Archive for the 'suspense/thrillers' Category

DRIVE – Reviewed by J.D.

There has been, over the last few years, a new strain of music called ‘chillwave’, a somewhat robotic (i.e. unemotional) style of electronic music that is based mostly on the twin concepts of evocation and excavation. Derived from latent memories of 1980’s synthesizer pop/disco, the main thrust of chillwave is [...]

IN TIME – Reviewed by David

Imagine the young people in Logan’s Run dropping dead when they hit thirty instead of being executed and you have the basic idea for In Time, writer/director Andrew Niccol’s sleek sci-fi effort starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried that manages to overcome lackluster acting and poor plot development thanks to its [...]

KILLER ELITE – Reviewed by David

Though it shares its title with a 1975 Sam Peckinpah flick, Killer Elite is actually a surprisingly better-than-average Jason Statham thriller, one that nicely complements the perpetually scowling star’s standard shtick of talking tough, kicking butt and driving cars really fast with a somewhat weightier plot and the comparatively superior acting chops [...]

CONTAGION – Reviewed by David

Director Steven Soderbergh is back in big-budget Hollywood mode with Contagion, a slick and proficient, if largely impassive, thriller about a global pandemic featuring an all-star cast saying their lines and going through very professional motions.

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK – Reviewed by David

Just so we’re clear, Guillermo del Toro didn’t direct this big screen version of a 1973 TV movie. He co-wrote and, as with 2007’s The Orphanage, produced it. I mention this so you don’t think him responsible for what turns out to be an unscary little horror flick.

FINAL DESTINATION 5 – Reviewed by David

Just as this enjoyable horror franchise seemed set to go out with a whimper with a lazy and lackluster fourth installment (titled, rather inaccurately, The Final Destination), along comes a fantastic fifth entry to rouse it back from the dead.

APOLLO 18 – Reviewed by Will

MARGIN CALL – Reviewed by Will

Once upon a time I was sitting across a desk from an old high school friend who had recently begun a career in the finance sector. Inspired by the large map of the world behind me, she playfully pulled out her calculator and mathematically proved–to her satisfaction, at least–that Russia was [...]

STRAW DOGS – Reviewed by David

Few movies define the phrase “man up” more than director Sam Peckinpah’s divisive 1971 thriller Straw Dogs, in which Dustin Hoffman’s timid mathematician makes a ferociously violent stand against some British yokels who’ve been harassing him. To some critics it was an exploration of anti-violence, to others a misogynistic thing that [...]

FRIGHT NIGHT – Reviewed by David

Having recently turned The Fog and The Hitcher into uninspired rehashes, Hollywood finally gets an ’80s horror remake (mostly) right with its sleek makeover of 1985’s memorable vampire flick Fright Night, an excellent example of how good casting, a sharp script and just the right kinds of tweaks to the original [...]

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