Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: The young Farber family are visited by two sadistic young men playing violent games on Long Island.
Stars: Tim Roth * Naomi Watts * Michael Pitt * Brady Corbet
Story: A vacationing family - George Farber (Roth), his wife Ann (Watts) and their young son - visit their cottage on Long Island. They see their neighbors, the Thompsons, and a pair of young men that are unfamiliar. Later, the two young men (Pitt and Corbet) - using various aliases such as Peter & Paul and Tom & Jerry - pay a visit to the Farbers claiming they've been sent over by the Thompsons.
Very quickly, they start playing mental games with the Farbers by accidentally ruining a cell phone and being unsubtly rude. They ditch the facade and begin terrorizing the family, but are playful and attempt to be witty throughout the mental and psychological abuse. Young Georgie temporarily escapes, but is caught and brought back after discovering that the Thompsons are dead. Later, the pair pretend they have left and when George tries to contact the police and Ann runs for help, they catch her and return to the home.
Ann manages to kill one of the young men, but the fourth wall is broken and the young men return to the scene moments before, preventing her from doing so. They kill George as a consequence, and then take her sailing the following morning. They throw her into the water to drown and then pay a visit to another neighbour, following their m.o. of asking for eggs.
Review: The film is engrossing, allowing the viewer to believe that at given moments, the family may actually succeed in escaping from the two young men. However, this seems to represent a "funny game" that the two are having with the viewer, as Peter and Paul break the fourth wall to prevent a more optimistic outcome.
However, the film does present the two getting away with actions that they should not - the capture of Ann towards the end, in particular - so it defies logic and disbelief. As a result the film can't be viewed as anything but an exercise by the director in getting the audience's goat. The art in the film is similar to that of the torture porn genre, in that the kicks of the film seem to be that of ruining any possible enjoyment by the audience.
Overall: Good, but caveat emptor.
Showing posts with label thriller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thriller. Show all posts
Monday, July 21, 2008
Vantage Point (2008)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: A gimmicky film presenting an assassination attempt on the President of the United States viewed from multiple points of view - each character has an impact on the occurrences of the few hours surrounding the event.
Stars: Dennis Quaid * Forest Whitaker * William Hurt * Matthew Fox * Sigourney Weaver
Story: Dennis Quaid plays a Secret Service agent who is recalled to duty after taking a bullet on duty. His partner, Matthew Fox, is young and has a gung-ho attitude. Forest Whitaker plays an American tourist on the scene. Weaver plays a news producer covering a presentation by the President (Hurt) in Spain.
These four - and others - all have different points of view on the events surrounding an assassination attempt on the President. Eventually it turns out that Fox is a traitor aiding the assassins (some of who are actually blackmailed into performing), and Quaid must capture or kill them all, with the aid of news cameras and Whitaker's information.
Review: The film is gimmicky - it follows the events leading up to the assassination attempt from one point of view and then switches to another point of view leading up to that same time frame. Each segment is presented as "one hour earlier", "two hours earlier" etc. The switches gets old fast, and seriously affect the viewing of the film. Quaid performs as his usual self - solid and dependable but nothing special. Whitaker, Weaver, and Fox do not inspire, and Hurt is disappointing as the President - but the script does not call for inspired acting as it over-relies on the gimmick to move the film. Once the movie stops framing everything in relation to the bombing, it quickly changes to a standard by-the-numbers chase between Quaid and Fox, while the assassins capture the real President and try to kill him.
The film is driven by the gimmick, and then conveniently wraps up all of the plotlines in a jumble towards the end, resolved by circumstance and coincidence. A poorly written, jarring film that doesn't give usually dependable actors anything to work with.
Overall: Bad
Premise: A gimmicky film presenting an assassination attempt on the President of the United States viewed from multiple points of view - each character has an impact on the occurrences of the few hours surrounding the event.
Stars: Dennis Quaid * Forest Whitaker * William Hurt * Matthew Fox * Sigourney Weaver
Story: Dennis Quaid plays a Secret Service agent who is recalled to duty after taking a bullet on duty. His partner, Matthew Fox, is young and has a gung-ho attitude. Forest Whitaker plays an American tourist on the scene. Weaver plays a news producer covering a presentation by the President (Hurt) in Spain.
