Movie Muse

“True Romance” blossoms on a lot of levels, but it most distinctively bears the mark of an early Quentin Tarantino film. The scene dynamics and the way it plays beautifully in and out of turning points are all early signs of the would-be master at work. Released the year between “Resevoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction,” “True Romance” doesn’t carry his directorial signature, but it reeks of Tarantino in all the right ways and compares favorably with those two early ’90s crime thrillers. Read the rest of this entry »

Mel Gibson returns to suitable form in “Edge of Darkness,” a revenged-fueled thriller by the producer and writer of “The Departed.” It’s not that anyone doubted Gibson’s prowess, especially in a role with motivation as clear as “you people killed my daughter and when I prove it I’m going to make you pay in ways you never imagined.” For some reason, we expected him to be rattled after eight years off which included his infamous DUI and the subsequent racist and anti-Semitic rants. The role of police detective Thomas Craven works for him. Heaps of praise are not warranted here, but this complicated mystery is a decent flick that he pilots with ease. Read the rest of this entry »

As a fan of science fiction allegory, social experiment, “The Twilight Zone” and the thriller genre –no less all those elements combined — Richard Kelly and his film “The Box” should’ve at least won me over, but it doesn’t. It can’t even decide if it wants to remain completely mysterious or explicitly tell us what’s going on and any film that has to contemplate that is too complex for its own good. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone could market or even direct “The Conversation” as a mystery, but Francis Ford Coppola manages to reveal some of our human tendencies in his film just as well as he holds us in suspense. Voyeurism, like it or not, is a human characteristic. Modern day reality television simultaneously proves both this point alone and that “The Conversation” is an excellent film because it has only ripened over the years. Read the rest of this entry »

A thriller on the Trans-Siberian railway is not an everyday film premise and that is in part what makes “Transsiberian” interesting. It’s not typical in any way unless you count the connection between murder and trains. That, and its cast is quality without seeking out big- hitting names and its director, Brad Anderson (“The Machinist”) is a fairly understated one. The story of a married couple onboard the railway and encountering something over their heads is not full of devious twists and turns, but it’s attention-getting. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s exploiting the criminal justice system and then there’s Clyde Shelton’s (Gerard Butler) exploiting of the criminal justice system, which involves killing everyone connected to it. Right and wrong is hardly black and white in any good movie and in “Law Abiding Citizen” it’s hardly a hundred shades of gray. Shelton is a man who lost is family and didn’t get the justice he thought he deserved in the prosecution of his family’s killers. Ten years later he not only gets his “justice” by killing both guys, but also when he’s taken to prison he begins to orchestrate a series of murders seemingly while in solitary confinement. Read the rest of this entry »

In the wake of World War II, Alfred Hitchcock brought audiences “Notorious,” a romantic thriller with political undertones. To audiences of the era, I’m sure it was slightly scandalous. Not only in its dealing with Germans living in Brazil post-WWII and handling uranium, but also with its co-stars Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman kissing on and off for an extremely long take. It’s safe to say that was particularly sensual for film in 1946, but for modern viewers, their love affair seems almost childish and unfounded. The one aspect of this film that has not withered over the last 60-some years, however, is the immaculate direction of Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Read the rest of this entry »

There comes a point in the repetitive nature of films where the phrase “run-of-the-mill” just won’t do. In the case of the remake of the train hijack/ransom heist thriller “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” the mill has been running so much that maybe the more adequate phrase should be the past tense “ran.” Tony Scott’s “Pelham” does give us those vital and homey conventions of the “mad man takes hostages and demands millions” movie, but the story is so straightforward and the film as a whole never seems to take itself seriously enough to completely hook its audience and pull them into the situation. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a good cat-and-mouse thriller done old school, and that’s exactly what “Public Enemies” is. Merely trade in your usual summer crime movie full of thieves in ski masks wielding uzis for ones wearing suits and fedoras armed with tommy guns and suddenly you’re getting entertained Great Depression-style. “Public Enemies” is a neat crossover between the action-packed thrillers of today and the mob movies of yesterday, and one that comes to us well-armed with the talents of Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and a master of the thriller genre: director Michael Mann. Read the rest of this entry »

David Lynch’s “Mulholland Dr.” is like one of those video games that the programmers make so amazing yet so impossibly difficult that in order to be fully satisfied you’re forced to buy one of those walkthrough game guides. The film might be a masterpiece, but it’s a Rubix cube of surrealism that prefers to leave you with more questions than answers.

