 hours of Fede Alvarez’s  Don’t Breathe ( my review ), a similar thriller that is also set in one location and relies on a main character with a disability. That film was so beautifully shot and featured such masterful camerawork that  Hush does seem a bit  too  simple (though the films would make an excellent double feature once  Don’t Breathe  is released in August). This is no fault of  Hush , of course, but merely a coincidence that I thought I would mention.

The decision to release  Hush  on Netflix is a peculiar one. It’s not that the film will be any less effective; it will just be a different viewing experience. Watching  Hush  in a sold-out theater was one of the more fun theater-going experiences I’ve had in a while. The film practically demands to be viewed with an audience. That being said, watching it at home may have the benefit of highlighting the terror in the film. While incredibly suspenseful, at no point was I ever really scared during  Hush . You may feel differently watching the film in the privacy of your own home.

Hush  is a terrific film, and one that you will want to add to your Blu-Ray collection once it sees a release. Boasting some fantastic set pieces and performances from Siegel and Gallagher, it truly stands out among the crowd of horror films readily available on Netflix. I have no doubt that it will be added to many of those “hidden Netflix gems” posts in the near future. It’s so good, in fact, that it actually has me excited about what Flanagan will be doing with  Ouija 2 .

Hush is now available via Netflix streaming.

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Denver, CO with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

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Movie Review: Hush (2016)

• Dominique Meyer
• Movie Reviews
• One response
• --> June 19, 2016

I feel horror movies have grown more derivative than innovative as of late. The recent influx of supernatural horror has begun to wear out the genre’s tropes, and while every once in a blue moon we get a critical and audience darling like “ The Conjuring ” that’s only after we finish wading through a litany of below-par efforts. Thankfully, 2016 has already had several worthy additions to the genre including “ The Witch ,” “ The Conjuring 2 ,” “The Invitation,” and even the quasi-horror, but mostly-thriller “Green Room.” But I think one of the strongest of these entries, Hush , has unfairly gone unnoticed, at least by general audiences.

Like the rest of your favorite horror movies of the last few years, Hush was produced by Blumhouse Productions. While it bears a striking resemblance to movies like “ The Strangers ” and “ The Purge ,” the movie manages to be a tense and thrilling experience for the viewer that doesn’t let up the tension until the final scene.

Bearing a similar plot to the Audrey Hepburn classic “Wait Until Dark,” the film focuses on a deaf and mute author named Maddie (Kate Siegel, “ Oculus ”), who has secluded herself to a private home in the woods. While finishing her most recent novel, she finds herself under attack from a masked stranger (John Gallagher Jr., “ Short Term 12 ”), who’s hellbent on entering her home. Cornered and disadvantaged, Maddie is forced into a cat-and-mouse game for survival with no sound, no speech, and nobody around to help. It’s a simple premise that we’ve certainly seen before a thousand times, but Hush isn’t hindered by what it lacks. It’s strengthened.

The movie appropriately avoids straying far from the protagonist’s home, allowing the audience to connect with Maddie’s feeling of both seclusion and dread. In fact, for a character that barely speaks, it’s impressive how quickly and confidently director Mike Flanagan (“Oculus”) is able to firmly get us on Maddie’s side. Let it be known that this is not a movie that is constantly shouting “Boo!” at you, with cats popping out of nowhere and characters getting spooked by awkwardly-placed lamps. This is very much a character-driven movie, and Maddie’s not your typical horror movie idiot. Once she recognizes a threat, she commences Plan A . . . then Plan B . . . then C, then D, and so forth. She examines every possible outcome and does not waste time doing it. In doing so, she becomes both a tenacious and resourceful foe, much to the surprise of the stranger. Credit is also due to Siegel, who co-wrote the film with Flanagan and gives a remarkable performance, bringing gravitas to Maddie and handling the limitations of her character with seasoned finesse (Siegel herself is neither deaf nor mute).

Hush also marks a surprising turn from Gallagher, who is able to break away from the image of his more recent nice-guy film roles. In a way, his affable look makes his character all the more threatening, as if the stranger could’ve been any random person you see on the street. Armed with only a knife and a crossbow, he remains nameless and motiveless throughout the film. The only things we learn about him is that he’s smart, he’s dangerous, and he’s not leaving anytime soon.

Given that the movie has less than 15 minutes of spoken dialogue, the majority of the movie is reliant on its technical elements, and luckily, each department was on their A-game. From the opening frame, sound design plays a huge hand in conveying Maddie’s perception of the world around her. The score organically punctuates each scene while simultaneously growing grander as the stakes rise. There’s plenty of silence in between, though, and the bulk of the tension is amassed from those silent moments with few jump scares and little gore. The movie is only 81 minutes long, but it is always moving, never feeling rushed with unnecessary padding.

