Review: Landon’s direction, Fahy’s performance elevate thriller ‘Drop’

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The poster for Christopher Landon’s “Drop” features star Meghann Fahy’s eyes peering over the top of a mobile phone. This image conveys everything you need to know about “Drop,” a techno-thriller about a first date sent off the rails by a series of threatening airdrops, but it also nods to the most important cinematic tool in Landon’s kit. In this one-setting genre piece, Fahy’s character Violet spends most of her time scanning a restaurant trying to identify who could be tormenting her. Her big blue eyes are searching, concerned, tremulous and tearful. She weeps beautifully, a crucial aspect of this performance.

The eyes have it because Landon spends so much of “Drop” in close-up on his star, keeping her emotional journey front and center, while strapping the audience into a front-row seat for this panicky situation. Fahy, who has been a plucky young journalist in “The Bold Type,” a knowing friend in “The White Lotus” and a tragic party girl in “The Perfect Couple,” plays Violet, a young widowed mother on her first date in a long time. A survivor of intimate partner violence and the mother to Toby (Jacob Robinson), she’s nervous for her dinner with handsome photographer Henry (Brandon Sklenar) at an upscale restaurant on the top floor of a high-rise building. But her jitters are eclipsed by the uneasiness, anxiety and terror she experiences when she starts receiving unsolicited messages via an app called DigiDrop.

The messages move from memes to demands, coupled with threats against her son and sister (Violett Beane). Watching a masked gunman enter her home on her security camera app, Violet is pressured to comply with an order to poison Henry, who happens to work for the city mayor. Doesn’t this anonymous intruder know how hard it is to find a good man like him on these dating apps?

“Drop,” written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, is a little bit like a Lifetime movie version of “Michael Clayton,” though it is elevated by Landon’s sense of style. The genre auteur has excelled with cutesy horror movie concepts like “Happy Death Day” (slasher “Groundhog Day”) and “Freaky” (slasher “Freaky Friday”), and while “Drop” is less horror, more thriller (though he doesn’t pull any punches during some shockingly violent fight scenes), the limited setting allows Landon to experiment in his cinematic storytelling.

He alternates between longer takes that survey and set the scene in the restaurant, establishing the circular space and the characters within in it: a chatty server (Jeffery Self), a kind bartender (Gabrielle Ryan), a lecherous piano player (Ed Weeks), a bro on his phone who keeps bumping into Violet (Travis Nelson), a nervous older man on a blind date himself (Reed Diamond). In retrospect, you’ll see how Landon subtly nods to the identity of Violet’s tormenter through editing and cinematography, using a kind of abrasive, choppy cutting style, the character invading the space like an intrusive airdrop.

This odd editing style by Ben Baudhuin works in tandem with the beauty of the cinematography by Marc Spicer. Shot-reverse shot sequences are somewhat abrupt, the characters segregated in their individual frames, Spicer using different angles on close-ups to lend to that jagged sense of separation. The resistance to fluidity creates a sense of claustrophobia and tension; we are locked inside Violet’s panic and fear with her, as she feels increasingly isolated and alone, disconnected from her date and anyone who might help her. The text messages blaze across the screen, occupying all of her brain space (and our visual field), the constant vibration of her phone becoming not just an irritant but the sound of a monster getting closer and closer.

Landon’s intense focus on Violet requires a Herculean facial performance from Fahy, and part of what makes it so great is watching the way this woman immediately slips into a pattern of masking and accommodating, a survival skill from her abusive past. So it is deeply satisfying when Violet makes the switch from passive to aggressive, when she stops merely surviving and starts fighting back.

It’s Landon’s visual style and Fahy’s deeply empathetic performance that makes “Drop” so much more than just a silly high-concept woman-in-peril movie of the week. While the material alone could have been basic, what Landon makes of it with such stylish and emotional execution is anything but.

‘Drop’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for strong violent content, suicide, some strong language and sexual references)

Running time: 1:40

How to watch: In theaters on Friday, April 11

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Global shares wobble as US-China trade war escalates

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By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Global shares wobbled Friday after the latest escalation in the China-U.S. trade war, with Japan and some European markets slipping while others stood firm.

The future for the S&P 500 advanced 0.7% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4%.

The deepening worries over President Donald Trump’s trade war caused Tokyo’s benchmark to initially fall more than 5%. It later regained some ground, closing 3% lower at 33,585.58.

Then China announced it was boosting its tariffs on U.S. exports to 125%, to match the level of U.S. tariffs not including an earlier 20% imposed weeks ago.

“The U.S. alternately raising abnormally high tariffs on China has become a numbers game, which has no practical economic significance, and will become a joke in the history of the world economy,” a Finance Ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the new tariffs. “However, if the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end.”

Early Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.40%. The markets’ swings have hit the bond market and Treasury yields have jumped as bond prices fell on heavy selling.

The bond market has tended to limit economic policies that investors deem imprudent, helping to topple the United Kingdom’s Liz Truss in 2022, for example, whose 49 days made her Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister.

In announcing a 90-day delay in implementing his higher tariffs against dozens of countries, Trump mentioned that the bond market was a bit “queasy.”

The 10-year Treasury yield shot up to nearly 4.50% Wednesday morning from just 4.01% at the end of last week. It calmed somewhat following Trump’s U-turn Wednesday on tariffs, dropping all the way back to 4.30% shortly after the release of a better-than-expected report on inflation Thursday morning.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX shed 1% to 20,353.16, while the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4% to 7,100.90. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5% as the government reported the economy, the world’s sixth largest, enjoyed a growth spurt in February, the month before U.S. President Donald Trump started to roll out tariffs on imported goods. It expanded 0.5% in February, ahead of market expectations for a more modest increase of 0.2%.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.5% to 2,432.72, while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.8% to 7,646.50.

