Category: mystery
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Runner Runner [2013] ★½
It takes a certain misdirection to make the talent of a good cast (Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake and Gemma Arterton) disappear right before your eyes. “Runner Runner”, clumsily directed by Brad Furman (“The Lincoln Lawyer“) from a lousy script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien does exactly that. So what’s it about? That’s hard to…
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The Company You Keep [2013] ★★½
Dramas like “The Company you Keep” usually hold few surprises. But it’s always a pleasure to see Robert Redford back on screen. He also directs the likes of Shia LaBeouf, Susan Sarandon, Terrence Howard, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, Brendan Gleeson, Chris Cooper and Richard Jenkins (what a cast!). The movie opens with Sarandon turning herself in…
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Stoker [2013] ★★★
If you’re not interested in what Wentworth Miller (“Prison Break”) and director Chan Wook Park (“Oldboy”) are cooking up, you’re missing out on one of the weirdest movies of the year. “Stoker” is also an ode to Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt”, in which a young girl bonds with her serial killer uncle (yikes!). The title…
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Trance [2013] ★★★
Danny Boyle follows up “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours” with this juicy, mind bending thriller. He and his screenwriters have crafted the kind of twisty tale we don’t see very often nowadays. James McAvoy plays Simon, a London auctioneer who teams up with art thief Franck (Vincent Cassel, as good as always) to steal Goya’s masterpiece, “Witches in…
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3096 Days [2013] ★★½
“3096 Days” is the true story of Natascha Kampusch, the 10 year old Austrian girl who was snatched off the street by a stranger in 1998. Her kidnapper, Wolfgang Priklopil shut her in an underground room beneath his garage, telling her that the doors and windows were booby trapped and that her family had forgotten about her. The…
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Hitchcock [2012] ★★★
What do you say about a movie that introduces the master of suspense as you’ve never seen him before, proves once again that Helen Mirren is one of the finest actresses alive and launches a charm assault that is damn near irresistible? I say, see it. Director Sacha Gervasi has crafted a delightful movie about, of all…
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The Hidden Face [2012] ★★★
If you feel like watching something completely different from the Hollywood Formula, I encourage you to check the Spanish movie “The Hidden Face”. If you’re curious about the title, or the movie itself, I’d tell you to skip the trailer and let the film unfold its constantly surprising story as the filmmaker intended. So surprising in…
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Premium Rush [2012] ★★½
If you’re looking for a thrilling ride, try “Premium Rush”, a crackling blend of suspense and fun that delivers exactly what you would expect from it, nothing more, nothing less. Joseph Gordon Levitt is perfectly cast as a daredevil bike messenger. His latest job? Make a run from uptown to Chinatown to deliver a very important ticket.…
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The Cold Light Of Day [2012]
We got problems. Start with the title. What the hell does it mean? Then there’s the movie itself, which should be an enjoyable thriller but settles for just awful. Henry Cavill (the next Man Of Steel) plays Will Shaw, a young Wall Street trader who is taking time away from work to spend a holiday…
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [2011] ★★★½
The american version of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is gripping and unusual, even if you’ve seen the Swedish film that inspired it, which in turn was based on a novel by Stieg Larson. If you did catch that striking Swedish import two years ago, you should be familiar with the story by now.…
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The Adjustment Bureau [2011] ★★★
I was more than willing to accept the premise of “The Adjustment Bureau”, simply because I’m a huge fan of films that deal with fate and destiny. The main issue here is that there is a “plan”, that nothing happens by chance, and more importantly: free will is a comfortable illusion. It’s an intriguing thought if you ask me, and…
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Rear Window [1954] ★★★★
Stylish Hitchcock movie about a wheelchair bound photographer (James Stewart) who spends his time spying on his neighbors from his window appartment. One day he becomes convinced that one of his neighbors has killed and buried his wife. With the help of his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and his nurse, they decide to lead their own private…
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