If you’re a fan of horror, I’m not going to lie . . . you’ve probably seen this movie in some form or another before. But I don’t think that’s a fair reason to skip this one. Hush is a taut, compelling thriller that admittedly aims low with its gimmick, yet is able to achieve so much because of clever writing and honest-to-God chills. And the best part is that you don’t even have to go to the theater to see it. It’s right there on Netflix waiting for you, so if your friends are over one night wanting to watch something scary, you have no excuse not to check this one out.

Tagged: criminal , home invasion , killer , murder , writer

An unabashed lover of all things film, Dominique Meyer is also an aspiring actor and Uber driver based in Dallas, TX. His hobbies include watching movies, breathing movies, living for movies, and consuming gratuitous amounts of cheese.

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Mike Flanagan ’s “Hush,” which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival last month before popping up on Netflix today, is an old-fashioned home invasion thriller that works on its own modest terms. It’s one of those simple horror flicks that’s so streamlined it feels long even at only 82 minutes. It might have worked better as a short film or installment of an anthology series like “Masters of Horror,” but Flanagan has a notable skill in building tension and then just allowing it to simmer. He doesn’t resort to the jump scare tactics that mar so many similar low-budget films. In fact, the most terrifying, shocking moments in “Hush” typically come without the loud music cue or pouncing cat that producers commonly think is necessary to get you jumping. There are choices in the final act that I won’t spoil but really didn’t work for me (the script foreshadows it, which made me dread its inevitability even more), but this is a better-than-average, essentially-VOD thriller for the weekend that could offer a glimpse at the future of festival-to-streaming titles.

Maddie ( Kate Siegel ) is a deaf-mute writer, living in a secluded home. It’s a set-up that short story master Stephen King would love, and it’s no coincidence that we see his Mr. Mercedes on a dresser. The film’s greatest strength is highlighted in the first scene, as Maddie cooks dinner: the sound design. We hear eggs cracking, onions being sliced, asparagus sizzling on the stove—and then the sound falls away as we close in on her face. She has been deaf since the age of 13, and we get a bit more of her history and the way her mind works when neighbor/friend Sarah comes over for a brief visit ( Samantha Sloyan ).

After Sarah leaves, Maddie goes back to cooking. We see a screaming Sarah run toward her kitchen door, pounding on it for help, but Maddie is completely unaware, even as a crossbow-wielding maniac (John Gallagher Jr. of “ 10 Cloverfield Lane ” and “ Short Term 12 ,” very good here against type) slices Sarah’s throat about ten feet from her neighbor. He even knocks on the door. Maddie doesn’t respond. The masked killer becomes fascinated with Maddie, and decides he wants to prolong her fate and play games with her. He starts by stealing her cell phone and texting her pictures of herself that night. Then, even after the cat has revealed himself to the mouse, he doesn’t just kill her. In “Hush,” the psychotic killer’s motives are vague, so if he’s just a lunatic killing for fun, why not have a little bit more of it?

Flanagan is surprisingly reserved with “Hush” in that a lot of filmmakers would have fallen back on more tricks to keep the audience engaged in what is a largely silent film. He doesn’t allow the unnamed “Man” to monologue his way through the movie. He doesn’t amp up the score (at least until the final act). He really lets his set-up work for the middle 40 minutes of the film as our only two characters move toward the inevitable climax. And he saves a few surprises for the final act.

Not all of those surprises work. “Hush” works best the less you know where it’s going, so I won’t spoil anything, but there some devices in the finale felt a little cheap to me. They’re minor complaints for a film that really works for what it is, even if it isn't particularly new. We watch horror thrillers like “Hush” not to see the wheel reinvented but just to see it spin well. This movie spins.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Hush (2016)

Rated R for strong violence/terror and some language.

John Gallagher Jr. as Man

Kate Siegel as Maddie

Michael Trucco as John

Samantha Sloyan as Sarah

Emilia Graves as Max

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Home » Horror News » Hush (Movie Review)

Hush (Movie Review)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

PLOT:  Maddie (Kate Siegel) is an author living in a secluded home in the woods, which is always the best idea. She’s become somewhat reclusive since she lost her hearing at age 13. However, tonight she will come to deeply regret her isolation when a mysterious stranger (John Gallagher, Jr.) traps her inside, vowing to kill her before the end of the night and destroying anybody and anything that gets in his way.

REVIEW:  The loss of a major sense can be very powerful fuel for a horror story. Of course, touch and smell are a little difficult to portray on film, and loss of taste might only be horrifying to Hannibal Lecter. However, sight and sound are the sole domain of cinema, and messing with those can have deadly consequences. Horror has pretty thoroughly explored the terrors of blindness in films like LOS OJOS DE JULIA or EYES OF A STRANGER, but there hasn’t been a film about deafness that really rises from the pack. The question is: Is HUSH that movie?