These four - and others - all have different points of view on the events surrounding an assassination attempt on the President. Eventually it turns out that Fox is a traitor aiding the assassins (some of who are actually blackmailed into performing), and Quaid must capture or kill them all, with the aid of news cameras and Whitaker's information.
Review: The film is gimmicky - it follows the events leading up to the assassination attempt from one point of view and then switches to another point of view leading up to that same time frame. Each segment is presented as "one hour earlier", "two hours earlier" etc. The switches gets old fast, and seriously affect the viewing of the film. Quaid performs as his usual self - solid and dependable but nothing special. Whitaker, Weaver, and Fox do not inspire, and Hurt is disappointing as the President - but the script does not call for inspired acting as it over-relies on the gimmick to move the film. Once the movie stops framing everything in relation to the bombing, it quickly changes to a standard by-the-numbers chase between Quaid and Fox, while the assassins capture the real President and try to kill him.
The film is driven by the gimmick, and then conveniently wraps up all of the plotlines in a jumble towards the end, resolved by circumstance and coincidence. A poorly written, jarring film that doesn't give usually dependable actors anything to work with.
Overall: Bad
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Sitter (2007)
Links: IMDb * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: A family hires a babysitter with a secret history.
Story: A well-to-do family hires a new babysitter off the Internet when the mother decides to go back to work. The sitter instantly bonds with the children, but the neighbors and friends of the family start suspecting something is not all-there with the babysitter after other friends start disappearing.
Review: A made-for-TV film (originally entitled When the Children Sleep) that shows its lack of polish. The story is the same as previous entries (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is a much better story) in this genre. Change the connection in the past to fit a younger woman, update the surrounding details to the Internet age, and you get the film. There's not much in the way of suspense, as the victims are telegraphed before the actions occur.
Overall: Bad
Premise: A family hires a babysitter with a secret history.
Story: A well-to-do family hires a new babysitter off the Internet when the mother decides to go back to work. The sitter instantly bonds with the children, but the neighbors and friends of the family start suspecting something is not all-there with the babysitter after other friends start disappearing.
Review: A made-for-TV film (originally entitled When the Children Sleep) that shows its lack of polish. The story is the same as previous entries (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is a much better story) in this genre. Change the connection in the past to fit a younger woman, update the surrounding details to the Internet age, and you get the film. There's not much in the way of suspense, as the victims are telegraphed before the actions occur.
Overall: Bad
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Disturbia (2007)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: A grieving teenager under house arrest discovers that a serial killer may be living next door.
Stars: Shia LaBeouf * Sarah Roemer * Carrie-Anne Moss * David Morse
Review: A taut modernization of the classic Rear Window with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Kale (LaBeouf) is under house arrest after punching a teacher who provoked him. He and a friend spy on a new neighbor, Ashley (Roemer) and start watching another neighbor, Turner (Morse) who may or may not be a serial killer. When caught spying by Ashley, she decides to join their duo and they undertake a lot of effort to find out what Turner is up to. Several clues lead them to confront the killer, who convinces the cops that Kale is the problem. Turner decides to use the snooping Kale as the fall guy to remove all of them from the picture.
LaBeouf is consistently proving himself as a young actor. The dynamic set up by the plot with his friends and Turner, as well as his own dealing with the loss of his father (in a car accident Kale believes he's responsible for) are portrayed with great skill by the young actor. Roemer and Aaron Yoo (his friend Ronnie) are great foils as the love interest and the best friend. The music in the film does not overpower the acting, making for a nice combination when it comes to pushing the movie along.
Easily recommended.
Overall: Good
Premise: A grieving teenager under house arrest discovers that a serial killer may be living next door.
Stars: Shia LaBeouf * Sarah Roemer * Carrie-Anne Moss * David Morse
Review: A taut modernization of the classic Rear Window with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Kale (LaBeouf) is under house arrest after punching a teacher who provoked him. He and a friend spy on a new neighbor, Ashley (Roemer) and start watching another neighbor, Turner (Morse) who may or may not be a serial killer. When caught spying by Ashley, she decides to join their duo and they undertake a lot of effort to find out what Turner is up to. Several clues lead them to confront the killer, who convinces the cops that Kale is the problem. Turner decides to use the snooping Kale as the fall guy to remove all of them from the picture.
