Category: thriller
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Blackway [2016] ★★
It’s been a painfully slow month at the movies. All the big movies are scheduled for release in July. Meanwhile, I decided to give “Blackway” (aka “Go With Me”) a shot especially since I’ve been itching to see Anthony Hopkins in good form again (his last good performance being in 2012’s “Hitchcock”). Sadly, there’s nothing…
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Money Monster [2016] ★★½
“Money Monster” is far from being original, but it’s filled with Oscar winners (on and off the camera) and just the right dose of humor and satire to make it worth watching. George Clooney stars as Lee Gates, a financial TV host who finds himself in a hostage situation when an angry investor shows up…
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![Cell [2016] ★](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cell-movie-2016-poster.jpg?w=800)
Cell [2016] ★
Here’s a list of things I ABSOLUTELY hated about “Cell”, one of the worst big screen adaptations of a Stephen King novel: 1- The story. Nothing against King (who wrote the screenplay), but what the hell was that? In telling his story about a man (John Cusack) who tries desperately to search for his missing…
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Bastille Day [2016] ★★
Idris Elba shows ass kicking skills in “Bastille Day”, a Luc Besson kind of action thriller that starts out well enough but runs out of steam way too early. Elba, 43, looks ripped and ready, playing a former CIA agent who teams up with a con artist (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden) to take down…
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Green Room [2016] ★★½
Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”, “Like Crazy”), Imogen Poots and a bunch of other people are trapped inside a room following a punk rock concert. Why? Because one of them witnessed a murder. Now they are forced to fight their way out before they get viciously killed by a group of crazy skinheads, lead by Patrick…
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Criminal [2016] ★½
Can a movie feature an all star cast and still fail miserably? Yes it can. Exhibit A: “Criminal”, a criminally bad action thriller that flatters itself by claiming to be original. It wishes. Ryan Reynolds plays a CIA agent who gets killed off 10 minutes into the movie while on a mission to track down…
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![10 Cloverfield Lane [2016] ★★★](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/10c_1-sht_online_teaser_alt1.jpg?w=831)
10 Cloverfield Lane [2016] ★★★
I never thought I’d be reviewing a sequel to J.J Abrams’ 2008 surprise monster hit “Cloverfield”, but here we are. “10 Cloverfield Lane”, this time directed by Dan Trachtenberg has literally come out of nowhere. It was only back in January that the studio released a mysterious trailer announcing the movie. The reason? To keep…
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Eye In The Sky [2016] ★★★
Director Gavin Hood scores a bullseye in this moral debate on drone warfare that is both thought provoking and incredibly suspenseful. Helen Mirren is dynamite as a British army colonel ordering a U.S military drone to target a Somali terrorist organization. Sounds like a routine task? It isn’t. That’s because Alia, a young Kenyan girl,…
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Bridge Of Spies [2015] ★★★½
Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies” is one of the year’s finest movies: a well crafted, extremely well acted Cold War drama that kept me on the edge of my seat for over 2 hours. Working from a script written by Matt Charman, Ethan and Joel Coen, Spielberg focuses on James Donovan (an amazing Tom Hanks), an insurance…
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Knock Knock [2015] ★½
Terrible horror flick leaves a sickening aftertaste. Keanu Reeves (in a career suicide role) plays a devoted family man who is left home alone for the weekend. A knock on the door in the middle of a rainy night is the first step into a nightmarish experience in which Reeves’ character (and the audience) are…
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Crimson Peak [2015] ★★★
It’s not director Guillermo’s Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” or the superior “The Devil’s Backbone”, but this stylishly made Gothic tale has enough mystery and suspense to haunt your dreams. The title refers to a haunted house on top of a mountain of blood-red clay. But before that, we meet Edith (Mia Wasikowska), a young woman who falls…
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Sicario [2015] ★★★½
“Sicario” (which means “Hitman” in spanish) is a cannonball of a movie from director Denis Villeneuve, who did such an incredible job with “Incendies” and “Prisoners“. This is a world-class director, at the top of his startlingly creative form. Working from a tense script by Taylor Sheridan, Villeneuve opens his movie with one of the best sequences you’ll…
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The Gift [2015] ★★★
Aussie actor Joel Edgerton couldn’t have picked a better vehicle to explode his proper skills as a loner who can’t seem to let go of the past. Edgerton also directs Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, who play a wealthy married couple who have moved from Chicago to Los Angeles for a fresh start. Things go crazy weird when Simon bumps…
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The Gunman [2015]
Unlike many people, I didn’t quite hate “The Gunman”. Sure, the movie comes up short and doesn’t always make sense, but its credentials are impeccable: a fine cast headed by Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Jasmine Trinca just for starters, and directed by Pierre Morel (who did such a fine job with the first “Taken” and the…
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Beyond The Reach [2015] ★★
You can’t blame Michael Douglas for trying. At 70, he looks ripped and ready, playing Madec, a billionaire businessman who loves hunting. Then there’s Jeremy Irvine, who plays Ben, a local guide who takes him to the Mojave Desert. Things get messy when Madec accidentally shoots a local man and Ben wants to abide by the law. But Madec has other plans…
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Child 44 [2015] ★★★
Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy are two of the best actors on the planet. So the idea of teaming them up for a tense, Stalin era thriller seems more than promising. And the story is perfectly set up: we meet Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy), a war hero turned secret policeman in the U.S.S.R. His job involves hunting down suspected…
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Run All Night [2015] ★★½
I don’t know about you, but after the horrible “Taken 3”, I was beginning to get Liam Neeson’ed out, at least as an action hero. The loose-cannon vibe that hooked us in the first “Taken”had completely disappeared in the third movie. So here’s the good news: “Run all Night” is far from being a disaster. It’s…
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The Loft [2015] ★½
Horrible erotic thriller made by people who’ve never seen a decent thriller before. If you’re still with me, and I don’t blame you if you’re not, you probably want to know more. So here’s the setup: Five married guys decide to secretly share a penthouse loft in the city where they can fulfill their deepest fantasies…
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Project Almanac [2015] ★★
Your head will spin for all the wrong reasons while watching “Project Almanac”, the latest found-footage gimmick (yes I’m calling it a gimmick), about a group of teenagers who build a time machine and seize the opportunity to go back and fix their past mistakes while having a bit of fun along the way (hint: they…
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Blackhat [2015] ★★
“Blackhat” has the look of a hit. For starters, it’s a thriller directed by Michael Mann (“Heat”, “The Insider”), and audiences usually respond to his movies. They also love Chris Hemsworth, who went beyond his Thor character in 2013’s “Rush” to prove he’s got what it takes to be an A list actor. Here’s a chance to prove…
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