The quick answer to that is no. While the sound design emulates deafness at certain key points, this is a story that could just as easily have been told with a character that can hear. But who needs the quick answer when the long one is so much more interesting? Although the soundscape is – with some notable exceptions – relentlessly mundane, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing special about HUSH. Because the main character doesn’t speak, there are fewer than 20 minutes of dialogue in the film, allowing the entire story to be told through action and visuals.

This means that the film falls n the shoulders of Kate Siegel, who must sell the reality and terror of her predicament without uttering a single word. At this, she excels, proving that she is ready to move beyond the horror outskirts (DEMON LEGACY, a small part in OCULUS ) and into the big time. At the very least, we can hope for her relationship with director/husband Mike Flanagan to develop into a Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell type deal, putting her through the wringer in bigger, more extravagant ways in an increasingly awesome set of films.

Siegel isn’t the only ace in the hole, though. John Gallagher, Jr. (most recently seen in the stunning 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE ) imbues his role with an almost obscenely casual air, rendering a rather flat, unmotivated character into a memorable menace. The script never does quite get a bead on what makes him tick, but the fact that he’s able to maintain his wicked charisma even when unmasked is pretty remarkable. Honestly, he’s got that over Jason Voorhees, as much as I hate to admit it.

So here’s the deal with HUSH. It undeniably works, better than it has any reason to. It has a solid cast, it integrates modern technology into the story without being obnoxiously gimmicky, and there are even a handful of moments that sucker punch your nerves. Siegel’s character is resourceful and fun to watch carrying out her cat and mouse shenanigans, though flawed enough that she’s not a lady Terminator like Erin in YOU’RE NEXT (which just wouldn’t make any sense in this context).

It’s a completely solid film, but there’s absolutely no reason to rewatch it. It will be fun for a Netflix night (with or without Chill), but it’s not a story that’s begging to be told. We’ve all seen this type of cabin in the woods/stalker/home invasion formula a million times before, and while this is a remarkably successful entry in the genre, it’s not different enough to really sink your teeth into. Please check it out and have a good time, but there’s a reason it’s hitting Netflix instead of theaters. It’s a hangout horror flick rather than a vital and necessary one

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Hush Reviews

It's a terrific modern slasher, and even got the seal of approval from Stephen King.

Full Review | Oct 20, 2021

It [had] really a nice production work and I wouldn't be mad if I went and saw this at the cinemas. I don't think it's a bad film at all, I just don't think other than those key aspects, there's a lot going on.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | May 7, 2021

HUSH places you into a horror film unlike any other. On paper, it's a slightly typical "stalker outside the house" flick, but it combines an invasion-thriller with a slasher edge so frightening well.

Full Review | Jan 2, 2021

I... spent the full two hours in seat-clutching terror.

Full Review | Jun 13, 2020

Nothing makes me happier than a bit of originality in a film style normally filled with clichés.

Hush is probably the best home invasion film since Adam Wingard's You're Next.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 13, 2020

Hush is well worth your time, and a definitive addition to the home invasion genre.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 13, 2020

What could have been tedious, one house with one mute girl inside, was the exact opposite with a few twists and turns worth a watch or two.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 19, 2020

The intentions lean the movie more toward the nasty side of the sliding horror scale of serial-killer behavior and perhaps that's why it left me queasy.

Full Review | Nov 22, 2019

Hush is quick and agile, and the script from Flanagan and Siegel always manages to be clever enough to be effective. Hush doesn't break new ground, but that doesn't mean it's not a bloody good time.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 22, 2019

Hush is jam packed with enjoyable, nail-biting moments.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 22, 2019

It may not have the most original of premises, but Hush makes up for it as a sharp, tense horror-thriller featuring two striking lead performances and marvelous execution.

Hush isn't as smart or crafty as Mike Flannigan's last film Oculus but is nevertheless a thoroughly capable experiment in tearing a cliché down to its most basic components and then building it back up with only the finest of ingredients.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Nov 22, 2019

If you ever get dejected with the so-called awful state of modern horror filmmaking, all you need to do is look at Hush and you'll be reminded that effective horror is still alive and well.

Packed full of suspense and atmosphere, Hush provides a great thriller/horror experience that starts fast and never lets up until the end.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Nov 22, 2019

An intelligent thriller that finds almost constant ways to introduce blood-curdling tension.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Nov 16, 2019

A horror cocktail that is as simple as it is effective. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 4, 2019

It's an efficient and clever thriller, which unfolds with a preordained inevitability.

Full Review | Sep 18, 2019

Hush isn't reinventing the wheel, but it is proving that the genre still has legs. If you're looking for an entertaining and knuckle-whitening thriller, then you won't be disappointed.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | Aug 8, 2019

Hush is an intense film that makes some attempts at re-imagining your typical thriller, but it is a film with its flaws.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | Nov 2, 2018

Hush (2016)

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Directed by Mike Flanagan

After delivering genre favorites like  Oculus and the lesser-known but equally inventive  Absentia , director Mike Flanagan might be expected to continue on with his winning formula of intermingling a supernatural story with character-driven plot lines. With his latest effort Hush , however, Flanagan ditches the supernatural angle altogether in favor of much more simplified approach to horror that owes a great debt to Terence Young’s 1967 psychological thriller  Wait Until Dark .