Psychological thriller barely begins describing “Mulholland Dr.” Most notably, Lynch has no lack of ability to create suspense. Despite being a total mindfudge (implication of more explicit language necessary), the film is completely gripping and will not lose any viewer for a second. You could argue the beginning is not very deliberate, but to understand the film everything is essential. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a link to my Funny People review, another DVD released today

If we learned anything from the film adaptation of “The Da Vinci Code,” it’s that Dan Brown’s best-selling religion-centered mystery novels don’t translate into great films. Entertaining, sure, but great, no. The dialogue gets bogged down with historical explanation and the characters get little attention because there’s simply no time with all the symbol decoding. But box office receipts are another story: “Da Vinci” fell just sort of earning twice its budget, so great film or not, there would be “Angels & Demons.” Not surprisingly, this film suffers from the same deficiencies despite being a bit better. Read the rest of this entry »

You can’t really classify “Donnie Darko.” It’s not really a horror film though many parts are told that way. It’s not really science-fiction although it is focused on time travel. It’s also not really a drama because it has several humorous parts. All that considered, it’s not surprising that the film fell under the radar and developed a cult-classic reputation. The reason being that whoever had the task of distributing this film would have a hard time figuring out how to advertise it. But for film lovers, that doesn’t matter, because no matter how you identify “Donnie Darko,” you’re likely to at least deem it a good if not great film. Read the rest of this entry »

Murder mysteries don’t often indulge their audience’s intellectual capacity. They generally believe they can get by on suspense, intrigue and our inherent and insatiable need to find out ‘whodunit.’ But “Se7en” is a philosophical thriller that addresses a much bigger part of our nature – the age old question of whether or not humans are inherently evil.

As gripping as it is the way it turns gears in your head in search of any way to get mentally one step ahead of the plot, “Se7en” is a first-rate crime thriller because of the ideas fueling the story and a director in David Fincher who perfectly understands them.

More than a story of two detectives on the trail of a serial killer committing murders based on the seven deadly sins, “Se7en” wants to be something bigger. It wants you to take a breather from figuring it out and chew on something a little more sophisticated, like say, human nature. The contemplative script by Andrew Kevin Walker gives us plenty of time for this as retiring Lt. Somerset (Freeman) and Det. Mills (Pitt) bicker over the killer’s motives together or even have dinner at Mills’ apartment. It’s not just about the mystery and what psychology or ideals drive the killer — those ideas echo throughout the film and even in these basic conversational scenes.

None of that would be communicated well, however, without Fincher (“Alien 3″). “Se7en” takes place in an unnamed rundown city, presumably in modern day, and that locational flexibility allows Fincher and whoever scouted locations the ability to film the movie in places that would better tell this story about human nature. The murder scenes take place in seedy, decrepit apartments — all usually dark — in attempt to tell a story of humanity in its darkest place, at it’s very worst. Constant use of on-screen lights (e.g characters holding flashlights, red lamps, etc) give the film its signature while also extending the metaphor. It’s the work of a director who understands the script through and through and has command of his vision.

The characters are also extremely sophisticated and believable as are the performances of the actors playing them. Freeman comes fresh off his Oscar-winning performance in “The Shawshank Redemption” and absolutely dominates the pacing of the film. We take our cues on when to relax, when to get more curious and when to get passionate from his performance. On the verge of retirement, we see perfectly how this one life-changing case challenges his hardened world view.

Even Pitt’s Mills, in his impatience, naivety and quick-tempered rebellious perspective, goes quickly from characteristics that feel a little forced to monumentally epiphanic near the climax. Pitt’s taken on numerous roles in his career where we think we’re getting the shells of a character role but we end up getting something meaningful after all.

That’s sort of the way “Se7en” works on the whole. Before you can even realize it, you suddenly realize you’ve been watching a thoughtful two-hour sermon about mankind’s true nature and its inclination toward evil with a large order of murder mystery on the side. Few thrillers give us the pleasure of meditating on such important ideas, in this case a question at the center of philosophy for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Most investigative thrillers focus on detectives digging around for the answers, but “State of Play” opts to center around the desperate, miserable and dying newspaper industry. Simply put, the forces and pressures motivating a reporter are not like that on a detective, which makes for a much more unique plot with characters an audience can view as more like themselves. A detective who figures out whodunit is doing his/her job — a journalist who puts the pieces together is a small-time hero.

Russell Crowe stars in one of his more unique roles as a seasoned investigative reporter named Cal McAffrey. Crowe somehow more easily portrays Americans than any Australian or British actor working in Hollywood and he brings a light-hearted spirit to his serious role. His character finds himself in a dangerous place when his personal friendships with a congressman and his wife (Ben Affleck, Robin Wright Penn) come at odds with his job when news breaks that the congressman was having an affair with a girl who recently died in a DC subway accident. McAffrey first tries to protect his friend, but when he sees trends leading to conspiracy, his professional instincts kick in.

