Drop

2025 Universal Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 35min

Drama ~ Mystery ~ Psychological Thriller

Starring: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, and Jeffery Self.

Everyone’s A Suspect.

Meghann Fahy stars as Violet. In the opening scene we see Violet being physically beaten and abused by her mentally distraught husband in front of their young son Toby. He has a gun and threatens to kill Violet, then turns to their son and threatens to kill him. He then hands the gun to Violet and tells her to go ahead and shoot him. You see her hand on the gun and her finger tighten on the trigger……then blackness and silence. Fast forward and the widowed Therapist Violet is having a video appointment with one of her abuse victim patients over her laptop in her house. Her sister Jen (Violett Beane) arrives to watch Toby after convincing her sister Violet that it was time to get back into the dating game. Violet has agreed to go on a date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar), a charming Chicago City Photographer, at an upscale downtown high-rise restaurant. Violet is nervous but hopeful as she waits for Henry, interacting with the restaurant’s lively staff and fellow diners, while the city’s night pulses beneath them.

Instead of a normal date night however, Violet’s evening quickly turns into a psychological nightmare. She begins receiving unsettling messages and memes via a phone app called “DigiDrop”, messages that escalate in menace and reveal that someone is watching her every move. The situation becomes much darker when she checks her home security cameras and sees a masked intruder inside her house, threatening the lives of her son and sister. The anonymous tormentor insists Violet follow a series of increasingly dangerous instructions, making it clear that any attempt to ask for help will result in immediate harm to her family. Trapped in the restaurant and under constant surveillance, Violet is forced into a tense game of cat and mouse. The tormentor’s demands become more sinister, culminating in an order for Violet to kill Henry by poisoning him, linking the mystery to sensitive information Henry possesses in his camera, evidence that could expose corruption at the Mayor’s office. As Violet struggles to outwit her faceless adversary and protect her loved ones, she must make impossible choices, all while maintaining a façade before the unsuspecting patrons and staff around her.

Drop is a Rom-Com Psychological thriller that begins in classic romantic comedy territory: Violet, a widowed mother, sets out on her first date in years with Henry, a charming photographer she met online. Their initial interactions are awkward, sweet, and filled with the kind of banter and flirtation typical of a rom com, there’s hope, nerves, and the possibility of new love. This is punctuated by funny moments, such as interruptions from an overly eager waiter and playful exchanges that give the date a light-hearted sheen. But “Drop” is equally a psychological thriller, and these romantic-comedy tropes quickly unravel when Violet starts receiving menacing “drops” on her phone, chilling memes and instructions that threaten her family and force her into a frantic game of psychological survival. The tension mounts as Violet must navigate this nightmare while maintaining the appearance of a normal romantic dinner. The constant surveillance, tech-enabled threats, and Violet’s trauma-filled backstory intertwine suspense with the drama of relationship building. This blend of romance, comedy, and nail-biting mind games creates a unique atmosphere, making Drop a riveting nail-biting experience watching Violet balance love, danger, and her fight for control.

Drop was based on an actual AirDrop experience that Platinum Dunes producer Cameron Fuller and his friend, actor Sam Lerner, had while on vacation. Their phones blew up with anonymous, increasingly threatening drop messages that stopped, giving them no information about who or why they were targeted. Screenwriters Jillian Jacobs and Christopher Roach turned their experience into a worst-case scenario version for Drop.

Absolutely riveting and funny. I thought Meghann and Brandon did a great job in this great Rom-Com Thriller. You should definitely watch this. Give it a go.

I Highly Recommend it!

Night Always Comes Starring Vanessa Kirby coming To Netflix This Friday August 15, 2025

2025 Netflix

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 48min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by: Benjamin Caron

Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, Stephen James, Randall Park, Julia Fox, Michael Kelly, and Eli Roth.