Premiering at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival ahead of its April debut on Netflix, Hush is ultimately as much of a character showcase as it is a pulse-pounding thriller.

The film follows Maddie (Siegel, Oculus ), an author who was rendered deaf after a bout of adolescent meningitis. In her adult life she spends her days in a woodland home struggling to finish her next book. Independent of an occasional visit from her neighbor, Maddie is, for all intents and purposes, isolated in her day-to-day routine with technology being her only window into the goings-on of society. This way of living has provided her with a secure sense of solitude for some time, but on one unsuspecting night this familiar safety is threatened as a masked killer (Gallagher, 10 Cloverfield Lane ) descends upon her home. Seeking to make Maddie his next victim, the anonymous intruder soon thrusts her into a deadly game of cat and mouse–and she will need to gather all of her strength and wits to survive it.

While home invasion films have been done up and down the block in a number of different ways and with a number of different twists, Flanagan’s approach to this well-worn territory feels very pure in its execution. There is no attempt to hoodwink audiences or throw out a big, convoluted reveal in the third act; through and through Hush  is a straightforward story of survival.

Maddie’s hearing impairment naturally sets the stage for many suspenseful sequences with her masked assailant, but Flanagan never utilizes this aspect of the story in a way that feels cheap. While she is certainly very vulnerable in the given scenario, she is not painted as a weak victim who is debilitated by her hearing loss; rather, it enables her to concoct some very ingenious ideas in her fight for survival. Additionally, Flanagan’s manipulation of sound and silence throughout the film serves quite well to place the audience in Maddie’s headspace throughout the course of the increasingly dangerous night. With a single-setting film like this, it is often quite easy to run out of interesting set pieces, but Flanagan makes full use of Maddie’s home, most notably in certain scenes that involve the rooftop and bathroom.

Siegel, who takes on her first starring role as Maddie, strongly delivers in her performance here, dually capturing the character’s vulnerability and unshakeable tenacity. Though not deaf in real life, she brings a believable and genuine touch to the role, using only limited American Sign Language and facial expressions to skillfully convey a vast range of emotion and character-defining traits from the get-go. You get such a strong sense for who Maddie is via Siegel’s subtle and nuanced approach, and you want to root for her to find happiness even before the masked man arrives. Gallagher Jr. continues to be a welcome presence in the genre, playing the mysterious masked man to chilling effect, particularly given that very little is ultimately learned about him over the course of the film.

The script, written by the recently married Flanagan and Siegel, is laudable in its emotional focus amidst the palpable suspense. You come to empathize with and root for Maddie in a major way, and there is a great sense of empowerment that comes from taking this ride into battle with her character. The film’s progressively threatening sequences work to make even the audience feel drained right along with our protagonist, but for all of its violence, Hush  will also leave people feeling triumphant by the time the credits roll.

Though there are a couple of moments that feel a bit situationally clunky (one scene involving the masked man and one of Maddie’s distant neighbors comes to mind), the script works well to help audiences suspend disbelief in most instances that would otherwise come across as implausible in other films. Flanagan and Siegel also succeed in providing valid, set-related safeguards in the story that minimize those frustrating moments that might usually leave audiences screaming, “What a dumb decision; why didn’t she just do X instead?!”   If Maddie is or is not able to do something in her fight against the masked man, there is always a valid reason behind it.

Above all, I appreciated the script’s ability to keep the audience thoroughly engaged by what is essentially the interaction of two strangers that we do not explicitly know much about, creating a story that is still surprisingly easy to attach to emotionally. Though the film doesn’t entirely elevate the home invasion sub-genre to new heights, it works substantially well to see this emotional subtext fully realized by its end.

Hush is ultimately an exciting exercise in survival and perfectly timed suspense. It is a must-watch for fans of tension-laden plots and strong female roles, establishing Kate Siegel as an actress to keep on eye on in the genre and beyond. Flanagan’s love for horror and fully realized characters is evident here, and I look forward to seeing where he will continue to take genre fans. Horror would do better to have more impassioned directors like this who clearly have as much fun making films as we do watching them.

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8 Christian Movies That Rotten Tomatoes Critics Liked

• Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
• Updated May 28, 2020

It’s not easy pleasing movie critics. It’s even more difficult if the subject is a Christian film.

The most popular Christian movie of all time – The Passion of the Christ – was liked by only 49 percent of critics at RottenTomatoes.com, the popular go-to website that compiles film reviews. Likewise, the most popular Christian film of 2016, Miracles from Heaven, received a score of 43, while the top faith movie of 2015, War Room, got a 33.