“Play” brags a diverse but killer cast. Crowe is the dependable star vehicle, Affleck the ultra- popular movie star who has been scarce lately and Rachel McAdams makes a triumphant return to the screen after a couple years off as a young blogger who assists Crowe. Also appearing in the film are Helen Mirren as the editor, Jeff Daniels as another politician and even Jason Bateman makes a cameo. All of them are talented and have proved so in many different genres, but never have they been together to make a thriller.

It’s also the first experiment in the genre for the director, Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland.”) Macdonald keeps this film fast and exciting, generally refusing to use a tripod but not distracting us with shaky camera-work either. He mixes in a lot of close detail shots with scene setters that tell the story at a provocative angle. There are a lot of typical thriller movie conventions used, but he makes it his own. He’s a director certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Credit must also go to an incredibly well-assembled writing team. Although based on a BBC miniseries of the same name, “State of Play” boasts “Michael Clayton” creator and penner of the Bourne series Tony Gilroy for the drama and action, “Shattered Glass” creator Billy Ray for the journalism expertise and Matthew Michael Carnahan (“Lions for Lambs,” “The Kindgom,”) for the political/military end. It’s amazing to see how that all plays together so nicely with so many reputable writers. Some of the twists might be more on the extreme side, but it’s mostly convincing and exciting the whole way through.

“State of Play” hooks you and keeps you guessing. It tries to keep the characters intimate and worth caring about while also making sure the story picks up velocity. Subplots occasionally get in the way (McAffrey’s personal connection to Wright Penn’s character among them) but you become pretty easily invested in what’s going on and are frightened when what seemed like a nice mystery suddenly gets serious. This is a thriller that is smart and quick and never blows itself out of proportion. It holds its ground and it does so with much talent.

Lastly, the film questions the necessary extent of hard-nosed reporting, but also revels in its necessity. Watergate is alluded to as a building where a couple key companies are located. The connection is purposeful — we’re supposed to see the scandal as a fictional modern re- creation of Watergate in terms of how it’s reported and uncovered. While films like “All the King’s Men” glorified the work of journalists, “Play” is too stubborn to give them full credit, bringing into the discussion the idea of selling papers and not waiting too long to get all the facts or how the Internet/blogosphere twists the news in different ways. It might not be at the front of your mind while enjoying the film, but it sets it above the overdone detective thriller.

“The Bank Job” is fun, so much fun that you kinda have to stare awkwardly at its “based on a true story” tagline. Did a bank robbery where the press was blacked out really happen? Was it really set up as a government operation to retrieve critical blackmail photos of Princess Margaret? Speculation aside, “The Bank Job” hardly needs its truth disclaimer. It’s a good story taking a different angle on the overdone British heist thriller. Its place in history only makes it the more unique.

First of all, don’t be worried of about this being just another Jason Statham movie. The Transporter and Crank series star has finally piloted something genuinely creative here. For one thing, the film takes place in the ’70s. With that comes a whole different look to the heist movie and no fancy technology either.

The story has Statham’s character Terry and his band of amateur criminals being offered a unique bank robbery opportunity by an old friend, Martine (Saffron Burrows). What they don’t know, is that Martine is doing this to clear her own record and has set them up to a do a job for the government: retrieve incriminating photos of Princess Margaret in the possession of Black Panther Michael X, who’s using them to keep himself out of jail. The photos are in a safety deposit box in the bank in question.

Half the film is the heist itself, then the second half its aftermath as the thieves find themselves being hunted by law enforcement, the government who put them there in the first place and the immoral men in power who want the photos back. We actually end up pitying Statham and his men because they had no idea what they were getting into.

“Bank Job” works very quickly to get the heist going and it’s sort of choppy film-making for a good thirty minutes. After the characters and what’s really going on with the government and all settles in, the movie takes off. Its non-traditional heist premise simply requires a good deal of set-up time. The characters are a little shallow, but they have clear goals and clear things at stake. Their amateur technique comes through and wins our sympathies despite their ignorance of radio technology and how they pop champagne bottles found in the deposit boxes before they’ve even left the bank.

It’s safe to say “Bank Job” is one of the better heist flicks made in awhile, with so many tired and repetitive stories being told. British TV writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais deserve a lot of credit for finding this story, sealing the rights and bringing it to life in an entertaining and creative way, regardless how much is actually true.