With a runtime of over two and a half hours, this taut investigative thriller may lose some of the less attentive audiences, but is so grim with frank realities, moralities and tension that it succeeds wonderfully. When two families find their youngest daughters missing, a police detective runs an investigation into a possible kidnapping. But…
Tag: thriller
Review: Bullet to the Head
Stallone returns to more self indulgence as he stomps around, growling and shooting every man he sees. Oh, and he reminds us that he’s old now. A thug-turn-vigilante goes for revenge against an organised mob boss after his partner is killed, while a young police officer wants to bring the same mob to justice. Stallone’s…
Review: Seven Psychopaths
Seven Psychopaths was more intriguing than I had first thought, though it does feel like a poor man’s Tarantino movie. The film’s advertisement (and the title!) suggested it followed seven psychopaths, played by the leading stars involved, and that isn’t entirely true. We follow Colin Farrell’s character Marty, who is an author struggling to write…
Review: Jack Reacher
Jack Reacher feels like it could have been a hard-boiled detective thriller but ends up feeling confused, predictable and at times… laughable. When a man guns down five innocent people only to plead innocent at his arrest later, he asks for one Jack Reacher. Reacher is an elusive “army cop”; a vigilante with military training…
Review: Elysium
District 9 director Neill Blomkamp returns with yet another muddy, high tech vision of a dystopian future, maintaining a vigil on social equalities or lack thereof. It doesn’t quite stand up to District’s brutish reality or metaphor, but it is a decent ride. The film follows Max and Frey, two kids who grew up on…
Review: Quiz Show
The first film I’ve seen that was directed by Robert Redford, Quiz Show is rightfully regarded as one of his best. Based off a true story, the film follows the ethical minefield of a quiz show at the advent of television that encouraged its contestants to cheat by giving them the answers ahead of time….
Saga Review: Die Hard
For me the Die Hard series began with the third film, Die Hard with a Vengeance, mostly because I was eleven when it came out, then television showed it later with a censored cut. It would be a little while before the first two would be brought to my attention! So what can you say…
Review: Django Unchained
After seeing Django Unchained it is a wonder why it took Quintin Tarantino so long to make a Western! Set in 1858, “two years before the Civil War” we follow the slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) when he is freed by a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) who needs him in identifying some of his…
Review: White Heat
James Cagney stars in what could be one of his most prominent roles from 1949, and having not seen any of his other films, I can believe it! (I know, some of you might be shaking your heads at the fact I’ve not seen many older films… I do try!) Cagney plays a criminal named…
Review: Skyfall
Skyfall marks a defining moment in the franchise, a make or break decision to scale things down, tighten the characters and their histories, to become more the thinking man’s Bond. The film does not break in the attempt. We find Bond on assignment and liberated from the rage that had once consumed him; he is…