But if you dig deep enough into RottenTomatoes.com, you’ll find several Christian movies that received the website’s coveted “fresh” label, which is awarded when a movie is liked by at least 60 percent of critics. We found eight such films. (To be included on our list, a movie had to have strong Christian content and had to have received at least 10 reviews.)

Of course, we’re not saying that movies not liked by critics are bad. War Room – which mainstream critics rejected – remains one of my all-time favorites.

Following are the eight Christian films that received a fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes. The film title is accompanied by the Rotten Tomatoes score:

photo courtesy: Pixabay

Woodlawn (2015) – 71 Percent

It was the  third movie  from filmmakers Jon and Andrew Erwin and spotlighted a 1970s Alabama high school football team that was nearly torn apart due to racial strife until most of the players accepted Christ. It sparked a city-wide revival. Most critics on Rotten Tomatoes liked it. That included the Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck, who said the mixture of sports and religion was a “potent combination.” He added that the film gets “high marks for its attention to period detail and committed performances.”

photo courtesy: PureFlix

I Can Only Imagine (2018) – 63 Percent

It shocked Hollywood by finishing third in its opening weekend and became the top-grossing film in the history of Roadside Attractions -- the same studio that released the Oscar-winning  Manchester by the Sea .  I Can Only Imagine  told the true story behind the popular song of the same name. Songwriter Bart Millard grew up hating his abusive father but became friends with him later in life when the elder Millard became a Christian. Variety’s Peter Debruge was among the critics who enjoyed it: “The movie works for the same reason the song does: It lightens the burden of the pain people are shouldering today and gives them something to look forward to.”

Photo courtesy: Roadside Attractions

Hillsong: Let Hope Rise (2016) – 60 Percent

It’s a riveting  documentary  chronicling Hillsong United, the Christian band that’s behind some of the most popular music in churches, such as  Oceans . We see them tour, practice, record new songs and even write. Dave White of The Wrap wrote: “It may... be the one Christian film that properly reaches out beyond its built-in audience, accomplishing the goal of Evangelicals everywhere: actual evangelism.”

Photo courtesy: PureFlix

Greater (2016) – 67 Percent

College football player Brandon Burlsworth, a walk-on, relies on faith , hard work and dedication to turn himself into an All-American for the Arkansas Razorbacks. He gets drafted in the 1999 draft – and likely would have had a long career alongside Peyton Manning – but is tragically killed. It’s based on a true story. Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times said the film was “just sweet enough and slick enough to appeal to pigskin fans and Christian family audiences.” Rated PG for thematic elements, some language and smoking.

Photo courtesy: Greater Productions

The Prince of Egypt (1998) – 79 Percent

It was one of DreamWorks’ first releases and remains one of its most successful. The animated film follows the story of Moses, from the time he was placed in a basket in a river to the time he led the Hebrews across the Red Sea. Actor Val Kilmer played Moses. Mainstream critics gave it high marks. Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle called it “an inspiring translation of biblical grandeur, turning the story of one of history's greatest heroes into an entertaining, visually dazzling cartoon.”

Photo courtesy: Dream Works

Indivisible (2018) – 72 Percent

A military chaplain goes to war and comes back a depressed and angry man. Eventually, his wife asks him to move out. They then  fight to save their marriage . Actress Sarah Drew played the wife. Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “What's refreshing about  Indivisible … is the way it balances the narratives of the troops away at war and the family members who stay at home.”

Photo courtesy: Provident

All Saints (2017) – 94 Percent

A pastor takes a position at a small struggling church with the expectation from the diocese that he will close it. But when a flood of refugees who had fled Myanmar (Burma) begin attending, he is forced to find unique ways to assist them – like  turning the church’s property  into a large garden. It was very popular among critics. Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com wrote, “ All Saints  feels like a bit of a miracle. It’s a faith -based movie inspired by a true story that lets its dramatic moments unfold without relying on melodrama.”

Photo courtesy:  Affirm/Provident

The Ten Commandments (1956) – 94 Percent

This Cecil B. DeMille film won an Oscar and was nominated for six others. Charlton Heston played Moses. James Powers of the Hollywood Reporter wrote, “There is no other picture like it. There will be none. If it could be summed up in a word, the word would be sublime. And the man responsible for that, when all is said and done is Cecil B. DeMille.” Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News added, “DeMille's direction of the action is superb and the various roles are played with feeling by a large and competent cast.” 

Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog,  MichaelFoust.com .

Photo courtesy: Paramount

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Sunday, April 10, 2016

Hush and the psychologial torture of writing: a film review.

The film's boogeyman (actor John Gallagher Jr).