LaBeouf is consistently proving himself as a young actor. The dynamic set up by the plot with his friends and Turner, as well as his own dealing with the loss of his father (in a car accident Kale believes he's responsible for) are portrayed with great skill by the young actor. Roemer and Aaron Yoo (his friend Ronnie) are great foils as the love interest and the best friend. The music in the film does not overpower the acting, making for a nice combination when it comes to pushing the movie along.
Easily recommended.
Overall: Good
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Hideaway (1995)
Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie
Premise: Jeff Goldblum gets psychic and has a connection to a killer who is going after his daughter.
Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti, Alicia Silverstone, Jeremy Sisto, Alfred Molina, Rae Dawn Chong
Review: Kind of a run-of-the-mill paint-by-numbers thriller. Goldblum is resurrected after being dead for longer than normal, and brings back a psychic connection to a serial killer (surprise!) brought back by the same means. Whereas Goldblum (surprise again!) has a good connection to the afterlife, the killer (Sisto) has an evil connection. Of course the good and evil characters will meet and have a showdown.
Goldblum is - of course - channeling the self that he always puts forth, whether it's Independence Day or Jurassic Park. Honestly, his best role is still Mr. Frost as far as I'm concerned. Sisto is slightly better than forgettable as a slick trenchcoat killer. The rest of the cast puts in paycheck performances.
The special effects at the end are honestly a big letdown.
Overall: Bad
Premise: Jeff Goldblum gets psychic and has a connection to a killer who is going after his daughter.
Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti, Alicia Silverstone, Jeremy Sisto, Alfred Molina, Rae Dawn Chong
Review: Kind of a run-of-the-mill paint-by-numbers thriller. Goldblum is resurrected after being dead for longer than normal, and brings back a psychic connection to a serial killer (surprise!) brought back by the same means. Whereas Goldblum (surprise again!) has a good connection to the afterlife, the killer (Sisto) has an evil connection. Of course the good and evil characters will meet and have a showdown.
Goldblum is - of course - channeling the self that he always puts forth, whether it's Independence Day or Jurassic Park. Honestly, his best role is still Mr. Frost as far as I'm concerned. Sisto is slightly better than forgettable as a slick trenchcoat killer. The rest of the cast puts in paycheck performances.
The special effects at the end are honestly a big letdown.
Overall: Bad
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Happening (2008)
Resources: IMDb * Wikipedia
Premise: Mysterious event killing humans. How will Marky Mark survive?
Directed by: M Night Shyamalan
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo
Review: It's an M. Night Shyamalan film. Stylized heavily, it has his typical leaden atmosphere, and almost wooden performances from his actors. Wahlberg, who is great in unpretentious B-style movies like The Italian Job and Shooter, and Deschanel - ordinarily funny and invitingly cute and delightful in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Elf, seem to be wasted here. Leguizamo has a throwaway paycheck-style performance.
The plot itself centers on a neurotoxin emitted by plants that begins in the parks of major cities on the East Coast - which really makes very little sense considering the most threatened plants are in the rain forests, old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest and other invasive industrialized regions. Not only that, the neurotoxin makes people kill themselves, but for some reason makes them walk backwards prior to doing so. While it builds a little foreboding, it makes no sense considering this is supposed to be at least a pseudo-scientific film, given the science and news that drive the end of the piece. People escape the cities, only to be dropped off in the middle of small towns where more plants surround them. The wind - ordinarily driven by movement of air pushed by pressure centers and other atmospheric phenomena, not shuffling grass or branches - which carries the toxin seemingly tracks populations of people.
Miraculously, this "sudden evolution" or "defense mechanism" peters out when moving beyond the range dictated by Shyamalan's focus. So that too, makes no sense.
I understand the psychological effect the film was going for. I get the "live while you are alive and love one another" mechanism. But someone really needs to start editing Shyalaman and paying attention to whether his films are actually going to be more than a 2000's attempt to bring back director-driven psychodramas. He's not Hitchcock, even though he's trying desperately to be.
Overall: Bad
Premise: Mysterious event killing humans. How will Marky Mark survive?