China markets rallied after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Beijing announced plans for Xi to visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.

China has been seeking to join forces with other countries in apparent hopes of forming a united front against Trump. The world’s second-largest economy is also ramping up its own countermeasures to Trump’s tariffs.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 1.1% to 20,914.69 and the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5% to 3,238.23.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2.8% as investors anticipated that orders for the island’s high-tech products will surge as trade between the U.S. and the Chinese mainland dwindles.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 tumbled 3.5%, slicing into Wednesday’s surge of 9.5% following Trump’s decision to pause many of his tariffs worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.5% and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 4.3%.

Investors are viewing Trump’s decision to delay higher tariffs for most countries for 90 days as a ploy, not a pivot, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

“That’s the market hitting the brakes, hard. The sugar high from Trump’s tariff pause is fading fast,” he wrote.

Losses for U.S. stocks accelerated after the White House clarified that the United States will tax Chinese imports at 145%, not the 125% rate that Trump had written about in his posting on Truth Social Wednesday, once other previously announced tariffs were included. The drop for the S&P 500 exceeded 6% at one point.

In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 47 cents to $60.54 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, added 40 cents to $64.73 per barrel.

One dollar bought 142.58 Japanese yen, down from about 145 yen a day earlier. The euro rose to $1.1380 from $1.1200.

Associated Press writer Jiang Junzhe contributed from Hong Kong.

China will raise tariffs on US goods from 84% to 125%, the latest in an escalating trade war

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BEIJING (AP) — China announced Friday that it will raise tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125% — the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown.

While U.S. President Donald Trump paused import taxes this week for other countries, he raised tariffs on China and they now total 145%. China has denounced the policy as “economic bullying” and promised countermeasures. The new tariffs begin Saturday.

Washington’s repeated jacking up of tariffs “will become a joke in the history of the world economy,” a Chinese Finance Ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the new tariffs. “However, if the U.S. insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end.”

A giant billboard promotes Made in China goods at the Yiwu International Trade Market in Yiwu, eastern China’s Zhejiang province on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China’s Commerce Ministry said it would file another lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the U.S. tariffs.

Trump’s on-again, off-again measures have caused alarm in stock and bond markets and led some to warn that the U.S. could be headed for a recession. There was some relief when Trump paused the tariffs for most countries — but concerns remain since the U.S. and China are the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 economies, respectively.

The trade war between the U.S. and China “could severely damage the global economic outlook,” the head of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said earlier this week.

Chinese tariffs will affect goods like soybeans, aircrafts and their parts and drugs — all among the country’s major imports from the U.S. Beijing, meanwhile, suspended sorghum, poultry and bonemeal imports from some American companies last week, and put more export controls on rare earth minerals, critical for various technologies.

The United States’ top imports from China, meanwhile, include electronics, like computers and cell phones, industrial equipment and toys — and consumers and businesses are likely to see prices rise on those products, with tariffs now at 145%.

Trump announced on Wednesday that China would face 125% tariffs, but he did not include a 20% tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production.

White House officials hope the import taxes will create more manufacturing jobs by bringing production back to the United States — a politically risky trade-off that could take years to materialize, if at all.

If the Wolves win out, who do they play? Every Western Conference playoff scenario (making a few assumptions)

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There are too many potential scenarios to lay out exactly what could happen with every single possible game outcome in the wild, wild Western Conference.

So let’s narrow it down a bit to create a clearer picture.

If we assume all games that currently do, or are expected to, feature nine-plus point spreads are indeed won by the favorite, that means:

-Minnesota wins out (which would guarantee the Wolves a top-six seed — Wolves are 18.5 point favorites Friday against Brooklyn)

-The Lakers win at least one of their final two games (hosting the Rockets on Friday, currently a 9.5 point favorite, and at Portland on Sunday).

-Golden State beats Portland on the road Friday (currently a 12.5 point favorite).

At that point, there are only five games in play this weekend to determine seeds No. 4-8 in the Western Conference:

FRIDAY

-Memphis at Denver (Denver favored by 6.5 points)

-Clippers at Sacramento (Clippers favored by 6.5 points)

SUNDAY

-Dallas at Memphis

-Denver at Houston

-Clippers at Golden State

Which creates a far smaller, more manageable set of outcomes to explore.

So away we go.

*We’ll break down the subsets by Denver’s potential results.*

DENVER WINS OUT

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats/loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Denver

5. Minnesota

6. Golden State

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

Scenario 

-Denver beats Memphis and Houston

-Clippers loses to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats/loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Denver

5. Golden State

6. Minnesota

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

Scenario 

-Denver beats Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats/loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Denver

5. Clippers

6. Minnesota

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

DENVER LOSES TO MEMPHIS, BEATS HOUSTON

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Memphis

8. Denver

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Denver

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Memphis

7. Denver

8. Golden State

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers loses to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Golden State

5. Minnesota

6. Memphis

7. Denver

8. Clippers

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers loses to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Golden State

6. Denver

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

DENVER BEATS MEMPHIS, LOSES TO HOUSTON

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Denver

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Golden State

6. Denver

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Clippers beat Golden State

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Denver

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

DENVER LOSES OUT

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Golden State

6. Minnesota

7. Memphis

8. Denver

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Golden State

6. Clippers

7. Memphis

8. Denver

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Memphis

6. Minnesota

7. Denver

8. Golden State

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Golden State

5. Memphis

6. Minnesota

7. Denver

8. Clippers

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Golden State

5. Minnesota

6. Clippers

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Clippers beat Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Memphis

7. Denver

8. Golden State

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Clippers beat Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis