00s Movie Review - Red Eye

Director: Wes Craven
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 85 minutes
Year: 2005
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays
 
Description: Lisa (Rachel McAdams) on her flight to Miami befriends Jackson (Cillian Murphy) who turns out to be a terrorist. Holding her hostage, he forces her to help him assassinate the United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.

Review: Director Wes Craven usually deals with frenzied, supernatural and/ or gory horror slashers. “Red Eye” is a little different. It’s an efficient psychological thriller with an very simple premise.

Hotel manager Lisa Reisert meets the charming Jackson, before her overnight flight to Miami and is pleasantly surprised to find him sitting next to her on the plane. There is a very sinister reason behind it.
With many of these type of films, it’s mostly the atmosphere that carries the film. But in “red Eye” both characters we’re following have depth. You can relate to Lisa and root for her. And the character of Jackson is really fleshed out as well, he’s not just your standard bad guy with a sinister plan.

The feeling of claustrophobia adds to the atmosphere and thrill, because most part of the film is set on an airplane. Because the characters are stuck in a closed off location, it’s becomes an edge-of-your-seat experience.

Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy are both really good in “Red Eye” and I think this film deserves a lot more praise then it’s getting. It’s a really good, exciting, strong thriller, that I enjoy every time I’m watching it.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Kiss the Girls

Director: Gary Fleder
Genre: Thriller/ Crime/ Mystery/ Drama
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 1997
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Ashely Judd, Cary Elwes, Brian Cox, Bill Nunn, Richard T. Jones, Jeremy Piven, Tony Goldwyn

Description: Police hunting for a serial kidnapper are helped when a victim (Ashley Judd) manages to escape for the first time.

Review: Eight kidnapped women. All eight beautiful. All eight talented. All eight have fallen into the hands of the “collector” who calls himself Casanova. The hunt is on for him. With difficulties trying to trace him, they get the help from Alex Cross. When one of the girls, Kate McTiernan, manages to escape, she is determined to help Detective Cross in order to find Casanova and free the other girls.

I have always loved this movie and I have rewatched it many times. The story is strong, the character of Alex Cross is interesting and Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd work very well together. There is enough tension and the mystery is one to keep you on the edge of your seat. It has a vibe like “Se7en”, though not as good of course, but it has the same atmosphere at times.

Maybe the climax is a bit cliché and predictive, but overall “Kiss the Girls” is a really good mystery thriller.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 93: Morgan

Director: Luke Scott
Genre: Horror/ Science Fiction/ Thriller
Runtime: 88 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Kate Mara, Rose Leslie, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Michelle yeoh, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Brian Cox

Description: A corporate risk-management consultant (Kate Mara) must decide whether or not to terminate an artificially created humanoid being.

Review: People have always been fascinated by creating artificial intelligence. And movies about this theme are popular and sometimes really successful. Morgan is the result of synthetic DNA and nanotechnology. It is a fast developing human looking being, whose intelligence and physique grow exceptionally. But this apparent perfect creation has its defects. After an incident, risk-management consultant Lee Weathers has to evaluate the specimen and whether it should be terminated or not.
It’s been done so many times, this theme. And many directors managed to give it their own twist and make it look fresh. Sadly Luke Scott (son of Ridley Scott) is not one of them. The film never reaches above mediocre and the tension is nowhere to be found. The presence of a fantastic cast doesn’t always guarantee a good movie. It really fascinated me how naïve all those academics are in this film. And the film is very predictable. And the supposed plot twist at the end, didn’t come as a surprise at all.
“Morgan” had a lot of potential, but didn’t execute it very well.

Rating: 2/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 26: Adaptation

Director: Spike Jonze
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2003
Starring: Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Brian Cox, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ron Livingston, Judy Greer, Jim Beaver, Stephen Tobolowski

Description: A lovelorn screenwriter (Nicolas Cage) becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) for the screen.

Review: Charlie Kaufman is a screenwriter and is in the middle of a crisis. He doesn’t know what to base his next film on. He is a very shy man and thinks of themes that have depth, but can’t be made exciting. His twin brother Donald is exactly the opposite. He is a beginning screenwriter and thinks of horrible cliché scripts. He is not shy at all and very extravert.
Charlie reaches his absolute low point when Donald’s script is picked up and he has no inspiration himself. He is about to write a screenplay for a book written by Susan Orlean.
Nicolas Cage is really good in this film. He plays both Charlie and Donald and even though they look the same, it’s easy to keep them apart. That’s because of Cage’s performance. I love the dialogue that Charlie constantly has with himself.
I loved the first part of the film. The second part an particularly the ending didn’t really satisfy me. Overall the film is very original and is nothing like you expect when you read the plot. The ending I just didn’t like.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 130: Trick 'r Treat

Director: Michael Dougherty
Genre: Horror/ Thriller/ Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 82 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, Lauren Lee Smith, Quinn Lord, Moneca Delain, Tahmoh Penikett, Brett Kelly, Britt McKillip, Leslie Bibb, Isabelle Deluce, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Alberto Chisi, Samm Todd

Description: Five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband; and a mean old man meets his match with a demonic, supernatural trick-or-treater.