$25,000….1 Night….No Other Options

Night Always Comes follows Lynette (Vanessa Kirby), a woman who risks everything to secure the house that represents a future for her family. Lynette, who rises each morning before sunrise to juggle multiple jobs, which are not all on the level, while also caring for her mother Doreen and older brother Kenny. Lynette has been hardened by her hardscrabble life; her bedroom houses the washer-dryer, an oil furnace and a utility sink. There’s little or no money for new clothes or for treats. Lynette has gone without so she can save cash to purchase the ramshackle home her family has rented for decades in an area where the ‘G’ word – gentrification – has left a bitter taste; the working classes are being pushed outta town. A plan had been in place to raise a mortgage on the property, but when that’s derailed she’s forced to undertake a desperate odyssey in a city of greed. Lynette has to confront dangerous people who owe her money. On a dangerous odyssey through a single night, Lynette is forced to confront her dark past in order to finally break free.

Night Always Comes is based on the May 17, 2022 Novel by Willy Vlautin. According to Producer Benjamin Caron (From Netflix Tudum):

“The emotional core of the book was my compass, but there’s a heightened sense of immediacy and propulsion to cinema where the audience feels every blow and every betrayal and every hope. The adaptation became even more of a character-driven thriller with Lynette at the center of every frame. I also opened up the book by having Portland itself become a character in the movie, the contrast between the city’s foreclosed buildings and the gentrified neighborhoods reflecting Lynette’s personal crisis.”

“Lynette is driven by a desperate need for security, for the idea of home as much as, I guess, the reality of it. Yet she is haunted by the fear that she doesn’t deserve it. Her journey is a study in propulsion. Each decision, no matter how reckless, is an attempt to outrun her past and carve out a future.”

“Vanessa brings a beautifully wild energy to Lynette, making the character unpredictable and deeply, deeply human. Together, we worked on creating a character who is simply not just reacting to the world, but desperately trying to wrest control of her future, even as she teeters on the edge of self-destruction,” says Caron, who believes Kirby’s contributions as a producer were also invaluable. “Vanessa was creatively involved from the ground up, which was brilliant. To have someone that was both an actor and producer was incredibly exciting to me.”

Streaming on Netflix Friday August 15, 2025.

My Oxford Year

2025 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 52min

Comedy ~ Drama ~ Romance

Directed by: Iain Morris

Starring: Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest.

One Year Can Change Everything

The Book:

My Oxford Year: A Novel By Julia Whelan – April 24, 2018

Synopsis:

American Ella Durran has had the same plan for her life since she was thirteen: Study at Oxford. At 24, she’s finally made it to England on a Rhodes Scholarship when she’s offered an unbelievable position in a rising political star’s presidential campaign. With the promise that she’ll work remotely and return to DC at the end of her Oxford year, she’s free to enjoy her Once in a Lifetime Experience. That is, until a smart-mouthed local who is too quick with his tongue and his car ruins her shirt and her first day.

When Ella discovers that her English literature course will be taught by none other than that same local, Jamie Davenport, she thinks for the first time that Oxford might not be all she’s envisioned. But a late-night drink reveals a connection she wasn’t anticipating finding and what begins as a casual fling soon develops into something much more when Ella learns Jamie has a life-changing secret.

Immediately, Ella is faced with a seemingly impossible decision: turn her back on the man she’s falling in love with to follow her political dreams or be there for him during a trial neither are truly prepared for. As the end of her year in Oxford rapidly approaches, Ella must decide if the dreams she’s always wanted are the same ones she’s now yearning for.

The Movie:

A few things I want to mention first about the movie, the book and why I chose to watch it. I have not read the book and just like The Life List, I didn’t know it was based on a book until I did research for the review. I do question a few things that are different from the book, like Anna is Ella in the book and an American, and she is of Hispanic descent in the movie……Anna De La Vega. She is also slated to become involved in politics in the book, yet in the movie she is going to become an analyst for Goldman Sachs. They also changed the end of the movie to be different from the book, although I won’t tell you how so as not to spoil it. I don’t understand why Hollywood feels the need to change things around, so I did a little digging.

Sofia Carson wanted to change Ella’s name and ancestry to reflect her Hispanic heritage. Ok, I like Sofia Carson, loved her in The Life List but why do we feel the need to change the story based on the actress, why not get an actress to portray the character in the book. Nothing against Sofia, I liked her in this, I just don’t get why if we’re bringing a book to life that we don’t just follow the book and bring it to life like it is written. Ok, I’ll move on……….I’m sure you get the point. Anyway they changed the ending because they felt that that the book ending wasn’t powerful enough emotionally as it came about on the screen. They actually tried several different endings with different test audiences and picked the one that seemed to resonate the most with the audience.