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CineFiles Movie Reviews

Hush (2016) Movie Review

Sound is a vital part of any horror film. Perhaps the most vital. What happens, then, when you insert a protagonist into a horror-thriller narrative who is deaf. This is exactly the case with  Hush , which pits novelist Maddie Young (Kate Siegal), who lives conveniently in the middle of the woods with few people within screaming distance (if she could scream, that is, as she is also mute), against a masked intruder (John Gallagher Jr.).

This premise, in its early stages of execution, makes for a very intriguing scene that plays to the fact that sound is an advantage this unnamed man has. The dramatic irony inherent in such a scene is exactly what a viewer would expect, yet it still makes for a nice twist on an old favorite.

The film does a lot of this sort of trickery: setting up sound cues early on that only we can hear, which come back later to bite our protagonist.

This same trickery also demands that the film shy away from the most tired of tired horror movie conventions: the jump scare. This is to say, if a film with such a premise as this indulged in the sufficiently indulgent tactic of jump scares, it would prove fatally gimmicky because there would be no option but for these scares to be non-diegetic. Now, there are already plenty of non-diegetic jump scares in horror movies today, to the woe of all those who find them dissatisfying, but executing them here would be all too obvious. Thankfully, they are only a minimal intervention here.

From the jumping off point, the film becomes a sadistic cat and mouse game engineered by the intruder. The fact that this movie could have been over 20 minutes in is rendered null and void by the purely sadistic nature of this man. He wants to toy with her, exploit her fear for his own pleasure.

What this formula leads to is an unfortunately stagnant second act. There is a lot of literal circling around the issue, where we must wait patiently for the climax. Where certain periods of this stagnancy are accompanied by sufficient tension, much of it is mere stagnancy. This is all in spite of an eerie performance from Gallagher Jr., who is nearly wordless through this stretch.

The action and suspense both ramp up in the film’s final third, although it is nothing remarkable. We are left at film’s end with a great premise that had nowhere to go.  Hush  has its moments, but doesn’t move anywhere, squandering the good acting performances from its two leads with a meandering script.

As always, thanks for reading!

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—Alex Brannan (@TheAlexBrannan)

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Hush Review

Mike Flanagan is a man who needs less of an introduction with each horror film he makes, as dictated by the positive buzz surrounding  Absentia and Oculus.  Audiences latch on to his tight direction and simplistically sinister visuals, to the point where any conversation about up-and-coming genre filmmakers is usually started with his name. He quickly found himself courted by Jason Blum and Trevor Macy, which led to a few yet-to-be-released features, and the chance to right Ouija ‘s wrongs through a much more adept sequel. Flanagan’s a hot commodity, and his latest film, Hush proves why – to a degree.

Admittedly, I’m positively lukewarm on both Absentia and  Oculus , and  Hush  evoked an almost mirrored reaction. Flanagan is a talented filmmaker, as he’s able to market easily-digestible stories (some more than others) with an engaging plethora of taught, tense shot selection. He’s a dream director for mainstream horror, and does well with pushing forward ideas that others might struggle to find defining characteristics in. Yet, because there’s a very streamlined essence to his films, they can feel a bit mundane and generic, which proves true again once a struggle for survival is elongated farther than necessary…even considering its 82 minute running time.

Kate Siegel stars as Maddie, a deaf writer who’s currently adjusting to a calmer life amidst trees, nature and isolation. She’s got a neighbor who occasionally pops in ( Samantha Sloyan) , and a loving sister who Skypes her ( Emma Graves) , but besides that, her move out of citylife was supposed to promote a more productive environment. Frustrated writer moves to a more secluded house in the woods – sound like a cliche? It is, until a masked man ( John Gallagher Jr.) appears on her porch, waving a knife. Will Maddie live on to finish her novel, or will this be the final chapter to her personal story?

Flanagan’s strongest scenes center around Maddie’s inability to hear, as he turns silence into a storytelling device. It’s not often, but events are sometimes shown a second time through Maddie’s reality, like her inability to hear that signature sizzle as a hunk of meat cooks through. Special products made for the deaf, such as a strobe-light fire alarm, are woven into crucial plot points, thus turning a handicap into an advantage. As Fede Alvarez was able to do in his own SXSW title focusing on a deaf character ( Don’t Breathe ), Flanagan’s most proficient work comes when immersing the audience in Maddie’s silent existence – a struggle that’s empowered through Siegel’s performance.

There’s nothing more to Hush than Kate Siegel battling against John Gallagher Jr., which puts tremendous pressure on their antagonistic chemistry. Siegel has to express both fear and strength, while Gallagher must convey a certain level of debased humanity capable of painting him as a murderous sociopath. Simple, right? Well, actually, it is! There’s no catch to my previous statement, because both actors do exactly what’s needed, and embrace a very comfortable take on home invasion horrors. Siegel is a special kind of victim, one who doesn’t let obvious impairments dictate her demise, and Gallagher is a right proper bastard. Think You’re Next (the masks, crossbow) for the hearing impaired.