Review: Halloween is the perfect setting for a horror movie. And when it comes to horror movies with this theme, there are way too many. “Trick r Treat” is surprisingly fresh, eventhough the movie never played in theaters and went direct to DVD. For real horror fans, “Trick ‘r Treat” is a favorite.
The movie follows severals stories, set during the night of Halloween: A group of young pretty girls are on their way to a party, where one of them will probably experience their ‘first time’. A chubby boy steals candy from the porch of his teacher, with major consequences. This teacher’s neighbor gets an unwanted visitor. And a group of teens wants to reveal the truth about a story they once heard about a massacre. Between all these stories we see a kid wearing a bag on his head.
The way the stories intertwine, is done very well. The movie is not predictable and is sometimes very surprising. “Trick ‘r Treat” also has humor and manages to create a scary atmosphere. The film shows the essence of Halloween: legends that are told and passed on and traditions that no one knows where they came from and why we do them. Filled with a lot of elements that horror movies need: killers, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, creepy kids and a lot fo pumpkins.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 47: Pixels

Director: Chris Columbus
Genre: Action/ Comedy/ Science Fictions
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Jane Krakowski, Dan Aykroyd, Ashley Benson

Description: When aliens misinterpret video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth in the form of the video games.

Review: The promising future that Will Cooper predicted for his video game champion friend Sam Brenner didn’t really come true. The roles are actually reversed when they grow up. Sam has to wear an emberrasing orange outfit and installs audio and video equipement, while Will is the president of the United States (played by Kevin James, are you following me?). Being the president isn’t completely going smoothly either and you wonder how he ever got to be president. Their friendship started when they were still playing arcadegames like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Galaga. One day this love for video games comes in handy, when aliens attack earth with classic arcade games.
The first part of the film isn’t all that interesting. An introduction to the characters, that you never really care about. The fact that nerds are actually supercool isn’t that believable here, like for instance in “The Big Bang Theory”.
The second act of “Pixels” is a lot more entertaining. This is where all the videogames come to life and a group of videogame nerds fight them. The idea behind “Pixels” is as bizarre as it is interesting. That makes it extra sad that this film isn’t that great. “Pixels” is only fun the second half

Rating: 2/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 131: Rushmore

Director: Wes Anderson

Genre: Drama/ Comedy

Runtime: 93 minutes

Year: 1998

Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Brian Cox, Luke Wilson, Andrew Wilson, Connie Nielsen, Seymour Cassel

Description: Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is a precocious 15-year-old whose reason for living is his attendance at Rushmore, a private school where he's not doing well in any of his classes, but where he's the king of extracurricular activities. His life begins to change, however, when he finds out he's on academic probation, and when he stumbles into love with Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), a pretty teacher of the elementary school at Rushmore. Added to the mix is his friendship with Herman Blume (Bill Murray), wealthy industrialist and father to boys who attend the school, and who also finds himself attracted to Miss Cross. Max's fate becomes inextricably tied to this odd love triangle.

Review: The story of Max isn’t a very extraordinary story. The story of a boy who wants to be an adult, but isn’t. Max actually discovers that something like growing up, hardly exists. And this makes the story of “Rushmore” very extraordinary. Because of the person Max is, because he’s everything but ordinary. It’s Jason Schwartman’s debut role and a bright future is ahead of him.

Max is a typical teenager with feeling of insecurity and he hates studying. How this is worked into the film, is a-typical. Max creates his own ‘grown up world’ by starting all sorts of communities and groups and begins friendships with actual adults. For example Miss Cross, who Max falls in love with. Miss Cross is older and falls for the charms of Max’ other friend Herman Blume. But Miss Cross finds out that he’s just as childish as Max is. Because Herman Blume is still stuck in his teen years, makes him equal to Max. Even when they are fighting for the same woman, they can’t live without each other. The only difference is that Max intends to grow up eventually and Blume knows that, despite all his money, he can’t take on the world.

Director Wes Anderson gives the film a fantastic atmosphere. By using bright colors and still moments, the films has a calm and observing character. An excellent example is the scene of Blume jumping in a pool at his twin sons birthday party. This atmosphere make the experience very relaxed and the introvert acting fits it perfectly. Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray are the stars and shine in every scene. Olivia Williams also does a great job.

I’ve become a big Wes Anderson fan over the years and this, as one of his first films, is going on my favorites list.

Rating: 5/ 5