I wanted to watch this because it is a new Netflix Film and Sofia Carson was really good in The Life List, so I had to give it a go. Obviously the expectations were high because I feel like The Life List is such a good movie. I was not disappointed, My Oxford Year is exactly what you think it is, a Love Story, a Romantic Comedy and yet a serious look at life and how life can throw all your best laid plans right out the window in the blink of an eye. It’s about living every moment of every day as if it were your last no matter what life throws at you. Anna was forced to make some very serious decisions about the course of her life that was nowhere near her well laid plans. And we watched her grow because of the choices she made.

I thought it was good, I thought Sofia again did a great job with her character. I also really liked Corey Mylchreest as Jamie Davenport, I thought he did a really great job. Poppy Gilbert as Cecelia did a great job as well, I really liked her. It was sad but yet just like life it was heartwarming as well. We all do the best we can do with what we are given to work with, they don’t give us a manual. I think My Oxford Year did a great job of portraying that side of life and how we have to adjust, deal and move forward no matter what. It is a good Romantic Comedy with a bittersweet slice of reality. Sofia as Anna chose to take the lemons and make lemonade, make some memories she would remember, and would change her life forever. Live life to the fullest. Give it a go.

The Life List

Brick

2025 Netflix

Rated: TV-MA

Length: 1 hr 39min

Drama ~ Sci-fi ~ Thriller

Directed by: Philip Koch

Starring: Matthias Schweighöfer and Ruby O. Fee

Trapped. Together. Terrified.

FROM NETFLIX:

A couple whose relationship is on the rocks wakes up in the middle of the night to find that they’ve been locked inside their apartment — not by an intruder or a maniacal landlord but by strange black bricks blocking every possible exit. Desperate to escape, they join forces with their neighbors to decode the mystery that’s keeping them trapped. The German thriller BRICK, written and directed by Philip Koch, stars Matthias Schweighöfer (Army of the Dead), Ruby O. Fee (Army of Thieves), and Frederick Lau.

After suffering a pregnancy loss, the relationship between Tim (Schweighöfer) and Olivia (Fee) has been strained. Tim is overly stressed about finishing his work — a video game –– and Olivia feels that he’s been neglecting her. As soon as she calls it quits, however, she opens the apartment door to a solid black wall. Glossy bricks have been stacked up in the entrance and in each window, blocking every chance Olivia has to break away. Now they’re stuck in this together — for better or worse. But they aren’t the only ones: Tim and Olivia’s neighbors are locked in, too. As they traverse the building trying to find an opening, these residents slowly learn that there may be no way out.

THE REVIEW:

I knew going in that this was a German Movie that Netflix had overdubbed. I don’t like Foreign Movies overdubbed with English and I’ll tell you why. It drives me crazy when the words being spoken don’t match the actor’s mouth movements, it really drives me nuts. But I knew that Matthias Schweighöfer and Ruby O. Fee were in it and I really liked them and their chemistry in Army Of Thieves. I was really impressed with the two of them and more so the fact that Matthias starred in and directed the movie. And I have seen a few recent Foreign films Netflix has overdubbed and they seemed like they were getting better at it.

So I was willing to give it a chance and overlook any overflubbing, I mean overdubbing that might be…ummm…..a little off. The overdubbing on this one should be called overflubbing, absolutely horrible. Terrible, the audio was way off from the actor’s actual mouth movements and gestures. In some spots they aren’t even talking and yet you hear them talk………ok, you get the point on the overflubbing, I mean overdubbing. Now on to the acting…….

Terrible, talk about overacting….Frederick Lau as Marvin was horrible, overly dramatic and heavily overacted. Murathon Muslu as Yuri comes a close second to Frederick’s performance. It was all bad acting wise, I give props to Matthias and Ruby, they tried given what they were given to work with. I wanted to give it a better review but as I type this I realize I am just going to beat it up.

There was a scene where Ruby O. Fee grabs a hammer drill, determined to bust through the mysterious black brick wall that has suddenly blocked them in. That scene is the epitome of the fakeness involved. It was painfully obvious that the hammer drill attempt was horribly fake. When they use sledge hammers to bust through the walls between the apartments, the red brick was really fake looking, really bad. And on and on and on…..