Yet, despite strong performances, tension falters a bit when we’re met with a continual string of kinda-sorta endings that fuel  Hush in a predictable manner. When Maddie shuts one door, her attacker opens another one – physically and figuratively. The torturous ways that Gallagher’s “The Man” first starts looming over Maddie without her knowledge, in her own home, eventually transitions to easier setups involving tussles, injuries and more of the same intruding dramatics that have backed similar genre efforts for years.

What ends up servicing Hush  most is Netflix’s acquisition, even with such a minimal (almost non-existent) focus on marketing. This is the perfect watch for a quick before-bed treat, or time-killing bit of entertainment, enjoyed from the comfort of your own couch. It’s easy, popcorn-popping horror fun, guided by a director who makes the most of heightened minimalism. This year’s SXSW programming was a year for hearing-impaired thrillers, and while I enjoyed Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe a bit more, there’s certainly no reason to sleep on Hush .

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Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is the true story of Donna and Reverend Martin and their church in East Texas. 22 families adopted 77 children from the local foster system, igniting ... Read all Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is the true story of Donna and Reverend Martin and their church in East Texas. 22 families adopted 77 children from the local foster system, igniting a movement for vulnerable children everywhere. Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is the true story of Donna and Reverend Martin and their church in East Texas. 22 families adopted 77 children from the local foster system, igniting a movement for vulnerable children everywhere.

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• Trivia Based on the true story of how Reverend Martin and his wife Donna Martin, in their small Bennett Chapel church of Possum Trot, East Texas, were able to help 77 of the most difficult to place children become adopted by 22 families.
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Prime Video’s ‘My Lady Jane’ Is Outlandish, Ahistorical and a Great Bit of Fun: TV Review

By Aramide Tinubu

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In 16th century England, Lady Jane Grey was a 16-year-old girl who became the Queen of England for a paltry nine days before her head was swiftly removed from her body. Historians and fans of the Tudors know this sad tale, but Prime Video ‘s “ My Lady Jane ,” created by Gemma Burgess, isn’t interested in historical facts. Instead, the quippy dramedy, which is based on the best-selling novel by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows, bends and twists Jane’s story. In the same vein as Hulu’s “The Great,” the series is a rip-roaring and hilarious adventure full of magic, romance and bold female characters who take control of their legacies.

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It wouldn’t be a spoiler to say that Jane’s plot to escape marriage to Gilford doesn’t go according to plan (she is a woman living in 1553, after all). Yet I won’t divulge the specifics of how an optimistic albeit naive newlywed finds herself sitting atop King Edward’s throne as the newly crowned Queen of England. Though Jane tries to rule fairly and justly, what she doesn’t expect is the vitriol the noblemen inflict upon Ethians. “My Lady Jane” does a terrific job of illustrating how rampant bigotry can fester in society when it goes unchecked, and how preposterous and disgusting these beliefs are. Moreover, the show explains how Jane’s privileged upbringing has failed to give her a diverse and clear-sighted perspective. (An essential trait if one is to rule an entire kingdom.) 

The politics of the time are intriguing, but Jane and the female characters surrounding her are the real magic in the show. Jane is fantastic in her own right, even amid her annoying earnestness. Other standouts are her conniving and sex-positive mother, Lady Frances and her badass baby sister, Lady Margaret (Robyn Betteridge), who gives Lady Lyanna Mormont of “Game of Thrones” fame a run for her money. Still, the crowing jewel of the series is the diabolically and maniacally unhinged Princess Mary. 

Villains are one thing, but then there is the vicious, cruel and bath-avoidant Mary. Undone by the fact that Jane is named her brother’s heir, Mary and her lover/adviser, Lord Seymour (Dominic Cooper), conspire to take the throne for themselves. Her sinister and shocking actions, both publicly and in her bed chamber, make her one of the most delicious adversaries on television. In Episode 5, “I’m Gonna Change the World,” Mary’s bitterness is especially thrilling when it comes spilling forth during an encounter with Jane. As evil as the character is, she adds to the fun of this tale.

Between the burnings and the beheadings, women living during Lady Jane’s era didn’t have much to look forward to. This masterful retelling, which is bursting with delightful expletives, iconic one-liners and a whole array of death plots and schemes, unveils an alternative universe where women (and some men) have the agency to gain control of their lives. While “My Lady Jane” clearly labels itself as a fantasy-filled reimagining, its outlandishness makes it a standout.

The eight episodes of “My Lady Jane” premiere on June 27 on Prime Video.

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Critic’s Notebook

Celine Dion Can Only Be Herself

The singer’s over-the-top sincerity and expressiveness were once seen as irredeemably uncool. In the new documentary “I Am: Celine Dion,” they have become her superpowers.