Directed by: M Night Shyamalan
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo
Review: It's an M. Night Shyamalan film. Stylized heavily, it has his typical leaden atmosphere, and almost wooden performances from his actors. Wahlberg, who is great in unpretentious B-style movies like The Italian Job and Shooter, and Deschanel - ordinarily funny and invitingly cute and delightful in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Elf, seem to be wasted here. Leguizamo has a throwaway paycheck-style performance.
The plot itself centers on a neurotoxin emitted by plants that begins in the parks of major cities on the East Coast - which really makes very little sense considering the most threatened plants are in the rain forests, old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest and other invasive industrialized regions. Not only that, the neurotoxin makes people kill themselves, but for some reason makes them walk backwards prior to doing so. While it builds a little foreboding, it makes no sense considering this is supposed to be at least a pseudo-scientific film, given the science and news that drive the end of the piece. People escape the cities, only to be dropped off in the middle of small towns where more plants surround them. The wind - ordinarily driven by movement of air pushed by pressure centers and other atmospheric phenomena, not shuffling grass or branches - which carries the toxin seemingly tracks populations of people.
Miraculously, this "sudden evolution" or "defense mechanism" peters out when moving beyond the range dictated by Shyamalan's focus. So that too, makes no sense.
I understand the psychological effect the film was going for. I get the "live while you are alive and love one another" mechanism. But someone really needs to start editing Shyalaman and paying attention to whether his films are actually going to be more than a 2000's attempt to bring back director-driven psychodramas. He's not Hitchcock, even though he's trying desperately to be.
Overall: Bad
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Awake
Ressources: IMDb * Wikipedia
The premise: Guy under anesthetic is not fully under. While under surgery he finds out someone wants to kill him.
Directed by: Joby Harold
Actors: Terrence Howard, Jessica Alba, Lena Olin, Hayden Christensen, Fisher Stevens, Christopher McDonald, others
Review: Aside from a few jittery moments when the surgery is being performed, there's not a whole lot of energy. Christensen has always been wooden, with the one exception being his film with Kevin Kline, Life as a House. Jessica Alba is merely a pretty face, and cannot convey the malice inherent in her character. I've always liked Lena Olin. Terrence Howard is his usual "guy in a hard place but trying to be decent" self, similar to other roles.
While there's an opening factoid about anesthesia awareness, and the device is interestingly performed, there is very little suspense in the movie. Unless you weren't aware of the trailer, or the poster's dramatic dark tone, you'd expect something bad to be coming. In many movies, it's a buddy, or a girlfriend, or a seemingly throwaway character introduced early on but then brought back with a "strange revelatory twist". In this case, it's seemingly all three. But instead of going for the cliche'd "out to get his money", they're in the "out to get his organs" business.
Final analysis: Dry. Not suspenseful. See-through from about 10 minutes in. And we don't need to see close-ups of the pores on Christensen's face again.
Score: Bad
The premise: Guy under anesthetic is not fully under. While under surgery he finds out someone wants to kill him.
Directed by: Joby Harold
Actors: Terrence Howard, Jessica Alba, Lena Olin, Hayden Christensen, Fisher Stevens, Christopher McDonald, others
Review: Aside from a few jittery moments when the surgery is being performed, there's not a whole lot of energy. Christensen has always been wooden, with the one exception being his film with Kevin Kline, Life as a House. Jessica Alba is merely a pretty face, and cannot convey the malice inherent in her character. I've always liked Lena Olin. Terrence Howard is his usual "guy in a hard place but trying to be decent" self, similar to other roles.
While there's an opening factoid about anesthesia awareness, and the device is interestingly performed, there is very little suspense in the movie. Unless you weren't aware of the trailer, or the poster's dramatic dark tone, you'd expect something bad to be coming. In many movies, it's a buddy, or a girlfriend, or a seemingly throwaway character introduced early on but then brought back with a "strange revelatory twist". In this case, it's seemingly all three. But instead of going for the cliche'd "out to get his money", they're in the "out to get his organs" business.
Final analysis: Dry. Not suspenseful. See-through from about 10 minutes in. And we don't need to see close-ups of the pores on Christensen's face again.
Score: Bad
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