I had high expectations of enjoying Matthias and Ruby again but this was not enjoyable, it was painful. And I think this has more to do with direction than anything else. It came off as a B Sci-fi movie, you know the old one with fake props and sets due to a lack of funds. The story was a good premise and showed promise but I think the execution left it all flat…..like a BRICK. Couldn’t resist.

I honestly can’t recommend this one, as much as I like Matthias and Ruby, I gotta say you should avoid this one.

Two Thumbs down, way down.

Army Of Thieves

Army Of The Dead

Warfare

2025 A24

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 35min

Action ~ Drama ~ War ~ True Story

Directed by: Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland

Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, Noah Centineo, and Michael Gandolfini.

EVERYTHING IS BASED ON MEMORY………

SYNOPSIS FROM THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

Written and directed by Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (Civil War, 28 Days Later), Warfare embeds audiences with a platoon of American Navy SEALs in the home of an Iraqi family, overseeing the movement of US forces through insurgent territory. A visceral, boots-on-the-ground story of modern warfare, told like never before: in real time and based on the memory of the people who lived it.

THE REVIEW:

I was looking for a movie to watch when I saw this on Prime. I am not big on War Movies but did a quick google search and saw it had pretty good ratings, so I thought I’d give it a go. I have watched Saving Private Ryan and liked it, the first twenty minutes is pure hell to watch. I can’t imagine what our soldiers go through when they fight for our freedoms. I saw Warfare was by A24 as well, I love their movies. And Alex Garland directed this as well as Civil War, another newer War movie which I liked as well. I’ve seen it three times so far.

So anyway I decided to give it a watch. As it starts a Navy Seal platoon is taking sniper positions in support of a US Marines operation. Walking down a main dirt street in Ramadi, Iraq November 19th, 2006 on foot in the quiet of the night. They decide they are going to set up a surveillance outpost inside one of the homes on the street. They quietly break-in and clear all the rooms and put the family that lives there in the main bedroom with an interpreter. They proceed to the upstairs and are greeted with a block wall. The interpreter asks the family why it is there and they tell him that it is another apartment. Another family lives in the upstairs.

The Navy Seals produce a sledge hammer from one of their backpacks and proceed to knock the wall down and escort the upstairs family down to the bedroom with the first family. The Seals set up a surveillance perimeter in the upstairs apartment, busting a hole in the exterior block wall for the sniper scope on a Seal’s Gun. They monitor activity from every direction through all the windows and with the high tech surveillance and satellite monitor they have with them. In constant communication with high command and other platoons on the ground, they become aware that their presence is known and their location has been compromised.

All hell breaks loose as they are fired upon with guns and grenades. And it is pure drama, action and warfare in every direction as they attempt to survive and leave the city of Ramadi. It is a very tense 95 minutes. It is not your typical war movie, it is as if you have been placed right there in the house with the platoon of Navy Seals. It is more like an immersive experience into being a Navy Seal deep in enemy territory on their own turf, fighting for every square inch. It is eye opening, I couldn’t believe the experience of being there with them and what they were going through. I also was very impressed by the brotherhood, camaraderie, and professionalism of the platoon in the face of mortal danger from every direction.

I was also impressed by how much gear these guys carry and I did a quick google search. Navy Seals can carry anywhere from 43 to 100 pounds of gear with them. Unbelievable, these are some tough guys, ready to go. It is a violent, intense, terrifying close up look at what war looks and feels like through the eyes of the Navy Seals Platoon. Ray Mendoza was part of the platoon that day and set out to make this movie for his Navy Seal Brother Elliot who lost a leg in the ordeal. He does not remember much of the mission nor how he lost his leg. Ray thought that he should make a movie based upon all the Platoon’s memories of that day, so that Elliot could see how it all happened.

I liked it but I’m not sure if you will. If you like war movies or have an interest in the Iraq Wars or the Navy Seals…..you should watch it. It is a good one, well done. I felt like I was right there in that room with them. Like I said, it was definitely eye-opening and I have an even greater respect for the Navy Seals and what they do for us now. So it’s worth watching for that.