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By Lindsay Zoladz

“I always envy people who smoke and drink and party and don’t sleep,” Celine Dion tells her physical therapist with an exaggerated sigh, midway through the new documentary “I Am: Celine Dion.” “Me, I have water and I sleep 12 hours.”

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This monastic constraint has long been a core part of the Celine Dion legend. A professional singer since 12, she spent decades meticulously caring for her voice as though it were an endangered hothouse flower, committing to long stretches of vocal rest, complicated warm-up rituals and a lifestyle of exacting discipline — all so she could leap octaves and belt soaring notes with gobsmacking precision.

In a cruel twist of fate, though, even the ceaseless care Dion devoted to her voice could not preserve it. In 2022, she revealed in an emotional Instagram post that she has stiff person syndrome , a rare and incurable neurological disorder that causes painful muscle spasms and affects roughly one in a million people. After watching “I Am: Celine Dion,” a remarkably candid portrait directed by Irene Taylor on Amazon Prime Video, it is difficult to imagine a disease that would be more personally devastating to Dion, whose entire career has been one long exercise in control, sacrificing all for the ecstatic release of live performance.

Since her emergence as a Québécois child star with a precociously huge voice, something about Dion’s essential nature has remained constant, impervious to both changing trends and scathing critique. Whether power ballads were in fashion or not — and by and large, they were not — she sang them with the conviction of someone who’d never even heard the word “restraint.” “At her best,” wrote Elisabeth Vincentelli in a Times review of Dion’s most recent New York performance in February 2020, “Dion projects a sense of bigness — besides fairly simple graphics, the background videos in her show often showed cosmic images, as if they were the only thing measuring up on the Dion scale.” This bombastic approach gained her a worldwide fan base and a requisite backlash that she may have finally outpaced.

In 2007, the music critic Carl Wilson used Dion’s 1999 blockbuster album “Let’s Talk About Love” as the inspiration for an insightful, ultimately sympathetic book-length examination of musical taste, the assumption being that (at least 17 years ago) Dion’s name was a symbol for all things gauche, sincere and uncool. (The book’s subtitle? “A Journey to the End of Taste.”) “Schmaltz rots faster than other ingredients in the musical pantry,” Wilson wrote, “which may be why we doubt the possibility of a Celine Dion revival in 2027.”

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The education wars provides a guide for supporters of public education.

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The Education Wars

In their 2020 book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire sounded the alarm :

The threat to public education...is grave. A radical vision for unmaking the very idea of public schools has moved from the realm of ideological pipe dream to legitimate policy.

In their new book The Education Wars (out this week), Schneider and Berkshire update us on how that radical vision, now fueled by the culture wars, is faring.

The culture wars—roaring debates over what schools are for, what they should teach, who should decide— are not new. But the writers note that “this time it’s different.” This time, the questions under debate include the question of whether public schools should exist at all.

With that question on the table, the culture wars take on extra weight.

Culture war isn’t merely an outlet for grievance, though it is that. It is also a mechanism for alienating people...a way of prying allegiance away from the public schools that Americans of all stripes have long supported, and which are at the heart of so many communities.

Or as Christopher Rufo, the man who has promoted several waves of culture panic put it

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To get universal school choice, you really need to operate from a place of universal public school distrust.

Berkshire and Schneider’s book is subtitled A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual , and it serves well as that, providing a brisk view of the journey that brought us to our present situation, a clear explanation of what that situation is, and some thoughtful ideas for how to defend public education.

Religion in schools. LGBTQ rights and representation. Book Bans. Demands for parental rights (but only for some parents). Fund students, not systems. If you (or someone close to you) are trying to make sense of all the issues and rhetoric swirling around schools and education, this is a perfect book for setting everything in a clear and focused context.

They also lay out the stakes, which are high. While they admit that the promise of public education has never been fully realized, our country, they argue “is a far more equal and democratic place than it would be without public schooling.”

Efforts to replace public education with a privatized, sectarian, pay-your-own-way model aren’t just aimed at schools—they’re aimed at the larger vision or equality and multi-ethnic democracy.

School voucher fans, they point out, “talk endlessly about giving families options,” but “options are not a substitute for rights.”

In the end, say Berkshire and Schneider, “the fog of culture war always lifts.” Not because someone is victorious. “Nobody can ‘win’ the educational culture wars, because as a population, we are simply too diverse and divided for that.” For the authors, the critical question is what could be lost in the meantime. As with their earlier work, this book ends on a note of warning.

If we are to preserve our schools, it must be clear that public education is for all of us. We must win the peace.

If we fail at that, we will lose our schools. And if we lose them, they won’t come back.

It’s not hyperbole, they write. Even if we lived in less contentious times, imagine trying to sell an ambitious, inclusive, pluralistic education system that promised a decent education to every child in the country, with every taxpayer helping to foot the bill.

The Education Wars is an invaluable guide for supporters of public education, making the case for the defense of an American institution under attack.

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